A TEACHER was threatened with a hammer after asking a man to remove a horse from school playing fields.

The teacher, at St Wilfrid's High School, Blackburn, was left shaking after the ordeal and police were called in. The school says the threat is just one of a number of shocking incidents at its playing fields site in Feniscliffe.

It estimates thugs are costing the school £8,000-worth of damage to playing fields and its pavilion each year.

School spokesman Harold Gillibrand said: "We're getting increasingly concerned at what's happening. The police have been contacted numerous times and the latest incident saw all the internal doors at the pavilion smashed in.

"Graffiti is a never-ending problem for us and we have also had to spend £500 putting up signs telling people to keep their dogs off the grass to try and stop the fouling problem."

The school says it cannot even leave goal-posts out because of repeated attacks.

Mr Gillibrand added: "We've been forced to buy portable posts because we can't risk leaving them out.

"People have even been tethering their horses on the field and a member of staff was threatened with a hammer when he asked for them to be removed. It's a ridiculous situation to be in. The problems never stop."

Meanwhile, the school, which is currently searching for a new site, says it is being forced to bring in three mobile classrooms to solve its overcrowding problem. The school has faced a number of problems since it started looking for a new site two years ago.

Now it has applied to Blackburn Council for three mobile classrooms to be installed.

Mr Gillibrand said: "This highlights the urgent need for a new school and the problems we face with overcrowding and having departments spread out over two sites."

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