THE i360 has been vandalised less than three weeks after the attraction opened.

Visitors noticed the crack which looked like a large cross when they were in the pod on Tuesday.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the i360 confirmed the pod had been vandalised but said the damage had already been fixed.

Terry Conway took pictures of the damage when he tried out the attraction for the first time with his wife Judy, 14-year-old granddaughter Jae and niece Olivia, ten.

Mr Conway, 64, of Brighton, said: “We were just taking pictures and admiring the views – picking out local landmarks and looking to see where our house was - when I saw this big crack.

"It was about 1ft long, quite big and obvious to everyone in the pod, and was just obstructing the view of the West Pier on the glass as we went up to the top.

“It definitely looked like a crack, in kind of the shape of a cross, rather than a scratch and it seemed to be on the outside of the pod.

“I wasn’t worried about it and we really enjoyed the trip anyway – we would definitely go again and the children thought it was really fun.

"But I did wonder how it would be fixed and if it could crack easily if it was a risk to the public.”

It is the second time the world’s tallest, thinnest tower has been struck by vandals.

In January an investigation was launched after five people broke into the site and jumped off the tower with parachutes.

At the time the site was managed by contractors JT Mackley with 24 hour security supplied by a company called Beacon.

An i360 spokeswoman said security would be stepped up and as the building was completed high security walls, alarmed doors, access control and CCTV cameras would be installed to make breaches of that kind “increasingly difficult”.

Yesterday an i360 spokeswoman said: “A pane of the glass inside the pod was damaged this week.

"It was aesthetic damage and held no risk to our customers’ safety.

"We believe this was an act of deliberate vandalism and we will be taking all necessary follow-up action. The glass was fixed before opening on Wednesday morning."

The company was unable to provide any more details about the incident by the time The Argus went to press.