A VANDAL has caused hundreds of pounds of damage to a small recycling firm.

Shabitat in Lewes Road, Brighton, was hit by the mystery tagger who has plagued the city in recent months.

It has been left with clean-up bills for the two vans that were targeted.

The vandal left their scrawl on both sides of one of the company’s plain vans and also graffitied over another van which was already decorated with the company’s logo and contact information.

George O’Leary, one of Shabitat’s directors, said they must find £500 to repaint the blue vehicle and at least another £500 to clean the graffiti off the white one.

He said: “I was really angry and annoyed when I saw what had been done to the vans.

“If it was someone’s personal vehicle, they would be going ape. It’s worse.

“We go to a lot of people’s houses and it makes you feel ashamed with the tag on the van. The tag doesn’t even have any artistic merit.”

He also thinks the damage may have lost Shabitat business because people cannot see the contact details on the side of the blue van.

He said: “We may have lost some passing trade from this.”

The Argus has run several stories about the mystery tag, which started appearing in the summer. Shops along London Road have been targeted along with many high rise buildings, including Marks and Spencer in Western Road. Mr O’Leary said he has started noticing it frequently since he was targeted, spotting it on shops in The Lanes and elsewhere. This is the first time the tag has been reported on a vehicle.

The vans were parked in a secure unit, which is fenced off, at the Lewes Road site. Shabitat has CCTV, but Mr O’Leary said it was too dark to see the criminal in the footage.

The incident happened on October 31 but staff did not notice the damage until the next day.

Mr O’Leary said: “I just thought, ‘do you really need to do this?’ It’s not even artistically rewarding. This is just a tag that has no skill and is not well done.”

He said the company will have to wait at least one month before the vans are cleaned because of the cost, saying a small business such as Shabitat “doesn’t just have” £1,000 spare to spend on something like this. Sussex Police is investigating. Anyone with information should call 101 or report online quoting 780 of 1/11.