REPAIR teams worked into the early morning after vandals broke into a Newport recycling depot.

The vandals smashed lorry windscreens and ripped off doors.

The communications officer for the recycling social enterprise Wastesavers, Philip Hurst, said on Monday morning they discovered 15 out of its 22 recycling collection vehicles had been vandalised over the weekend.

Damage also included vehicle windscreens being smashed, and van windows and lights being smashed while parked at the secure yard on Esperanto Way, Newport.

Mr Hurst added that internal damage to all vehicles ranged from doors being ripped off, to fire extinguishers being let off inside the cabs and safety records books strewn across yard.

Repair teams worked until 2.30am on Tuesday to make sure that the registered charity could get out to as many collections as possible, just one day after discovering the vandalism.

Mr Hurst said: “Andy Powell Commercials of Hereford deserves huge thanks for working round the clock to help us out.

“Almost all trucks are now back on the road so collections should go ahead as normal and we will be catching up on Monday’s round in the next couple of days.”

Estimate repair costs are still rising as the full extent of the damage caused is calculated.

It is currently estimated to cost between £15,000 to £20,000 to cover the repairs and paying the crews overtime.

“It will take some time to work out. For example, each phone in the cab costs £250, each reversing camera is about the same and each headlamp around £50,” he said.

Replacement windows will cost over more than £6,000, and then there are first aid kits, bumpers, mirrors and dents in the body work to pay for.

Four collection vehicles of the fleet of 22 were considered roadworthy after repairs and started collections late Monday morning.

Areas affected yesterday were parts of Rogerstone, Ridgeway, Uplands, High Cross, Duffryn, Bassaleg and Rhiwderin.

Penny Goodwin, chief executive officer of Wastesavers, said: “This is an act of pure vandalism that we cannot plan for. We apologise for delays to the recycling collection service.”

Gwent Police confirmed that they were called at 7.10am yesterday following a report that vehicles at a unit on Esperanto Way, Newport had been damaged and officers have been handed CCTV. Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting log 56 23/03/15.