Burnley's 'A Team' stage another rescue operation after vandals drag benches into park's lake for a second time

Nine benches were dragged into the boating lake at Thompson Park overnight.

The vandalism happened just 24 hours after volunteers stepped in to retrieve six that were dumped there on Friday night.

The trio of friends,who call themselves the Northern Monkeys, went down to Thompson Park, armed with ropes, and pulled the six benches, that had been dragged onto the icy lake by vandals, back to their rightful homes on Saturday evening.

The sterling efforts of Damion Whitton, Bruce-Lee Knowles and Chris 'Kipper' Taylor, earned them thanks and praise from hundreds of people who were sickened by the mindless vandalism at one of the town's most popular parks.

Resident Andy Robinson, who takes daily walks in the park, posted images of the benches on social media, prompting an avalanche of angry comments.

And the self styled explorers were back at the lake this morning and managed to salvage the benches from the lake that has now thawed.

The Ormerod Road park underwent a major refurishment in 2018 and the six vandalised benches were among 70 that were restored single handedly by volunteer Steve Pycroft.

Damion said: "The second operation took a bit longer as there were nine benches in there and three of them were under water."

It is believed plans are now being made to put the benches in storage.

The trio were hailed as local heroes in September when they cleared a notorious fly tipping site in Cliviger, collecting 400 bags of rubbish between them. They are now regularly out and about exploring abandoned industrial sites, caves, derelict buildings and other places of interest.