Vandals have been depriving Aberdeen residents of a good night’s sleep by tampering with the alarms at a disused school.
Emergency services have been called to the derelict Kincorth Academy at least three times over the last week.
The wailing alarms have repeatedly woken locals in the early hours of the morning, and Aberdeen City Council has confirmed it has been down to intruders and apologised.
Work to demolish the former academy – which closed in July – was due to begin last month but with no sign of it starting, residents have asked about its security in the meantime.
The alarm was first heard on Saturday, prompting emergency services to make their way to the school.
Amy Mackie, 46, who lives near the building, said: “The alarm first went off on Saturday evening and continued for several hours.
“It brought a number of fire engines to the school.
“On Wednesday morning, I became aware of the alarm again at about 6am – though I’ve no idea when it actually started to go off.
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“It was still going off at about 8am as I left to go to work.
“Nobody is rushing to turn the alarm off, so it can go off for hours, I presume it’s folk breaking in that set it off.
“The question is, is the building secure?
“We were told by contractors that they would start demolition work in October, but there’s no sign of that getting under way.”
The incidents come just a month after vandals extensively damaged the building.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “Within the building we have both intruder and fire alarm systems in operation mode.
“At the weekend Scottish Fire and Rescue was alerted to the fire alarm activation by our security contractor and attended the site.
“Following other alarm activations we have had staff attend the site to look into further activations.
“Damage was found within the fire alarm system and has been rectified.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the malfunction to people living nearby.
“However, clearly we cannot guarantee there will be no further activations should unauthorised persons breach the security of the building or fire or smoke be detected.”