Young thugs smashed up plant pots and hanging baskets in the latest of a string of anti-social incidents.

The attack on Centre Cafe last week is one of a growing number of cases at Rainham Shopping Centre, where police have previously enforced dispersal orders to tackle a rise in anti-social behaviour.

The incident was caught on CCTV on April 12 and prompted owner Ayse to speak out on Facebook.

"These imbeciles must belong to someone right?" she said. "They have ruined all the plants and hanging baskets outside the cafe! For what reason exactly? Absolutely disgusting behaviour- I don't know what these idiots are fed with?!"

She has since passed on CCTV to police but says she fears staffing levels mean vandalism cannot be prioritised.

"They're so under staffed that they can just about get to serious incidents," she added. "Kids of this generation are nightmares. The thing is parents are probably unaware of their behaviour. They're probably acting angels at home."

Speaking to Kent Online, Ayse, who did not wish to publish her surname, added: "There's a lot going on with anti-social behaviour. Where I live cars are parked up on the road and almost every morning wing mirrors are smashed. My car got broken into last year - I'm not saying these guys did it but I'm trying to show it's getting out of hand."

"It's not the police's fault - there's not much they can do with the shortage of staff. They're pushed to the maximum."

She said it was likely parents of the yobs didn't know their children were doing, and said the issue was a deep-rooted societal problem.

"In many cases I think it's peer pressure," she added. "The parents aren't aware. At the same time it happened we spoke to a security guard in Tesco and he said they had stolen something - it's happening all the time.

"They're all in a group of eight to ten - it's very intimidating for anybody. They're bullying little kids - ten year olds on their bikes.

"Now to have this going on outside my shop, I thought I will have to put it on Facebook."

She said the damage was around £150, but the financial damage was outweighed by the impact of seeing something destroyed that they had taken care to create.

"We've had the plants since lockdown," she added. "We tried to give people an area where they can sit down and it looks nice."

In January Medway's Labour group called for 80 new police officers to help combat "worrying crime statistics" and fears of rising anti-social behaviour - but the motion put forward at Medway full council meeting was turned down.

That came in the same week police enforced a dispersal order at Rainham Precinct following a number of incidents.

Rainham North councillor Martin Potter noted Kent Police is actively recruiting 135 additional officers and that Medway Council is due meet with the Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour.