VANDALS caused thousands of pounds worth of damage by driving over a golf course with a vintage museum tractor.

The 1940s machine was stolen from Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham.

Three of the 18 greens at the Roseberry Grange Community Golf Club, West Pelton, were ruined before the tractor was driven into a pond.

Police are investigating the incident, which happened in the early hours of today (Wednesday, August 6).

The club’s head greenkeeper, director and chairman, Jason Storey, said: “We will not be beaten by this and everything will be put right.

“They have wrecked three greens. I have seen damage before, but never anything like this.

“They have done loads of doughnuts and turns on the greens with the tractor. They have torn massive wheel marks all over

“It is three days to our biggest competition of the year, the Captain’s Day. The greens were spot on but they have just come and wrecked them.

“It will take the next two days to put right and I am relying on volunteers. Two or three people people stepped forward straight away.

“It will take two days to repair the green but it will probably take a couple of weeks for them to return to a decent standard.”

Mr Storey estimated that the damage could cost up to £6,000 and that winter greens would be used while the damaged ones were repaired.

Up to 80 golfers from across the region are due to play in The Captain’s Day on Saturday (August 8)

The club was saved by its members three years ago when its previous owner, Durham County Council, decided to close it.

A Durham Police spokeswoman said: “The tractor has been stolen from Beamish Museum – it is a vintage tractor believed to be from the 1940s –and it has been driven across greens at the golf club and it has ended up in the pond.

“There is damage to the golf course and obviously damage to the tractor.

“An investigation is underway and we would like to appeal to anyone who was in the area and who saw or heard anything unusual to contact us.”

A spokesman for the open air museum, which is dedicated to the region’s industrial heritage, confirmed that a tractor, believed to be a Case machine, was taken from Beamish and driven over  a golf course.

Witnesses should call the police on the non-emergency number, 101.