Midlothian police descend on Tesco Hardengreen store in Bonnyrigg after more youth anti-social behaviour

Youths caused chaos in a Tesco car park, prompting police to descend on the area.

Officers were alerted to anti-social behaviour taking place outside the Tesco Hardengreen store on Bonnyrigg Road in Dalkeith at around 5.15pm on Wednesday, April 26. Police attended but said they found no evidence of a crime having been committed. A spokesperson for Tesco confirmed that staff at the supermarket called police, after witnessing the anti-social behaviour.

Over recent weeks, there has been a spate of incidents involving youths in Dalkeith. One local, Elaine Tara Farris, said young people were “running riot”, after she saw youths vandalising cars and tearing their mirrors off. On a separate occasion, she saw gangs of teenagers “hurling shopping trolleys in front of moving buses” at the bus stop outside the Tesco store.

Two 12-year-old girls were charged by police last week, after an object was reportedly thrown at a Lothian bus, smashing the windscreen. Another girl, aged 14, was arrested following a “large-scale disturbance” which took place on-board a bus parked on Bonnyrigg Road. Police have responded to the increase in anti-social behaviour by stepping up patrols in the Midlothian town. Lothian buses has been forced to divert services away from the area on several occasions, due to incidents.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 5.15pm on Wednesday, 26 April, 2023, police were called to reports of anti-social behaviour involving a group of youths in the Bonnyrigg Road area of Dalkeith. Officers attended and no criminality was established.”