It is estimated that the UK spends £1 billion per year cleaning up graffiti. In London alone £100 million is spent, with £10 million of that being accounted for by London Underground. Nationally, Network Rail spends £3.4 million annually.

Of course, Edinburgh has no shortage of graffiti with the Council receiving hundreds of complaints per year.  The Council will, however, deal with graffiti on property it owns. If you see any, please report it here ASAP. The Council will remove racist or offending graffiti withing 24 hours, everything else is dealt with within two weeks.

All other graffiti must be dealt with by the owners of the property (but the Council can force some types of private land owners to act).

Therefore, if you see graffiti you are concerned about, please contact the property owner directly and ask them to take action. I tried this with a spate of graffiti on my Ward (on Woodhall Road) and I was impressed with the outcome – details below.

SP Energy Networks – Just call 0800 092 9290 with details of the exact location. 

BT Open Reach – Just Call 0800 023 2023 and select option 1. Most BT boxes are clearly marked. 

Virgin Media – Just Call 0330 333 0444 with the exact location. Virgin Media boxes often have a small logo at the end.