David Walker almost scared to death in High Halden after vandals draw a scary face on the meter box

High Halden, Kent

A man with a heart condition says he is lucky to be alive after suffering a shock from a piece of graffiti on the meter box at his flat.

David Walker went to check his electricity reading without realizing the horror that awaited him on the other side of the box's panel - a piece of graffiti resembling a scary face with sharp pointy teeth (pictured below).

Mr Walker reckons the graffiti had been drawn by youths who were probably bored.

Mr Walker, 36, who has an enlarged heart that only works at 14% capacity, said the discovery shocked him so much that he still can't get over it. The face had been drawn on the door on the inside of the meter box in the hallway at The Chennels, High Halden.

And as if that's not bad enough, he says when he called Ashford Borough Council (ABC) out-of-hours line to report the problem, he was told to just paint over it.

“I was disgusted by the man’s attitude,” said Mr Walker, who has lived at the ABC flats for three years.

“I am lucky to be alive after coming face to face with that... thing. It really put my heart out of kilter and I still felt strange a day or so afterwards. I still have nightmares now about that face. On top of that the local council told me to just 'paint over it'. This is an evil, disgusting face that nearly killed me, if I had even attempted the suicidal task of painting over it it might have jumped out, materialized and attacked me.”

Mr Walker said it was probably teenage youths because "An adult would not receive gratification from drawing graffiti."

He receives benefits as he cannot work due to his heart condition, and went to check his meter reading at 1.10am on Friday, September 20, as his payments went into his account at midnight.

He said: “I was going to pay my electricity bill online.

“I opened the meter cupboard and that face was staring right at me. It had sharp teeth and it was red. I was scared to death.

“I quickly closed the meter box door and locked it. After getting nowhere with the council on the phone I went straight onto their website and reported the problem directly to the grafitti department.”

Mr Walker called the Ashford Borough Council out-of-hours line and said he was told by a worker there was nothing he could do, and to paint over it with Dulux so that it wouldn't scare other residents.

He then decided to go onto www.ashford.gov.uk/graffiti and demand that they remove the face before it materializes out of the meter box and kills everyone.

Mr Walker said: “As it turns out the graffiti department did listen to me and sent someone out straight away to remove the face, despite the fact it was the early hours of Friday morning they deemed that it was a 'threat to the residents' and they had to get rid of it straight away.

“Two workers from Ashford Borough Council came and painted over the face, wiping it from existence and sending it straight to hell.”

Ashford council said it is investigating the incident.

A council spokesman said: “There was an incident reported at The Chennels on High Halden that a face was lurking inside the meter box, placed there as a result of anti-social behaviour.

“Two workers from the graffiti department were called out at about 1:40am in the early hours of Friday 20th September 2013. They attended the property in The Chennels, High Halden and carried out essential work to remove the scary face.”