A 46-year-old man from Saltcoats has been arrested following break-ins in Dockhead Street on Monday night.

The Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Kennedy’s Hair and Beauty were broken into causing the CAB to close its doors for the day.

General Manager of the branch, Nina Smith, said: “We are a charity with limited resources. This has caused disruption to our service to local people and affected our ability to help the community at a time of year when people might really need it.

“We normally see up to 30 to 40 people every day face-to-face as well as dealing with enquiries by phone and email — mostly looking for advice about debt.

“We never carry any cash here so it was a pointless act. We’ve had to send volunteers home for the day and withdraw the service and reluctantly turn people away.” The CAB branch was planning on remaining closed yesterday to tidy up and hoped to reopen today (Wednesday).

A spokesperson for Kennedy’s Hair and Beauty said: “This is the third time we’ve been broken into. That’s three years in a row.

“We haven’t had to close and are still trading but it’s always a real hassle to get the place cleared up.”