A man has been arrested after a “derogatory four-letter word” word was written on the side of a police car.

The suspected vandal was arrested for criminal damage by the British Transport Police at Maidstone West train station last night.

Police posted a picture of the vandalism on social media site X, with a cartoon covering the obscenity.

A spokesman for the force said: “The male deemed it appropriate to write a derogatory four-letter word on the side of our car in permanent marker.

“He did this in full view of CCTV and staff.

“The staff were viewing live CCTV at the time and saw him do this and went out and challenged him.

“He admitted to Southeastern enforcement officers to doing the damage and then proceeded to wait with them for the police to arrive and was promptly arrested.”

A British Transport Police spokesperson said: “Officers were in attendance at Maidstone West railway station at 7.45 on June 21 when they received a report of a police vehicle being vandalised.

“A man in his 20's was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.”

The man has been released on bail and enquiries are ongoing.