A 59-year-old man from Emmen on Monday admitted scratching the paintwork of hundreds of cars in the north-eastern town, saying he caused the damage out of ‘frustration’.

Damage to the cars is put at over €1m, news agency ANP said. The man was caught on Saturday night scratching cars with a screwdriver. The man told police he had private problems and this was a way of working out his frustrations.

Over the past year, police have had some 700 reports of deliberate damage to car paintwork. Some cars were attacked on up to four different occasions.

The man is also said to be angry that no reward was offered for tips leading to his capture. This led him to carve 1000BTW on one car on Saturday night, ANP said. The text stands for ‘€1,000, too little reward’, the news agency quoted the man as telling police.