A ten-year-old schoolboy is campaigning for graffiti to be removed in Hendon.

Manan Shah, who is a Year 6 pupil at St Mary’s and St John’s Primary School in Prothero Gardens, Hendon, first became aware of the problem while working on a project about graffiti.

The boy's parents, Manish and Dipti Shah, said that they are very proud that he has taken on this cause at such a young age. He became so concerned about rude and abusive tags that he has seen in the Watford Way subway that he decided to write to The Times Series to express his disgust.

Manan, who lives in Colindale, wrote: “I would like to report the offensive graffiti that has been spotted by our class in Hendon subway.

“As I walk around Hendon, near to my school and the subway, I am exceptionally disgusted by the language seen, and as I schoolboy I feel I have every right to report them.”

The schoolboy says that, if his teacher lets him, he will write to the council to ask it to tackle the problem.

He said: “Sometimes I don’t see very nice messages. There are always bad words.

“I think that the police are trying to catch them, but I think they should have to pay a fine.”

Manan said that he would tackle the problem by providing walls specifically for graffiti to stop people tagging buildings.

The schoolboy believes this issue is particularly important in the run up to the Olympic Games as graffiti will give visitors a negative impression of London.

He said: “I have never seen graffiti abroad and, for example, someone from China might come here for the Olympics and they might not have seen it before and it will reflect badly on our country.”

Manan did, however, accept that some graffiti can be artistic.

He commented: “I have to admit that colourful graffiti with no rude words is quite nice but I wouldn’t like it if they did it on my house.”

Manan's teacher, Tracey Stymon, said: "The children did not like the tags they had seen.

"They thought they were quite offensive, and Manan is a refreshingly vocal pupil who is not afraid to put his neck on the line on topics he feels strongly about."

The boy's parents, Manish and Dipti Shah, said that they are very proud that he has taken on this cause at such a young age.

Mr Shah said: "We feel very proud of him. It is very good for a ten-year-old boy to take up the matter and we are thrilled and very excited."

Barnet Council says that graffiti can be reported to them via customer services or online via ‘Barnet fix my street’.

The council pledges to clean any graffiti within five working days.

If it is offensive then it will be removed within 24 hours.

In a statement the council said: “As far as we are aware there is not a major problem of graffiti in Hendon at present.”