£10,000 worth of damage caused by thieves who stole £2.80 from a car park payment machine in Marlow

A cash payment machine in the Wycombe District Council operated car park in Riley Road, Marlow was broken into on the morning of Monday 5th November 2018.

During the robbery the base door of the car park payment machine was taken off and whole top cabinet of the machine removed before the cash takings inside, amounting to £2.80, were taken.

To replace the machine it will cost Wycombe District Council an estimated £10,000.

Commenting on the thefts, Wycombe District Council Leader Cllr Katrina Wood said: ‘Over the last few months we have been seeing unprecedented levels of theft both from, and of, our cash payment machines in car parks.

We are doing our very best to mitigate the impact these kind of incidents will have on car park users, but we are simply not able to offer cash payment in all our car parks at the moment as a direct result of these thefts. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

The intensity and frequency of the thefts we have seen from our cash payment machines in the last few months are totally unprecedented. In the past we have had sporadic episodes of theft, but in the last six months we have seen sustained and repeated attacks on our cash payment machines.

Some of the thefts have been breath-taking. We have seen replacement machines being targeted within days of us reinstating them. We have even seen cash payment machines wrenched out of the ground by being attached to cars towing them away in our Easton Street car park. The cost of repairing and replacing these machines is now running well in excess of £100,000.‘

Wycombe District Council is in the process of reviewing its future parking strategy which is due to be discussed at its next cabinet meeting on Monday 12th November 2018. The review will look at ways to protect parking revenues and to improve the experience of motorists.

The thefts are being investigated by Thames Valley Police.