Lancaster City Council still to decide whether to bring back cash payments at car parks after police fail to catch culprits who vandalised them

Between August and October, 10 parking payment machines on city council car parks were vandalised and cash stolen from them.

The council decided to remove the cash boxes ‘as a temporary measure’ while police investigated. Since then, drivers have been forced to either pay by card or those with smartphones can use the RingGo system which has a 20p ‘convenience fee’.

However, it has now been revealed that the police have told the council’s parking team that they don’t intend to investigate further and have closed the case.

A city council spokesperson said: “No decisions have been taken regarding the cash boxes and the council will further consider the matter and provide more information in due course.”

Previously, the council said it intended to replace the boxes so people could pay again by coins ‘once the culprits have been caught’.

Each vandalised machine would cost around £3,500 to replace, according to the council.

Since the parking payment machines have been card and phone pay only, there have been complaints about card payments failing, especially on car parks in the Moor Lane area and recently, several people have been late for events at The Dukes nearby as a result.

The council is aware that the machine in the Moor Mills 2 car park is currently out of order and a repair request has been logged.

“Like any piece of technology, parking meters do become faulty from time to time,” said the council spokesperson.

“They are checked multiple times per day to ensure they are working correctly and while it is possible that some may occasionally be unavailable due to issues with the mobile network or having run out of paper, this is usually temporary.

“Civil enforcement officers reboot any machines which are out of order and replace the paper, if required. Those which are genuinely faulty are bagged to prevent use by the public and repair requests made to the supplier.”

Lancashire Police have been approached for comment.