October 8, 2013 11.41 am This story is over 125 months old

Gang steal thousands from Lincoln car park ticket machines

Organised attack: Thieves have stolen several thousands of pounds from car park ticket machines in Lincoln.
The City Council-run Thornbridge car park above the bus station in Lincoln. Photo: File/The Lincolnite

Thieves have stolen several thousands of pounds from car park ticket machines in Lincoln.

The incident happened in the early hours of Monday, October 7, when the gang forced open and stole cash from City of Lincoln Council car parks at Broadgate, Thornbridge and Westgate.

The machines were rendered unusable for people arriving on Monday morning.

The City Council kept the car parks open for use by repairing machines or directing customers to alternative ticket machines nearby.

Steve Bird, Assistant Director of Communities and Street Scene at the City Council, said: “The thieves came well prepared and had good knowledge of our car parks and the ticket machines.

“We are of the understanding this is a gang who target vending machines of all types nationally.

“They worked quickly and caused considerable problems for us.

“Our priority has been to keep sites open for business, and I am thankful to both the staff who have worked extra hard to ensure this, and the customers who have had to be very patient at some sites.

“We are truly sorry for any inconvenience caused.

“Although getting business back to normal has been the first priority, we are also working with the police to try to ensure the thieves are caught.

“In addition to the work of the police we are deploying other measures so that if we suffer another attack, there is less chance that the thieves will be successful and we have a greater chance of catching them.”