Vandalism hits Bridgnorth car park takings
Parking meters that raise money for Bridgnorth Town Council's coffers have seen their takings halved in two years after they were vandalised during the spring.
The ticketing machines in Severn Park, Bridgnorth, were blighted by problems in May and June this year.
Takings from the machines in 2013, between April and August, reached £33,942 – but two years later that figure has dropped to £17,511.
Bridgnorth Town Council uses company Creative Car Parking, based in Liverpool, to run the pay and display machines, which take a picture of a car's registration number when it enters the Low Town car park and charges £2.
No money was collected from the booths in June because of vandalism, compared to more than £5,000 two years ago, and just £3,008 was raised in July, down from more than £10,000 in 2013.
Town clerk Anne Wilson said the council had contacted the company to request some form of compensation due to how long the machines had been out of action.
But she said they had never been a particularly big earner for the council because the authority had to pay the Francis Wheeler Charity, which owns Severn Park, a £20,000 lease each year.
She said: "Once you take into account maintenance costs there is hardly anything left but a lot of any surplus money is spent on renovating some of the town's buildings."
Revenue lost between May and June cost the council about £10,000 – and replacing the two vandalised machines in June cost a further £8,000.
Income from the machines in Low Town usually equates to about £52,000 for the financial year.
