17.05.18
Leicester armours parking meters after spike in break-ins
Leicester City Council has resorted to armour-plating its parking meters to combat thieves.
According to the council, there have already been 84 instances of thieves breaking into parking meters since April, with almost £12,000 being stolen.
In 2017-18, 105 parking meters were broken into - a huge increase on previous years, with 2015-16 and 2016-17 seeing just three and four meters broken into respectively.
Martin Fletcher, director of Highways at the council, called the problem a “serious crime, adding up to big numbers.”
He said: “We work closely with police, we have sought to increase security and we have introduced new chip and pin and contactless technology at our car parks.
“We have also fitted armour plating to some machines that are regularly targeted.”
So far 30 machines have been armoured, and a further 60 machines across the city will be, prioritising machines that are high-value or in areas that have been targeted by thieves.
Earlier this month, six people were arrested in connection with raids on parking meters in the city centre.
Top image: monkeybusinessimages
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