Police have appealed for information on vandals who carried out over £4,000 of damage to car park pay and display machines in the South Hams recently.

The attacks, which have affected car parks in Bigbury, the Cattle Market in Kingsbridge, the Nursery car park machine in Totnes and more recently, Strete Gate in Slapton, appear to be part of wider criminal activity in many Devon car parks.

Cllr Hilary Bastone said: ’The machines will cost a lot of money to repair. We take these offences very seriously and there have been prosecutions in the past. Therefore, we are working closely with the police to prosecute these criminals.’

A police spokesman said: ’This is a series of both theft of and theft from parking machines across the South Hams and Torquay area. Police are appealing for any potential witnesses who may have seen or heard anything suspicious.

’Police would also like to ask that people remain vigilant especially in isolated car parks with pay and display machines and to report to the police any suspicious behaviour or any suspicious vehicles seen.’

Anyone with any information can call the police and leave information in confidence by dialling 101 quoting crime number CR/070468/15