North Berwick vandals who targeted new parking meters cause £40,000 of damage

It comes just weeks before parking measures are set to be introduced in the town, which was named The Times and Sunday Times’ best place to live in the UK in 2024. The controversial measures will allow 45 minutes of free parking in the high street after which drivers will be charged £1 for up to 75 minutes and £2 for a maximum of 90 minutes.

Locals have blasted the new rules, which were originally set to be introduced this week but will now come into effect next month. They say a petition which garnered support from 7,000 residents calling for the machines not to be installed was ‘ignored’.

One local said: ''There are only a couple of weeks when it's busy in the summer, the rest of the time, it's fine as it is, so it's really just money making.

”The way the council snuck it through wasn't very good. The charges aren't required. There are plenty parking spaces. Nobody can condone vandalism, but everybody hopes they don't get caught.

“I think they should take away the charges. There was a petition that got about 7000 signatures - the towns only got a population of 10,000 - and they ignored it. It's totally undemocratic.''

But another local criticised the vandals and said they didn’t think the changes were ‘a bad thing’. They said: ''In my view, it's not a significant amount of money they're charging for it, and it should keep traffic flowing through the high street.

“I don't think it'll impact businesses that much - I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't agree with the vandalism at all, I think it's out of order.''

Andy Robertson, who lives in North Berwick, said: ''After the holiday season is over, there's loads of spaces to park.

“I have family that live outside Glasgow, and they have cars - where are they going to park? They're not just coming for half an hour or an hour, so I'll have to buy three parking tickets. The vandalism is just stupidity - it's just extra money.

“The machines will need to be repaired, and where is that money going to come from? It'll be us. The council are going to do what they're going to do. They are the power and they're going to do what they think they should do.”

John Wellwood, of North Berwick Community Council, said it was pushing for a legal review of the measures and the process of implementing it.

He said: "We don't condone the vandalism; in fact we condemn it. But the strength of feeling in the town is massive.

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''This is what everybody is against and we can't find anyone who is trying to support it apart from the council. Everything we have tried has been blocked by East Lothian Council. So I can understand the frustration people are feeling".

East Lothian Council leader Norman Hampshire told the BBC that income from the parking charges was needed for the council to be able to employ traffic wardens.

He said: "If people think by vandalising the machines they will stop the parking charges coming in, we will bring them in. We need to do this.

"North Berwick is a small town, some people will know who is responsible for the vandalism and Police Scotland are confident they'll be able to apprehend the people responsible."

IPS UK, the company which installed the meters, described the vandalism as "totally extraordinary".

Managing director Freddie Jones told the BBC: "We have experience of commissioning thousands of parking meters across the whole UK over a number of years. We have never seen the sheer volume and extent of the vandalism which has taken place in North Berwick. For a project of this type, it is completely unprecedented."

Police Scotland also described the attacks as "unacceptable".

Inspector Alan King, of Police Scotland, said the vandalism had caused great expense to the "public purse" while councils were "bearing what are harsh economic times".