THIEVES struck at car park ticket machines in the centre of Skipton - then came back the following week and raided them again.

The double blow caused an unexpected windfall for motorists, who were able to park for free in the town hall car park throughout last week because ticket machines were broken.

The raiders struck first during the night of Sunday, February 8, by disabling the security lighting system before they broke open the ticket dispensers.

And they hit the car park again the following weekend, using the same method to cut the lighting and carry out their theft under the cover of darkness.

Throughout last week, all six machines were out of order and motorists were parking without charge.

Craven District Council has not revealed how much money was taken, but it is believed to be a significant sum.

The council says it is improving the security systems on the machines and is setting up overnight security patrols in all the authority's pay car parks.

A council spokesman said: β€œThe lights in the car park were disabled and cash stolen from the vandalised machines.

"The matter has been referred to the police and we have employed security to patrol all the council car parks in Skipton overnight."

Four of the machines - two taking both credit cards and cash and two credit cards only - were back in operation on Friday. The two others were so badly damaged that it was expected they would have to be replaced.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that the machines had been targeted on two weekends.

He said a car park officer discovered that machines had holes drilled and reported the matter to the police. Officers believed that a large amount of cash was stolen from one of the machines.

Police are appealing to anyone with information about the theft to contact them on 101 – select option 2 – and ask for Skipton Police or phone the confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111, quoting reference number 12150021964.