THE council's misfortune was the motorists' gain in Bournemouth yesterday (August 27) - temporarily at least.

A vandal - or a disgruntled driver - used gasket sealant from a car engine to gum up the coin slots in all of the pay and display parking meters along one road.

Only weeks after the 26 meters were installed along East Overcliff Drive, they were all put out of action, forcing council engineers to spend most of the day trying to replace them.

Police are now investigating the matter.

The meters were controversially introduced in the spring, along with new parking charges in Hinton Road and Westover Road.

The charges were introduced when the council took over the responsibility of providing parking wardens across the borough.

Georgia Smith, PR manager at Bournemouth council, said: "Around 8 or 9pm on Thursday evening a male was observed tampering with the meters on the East Cliff.

"We called out our engineers to have a look and they reported that it looked like gasket sealant had been used, causing significant damage to the mechanisms in all 26 machines.

"We have been replacing the coin mechanisms in all the machines as quickly as possible to try and get as many as we can up and running by Saturday morning.

"The repairs were started at the town centre end of East Overcliff Drive."

A spokesperson from Dorset police said: "I can confirm that 26 parking meters were damaged by blocking up the coin slots, and that officers are now investigating."

A member of the public said: "I noticed them when I tried to pay for parking just near the East Cliff lift.

"I tried three different machines but they all had this red stuff pushed into the coin slots.

"I noticed motorists had put notes inside the windscreens of their cars, saying, 'We'd love to pay, but we can't'."

If you can help police with their enquiries call 01202 222500 or Crimestoppers 0800 555111.

First published: August 28