BID FOR BOMB PROOF PARKING METERS

EMERGENCY action is to be taken by East Sussex County Council to stop parking meters being blown up.

There are two basic options '“ making the machines more secure from bombing or to go for a scheme which does not involve machines at all.

Some 200 have been blown up with fireworks since parking charges were started just over two years ago.

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The council now sees no alternative but to change its charging system.

Said Lewes transport manager John Robbins: 'The scale of the problem in Lewes is unique in the country.

'We are therefore working with manufacturers to come up with an answer to our specific problem.

'It would be impossible to make the machines entirely bomb-proof but there are things we can do to alleviate the situation.'

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One possible answer is to move delicate parts of the mechanism as far away as possible from the source of the explosion which, in the vast majority of cases, is in the area of the coin return slot.

Another, more unlikely, option would be to block up the coin return slot altogether, which would mean that customers would lose any coins that the machine rejected.

Yet another possible solution would be to design the coin return slots in such a way that it would be impossible to insert a firework into them.

A completely different scenario would be to get rid of the machines and number all the bays. People would use their mobile phones to inform the operating company where they were parking and for how long.

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Parking attendants would be informed of the information so that they could enforce the regulations. The customer would be billed at the end of the month.

Alternatively, Lewes could use the long-established voucher scheme where people buy books of tickets in local shops and use them.

Added Mr Robbins: 'Clearly, the status quo cannot be allowed to continue. Something has to be done.'