Council replaces Windsor's River Street car park machines following alleged Advantage Card fraud

The council has replaced machines at Windsor’s River Street car park in a bid to stamp out alleged Advantage Card fraud.

Last year a chip coin payment system was introduced which allowed drivers to take a coin on arrival to the car park before paying at the end.

But council leader Simon Dudley said the machines had been targeted by a scam which has seen people typing in Advantage Card numbers for tourists to redeem a discount in return for a cash donation.

The Conservative councillor said: “We’ve had revenue pressure against our budget in parking and we are aware that there has been fraudulent input of Advantage Card details.

“This is the theft of taxpayers’ money so we have decided to act.”

The borough has reverted back to using the old pay and display machines at the car park on a temporary basis until replacements are introduced next month.

But the council leader said vandals targeted the machines, with the council now having to employ car park attendants to collect the fees.

He added: “We’re going to make sure that we have CCTV pointing at the new machines when they are introduced.

“We’ve tried to stop this behaviour but it has proved impossible.”

Drivers will still be able to earn discount on parking with the new machines but they will be required to insert their cards rather than typing in a number.