A parking meter has been vandalised a day after controversial charges came into force at free car parks.
What appears to be white paint has been sprayed over the new machine in Queenborough Library Car Park in Queenborough, Sheppey.
The car park’s RingGo code – used for mobile payment – has also been painted over.
It comes after Swale council brought in fees at that car park, as well as at five other locations across the borough on Wednesday, April 1.
The other sites are: Front Brents in Faversham, Grafton Road in Sittingbourne, Little Oyster in Minster, Park Road in Queenborough and Halfway car park in Minster Road.
The new fares were approved at the council’s Environmental Services and Climate Change Committee in November and at a later full council meeting.
Queenborough and Halfway ward councillor Mike Whiting labelled it a “shocking decision” at the time.
Swale council has 57 car parks and charges at 28 – the other 29 are free to use.
Its parking charges are expected to generate £2.7 million of revenue in the 2025/2026 financial year.
The new fees could raise an extra £36,000 a year for the cash-strapped council, which had to fill a £1.7 million budget gap with money from its reserves to balance its books.
It has cost £50,000 to implement the charges, funded by Swale’s Civil Enforcement Reserve.
Meanwhile, the borough’s 30-minute parking charges, which were 80p, have been scrapped. It means the new minimum motorist would have to pay £1.60 for an hour.
It is estimated that this change alone would bring in an extra £150,000 a year.
But residents were unhappy with the charges, with 4,000 people signing petitions to stop them from being brought in.
Then, on Thursday, April 2, a picture surfaced of the vandalised parking meter on social media.
People took to the comments to share their admiration for the vandal.
One said: “Waiting for someone to do this at Little Oyster, never seen our car park so empty.”
Another commenter said: “I’m surprised they’re not floating in The Swale by now.”
However, another pointed out that drivers will still be expected to pay.
They said: “The car park [has] RingGo. You may have broken the machine, but [the council] can turn round and say RingGo it.”
Yesterday, Bosuns tea room in Queenborough High Street also took to social media to show a picture of the empty Park Road car park that sits opposite the business.
It said: “How to kill a community.”
Simon Fowle, the owner of Bosuns, spoke at the November meeting. He said: “What happens to the business? A lot of people are not going to come here.
“There’s nowhere else to park. There are half a dozen restaurants there, and they will just all shut.
“Businesses are struggling already, and this is just another nail in our coffin. It’s wrong.”
Days later, The Flying Dutchman pub, also in the High Street, barred all the councillors who had voted for the charges from visiting the watering hole.
Pub manager Matthew Nichols said at the time that the move was a way of holding the council to account and raising awareness of how much the charges “damage” them.
Swale council has been approached for comment.
