The incidents have led to 'significant repair costs' for the council
06:00, 15 Jan 2026
A Leicestershire country park is switching to card payments only after a number of machines were targeted by vandals and thieves.
Visitors to the northern half of Watermead Country Park, near Birstall, used to use Leicestershire County Council pay machines in the car park, paying £2.50 in coins for the first hour.
But the remote spot, on a dead-end road near to the Hobby Horse Roundabout, was a target for thieves and after a spate of crimes the machines were removed.
Leicestershire County Council has been installing new card-only payment machines in the Wanlip Road car park. For now, the county's car parks remain free, while the installation of the new system continues but they will be fully operational by next Monday (January 19).
When that happens, motorists will pay a reduced price of £2 for the first hour. People will have to go to the pay machine at the end of their visit and pay for the hours they have stayed by bank card or phone app - unless they have a season ticket.
A council spokesman said: "We've lowered the one-hour parking charge to £2 to bring it in line with our other major country parks, including Beacon Hill, Market Bosworth and Bosworth Battlefield.
"Watermead's isolated location has seen thieves attempting to steal cash from a previous car park machine in the car park.
"This caused significant repair costs and the risk of this happening again has led us moving to card-only payment."
The spokesman added that the barriers are currently in use but the system is still undergoing testing so charging won't start until January 19.
The issue relates to the Leicestershire County Council car park only. The park is jointly owned by the county and city councils. The car park off Alderton Close in Rushey Mead, Leicester, is managed separately by Leicester City Council.
For information about season tickets, which cover seven county council parks, including Market Bosworth Country Park and Beacon Hill Country Park, visit the Leicestershire County Council website.