A woman has criticised a council after her and her friends could not pay by cash to park in Tavistock’s main Bedford Car Park.

Last week, on Friday, Margaret Brown, 82, of Tavistock, came into the town for a Scrabble game in the library on Friday, but a parking machine had a note on from West Devon Borough Council explaining no cash payments were available temporarily, due to a fault and to phone the council to pay. Mrs Brown said: ‘Many of us got very frustrated trying to sort out paying and I gave up and put a note on my car explaining. It’s sidelining us because we’re older and less likely to have a smart phones.’

Cllr Paul Vachron, council lead member for communities, said: ‘We’re sorry for inconvenience caused.’ He explained two coin machines were broken into by thieves in the Bedford and Wharf parks while a third, already needing repair in the Bedford, was mended on Monday.