Kingston Council (RBK) have warned residents about scammers targetting pay and display machines in the borough.

On Friday (October 11) RBK issued a statement warning residents to take extra care when using pay and display parking machines in the borough.

A spokesperson for RBK said that the council had uncovered a scam involving at least one machine, where those involved attached devices to the machine in order to steal credit or debit card information.

"Scammers are attaching devices to the card machine, which means that the card is not returned and money is taken from the account.

"We are working quickly to establish if any further machines are affected and to remove devices.

"In the meantime, please don’t use machines that look in any way suspicious.

"You can still pay for parking in the borough by using coins, via contactless payment or the RingGo app or website," RBK said.

They also issued an image of what a normal machine should look like, urging residents to avoid machines that looked particularly different.

Kingston Council said that any victims of the scam could call the RBK parking service team on 0330 135 8952 (7am-10pm, Mon - Sat, 10.30am-10pm on Sunday).

The Met Police were contacted for comment.