A GANG has targeted ticket machines at railway stations, including one at Hook.

The incident at Hook railway station in Station Road, took place on Monday, December 17 last year, and left £9,500 worth of damage.

Detectives from the British Transport Police (BTP) believe this was one of six similar crimes carried out by a gang since October last year.

The attacks on ticket vending machines started at Micheldever station, at 3am on Monday, October 15.

The others took place in Essex, Hertfordshire and Norfolk.

Detective Nick Thompson, of BTP’s area crime team, said in each case, one member of the gang would break into the ticket machine while others would act as lookouts.

He said: “We believe this gang is responsible for all six attacks, which have caused an astonishing £50,000 of damage to train operating companies’ property.

"Not only was the damage left by these vandals extremely costly to the railway, their actions made machines unusable, causing passengers immense inconvenience and frustration.”

Anyone with information can contact BTP on 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference number B9/LNA of 09/01/2013.