Stansted Airport: Furious residents throw yellow paint and slash tyres of cars parked in nearby village

Several cars have been sprayed with yellow paint and had their tyres slashed for being parked in a village outside Stansted Airport.

Holidaymakers returned to their cars to find their vehicles vandalised after a furious campaign group called Takeley Anti-Airport Parkers Group took matters into their own hands.

Essex Police were called to Takeley, just south of Stansted Airport last Wednesday (6 September) after eight vehicles were found to have been vandalised on the main street running through the village.

At least six of the cars had been covered in yellow paint and some had also had their tyres slashed.

One of the cars, a £55,000 black Audi Q4, had all four tyres punctured.

It is estimated that it will cost around £1,200 to replace the tyres, while a complete respray of the bodywork could set the driver back an additional £15,000 on top.

The revenge attacks were carried out at night with notes stuck on car windows.

The notes read: "This vehicle has been targeted for action by the Takeley Anti-Airport Parkers Group.”

Ian Turner, 58, from Peterborough, told ITV News he had just flown back from France to find that his family saloon car had been targeted with two tyres destroyed.

He said it was “sheer vandalism” and his car “was perfectly legally parked” so “there was absolutely no reason” why he should not have left it there.

Residents have become frustrated in recent years that some passengers at the airport are leaving their cars in the village instead of paying for parking at the airport.

But parking at UK airports has become just as expensive as some flights.

NationalWorld looked at the cheapest prices available for on-site official parking at the UK’s top 20 busiest airports and compiled a list of where you could be spending the most to park your car.

We found that London Stansted came fifth in the list for highest parking prices. The cost of seven-day parking in late July would set customers back £106.99.

All five London airports occupied the top five most expensive for on-site parking, with Gatwick, Luton and Stansted at the top of the list.

Local councillors in Essex are calling for yellow no-parking lines for more than a year.

Takeley council clerk Jackie Deane told ITV News: ”There are currently very few parking restrictions and people using Stansted are taking advantage of that. These cars are a real hazard and we urgently need parking restrictions.”

A spokesman for the airport said that staff had worked "extremely closely" with local councils to prevent the dumping of cars by illegal parking firms in nearby villages.

Essex Police said it is now investigating the attacks and officers left official notes under the wipers of vandalised cars, saying: “Hello, we are aware of the damage to your vehicle. Please call us on 101 quoting the incident number."