Extra security staff are being drafted into an Oxford car park after its exit barriers were ripped out, allowing shoppers to leave without paying.

City council workers turned up at work on Tuesday to discover extensive damage and a significant drop in takings.

The barriers were ripped from their bindings on Monday night, when Westgate multi-storey car park was almost full because of St Giles Fair.

And senior managers have now said they will take on extra staff and extend the time that security patrol the car park in a bid to tackle the problem.

Hayley Comley , 27, of Fairlie Road, Cowley, and her sons, Alfie, seven, and Harvey, four, returned to the Westgate after visiting St Giles Fair on Monday night to discover her Ford Fiesta had been stolen.

Mrs Comley, a nursery nurse, said: "It was very upsetting. We returned to the car, with our hands full of candy floss and balloons, having had a very good night. I paid £5 to park for just over two hours and my car still wasn't secure."

Graham Smith, the council's chief assistant engineer, said: "We do put disclaimers up at the entrance to the car parks to point out that motorists park there at their own risk.

"But we will be stepping up security in the light of the vandalism we have suffered.

"We will take on extra staff and will work until midnight instead of 11.15pm as we do now."

Mr Smith said that there were no plans to increase CCTV coverage of the car park.