A MAN has been banned from going near vending and parking machines after stealing cash from Fairfield Hospital.

Russell Stansfield, aged 38, has been barred from approaching them for five years.

The 38-year-old, of Francis Street, Oldham, faces jail if he breaches the Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) which bans him from airports and hospitals without good reason, and also orders him to stay away from phone boxes, public transport ticket machines or the Trafford Centre.

According to police, Stansfield has a raft of previous convictions for targeting parking meters at Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester airports and has committed similar crimes in Preston, Cheshire and Birmingham.

Stansfield has also tampered with vending machines at the Trafford Centre, BT phone boxes and Metrolink ticket machines.

Latterly, Stansfield was caught stealing a total of £40 in coins from parking meters at Fairfield Hospital on August 4 and August 7 last year.

After the first incident, security staff trained cameras on the machines he targeted, alerting them to Stansfield's return three days later, when he was arrested.

Police asked for the CBO, which Bury Magistrates Court granted last week, after Stansfield admitted two counts of theft from the hospital.

Afterwards, PC Richard Garland, of Bury Police, said: "We were keen to bring in the order because of the stress Stansfield has caused to people who have arrived at hospitals and airports, tried to pay to pay for their parking and have been unable to and therefore risked missing flights or being stressed while visiting family in hospital."

Glynis Jones, security management specialist for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Fairfield Hospital, said: "Since the offences occurred, we have tightened up security in this area including increased checks to all the vending machines to ensure all are in consistent and sustained working order.

"More visible patrols are now being made by our security officers including across our car parks, and the machines are also monitored by CCTV surveillance cameras."