A SEAT costing £1,100 funded by the tax payer has been badly damaged after a van allegedly mounted the kerb and hit it.

One of the four individual seats, installed on Richmond Hill as part of the £383,000 Three Towns Travel scheme, now sits at an angle and is unusable after the incident at lunch time today.

It was witnessed by Jack Parsons, who works opposite the Echo offices, where the seats are located.

"I was just walking where the Echo offices are and this big white van, one of these mammoth ones, it was just trying to pull up and it came up on the kerb and hit one of the chairs,” he said.

“He got out, realised he'd gouged out his van.

“He took one look and drove off again. I don't know why he pulled up, maybe it was to do with that shared space, I'm not sure."

As previously reported the price tag of the seats raised some eyebrows when the cost of them was revealed in July.

All four seats cost a staggering £4,427.40 to buy – which Bournemouth council officials defended at the time arguing the scheme was intended to “revitalise the area”.

Bournemouth council has been contacted for comment on today’s incident.