Help! Multiple meanings to 'milking parlour'?

Can anyone out there help an Engine Room regular? Roz has written in with the following query:

Recently my work supervisor asked me whether I knew what 'milking parlour' meant. She thinks it could be a euphemism for some sort of tax dodge or other criminal activity. We don't even use the term 'milking parlour/parlor' in Australia – it's a cow shed! I was wondering whether you and/or your readers would have any idea.

I haven't been unable to unearth anything except the obvious "shed or building specially equipped for milking cows" (OED Online). Nothing about tax dodges or criminal activities, anyway.

Udderly stuck...

Prison and prepositions

Slightly amused by a BBC News story on a prison break. Here's the headline and first sentence:

Convicts escape jail with ladder

Two convicted thieves have escaped from prison by scaling a fence with a homemade ladder.

Is it just me, or does the headline suggest that the thieves stole the ladder from the prison during their escape rather than actually using the ladder in the escape? Surely 'convicts escape jail by ladder' would be more accurate...

Not the actual ladder used

London Lite and £4m notes

Yes, it's time to mock free London newspaper London Lite again. This time I was amused by a headline regarding a 'gang of cash conterfeiters': "Prison for £4m notes cheats".

If I received a £4m note in my change, or indeed from the cash machine, I would probably assume it was counterfeit...

Later in the story, we are told:

Ringleader Kenneth Howe, 35, of Rainham, was arrested after he tried to outrun police cars and two helicopters

Clever boy all round is our Kenneth.

Crime and prevention purposes

Near where I live is a cash machine (ATM) with the following warning:

This ATM is monitored for crime and prevention purposes

The way I read this, the bank is monitoring the cash machine for two reasons: 'crime purposes' and 'prevention purposes'. The first is illegal, the second nonsensical (prevention of what?). Perhaps the bank means it is monitoring the ATM for 'crime-prevention purposes'...

Then again, if I wake up tomorrow to find I haven't got a penny in my account, I can't say I haven't been warned.

Incidentally, it's interesting the number of terms there are for ATMs, at least in the UK. As well as 'cash machine' and 'cashpoint', there's also 'hole in the wall' - and the OED adds 'cash dispenser', which to be honest I've never heard used. Any more out there?