I ENTIRELY agree with G Turner that a parking fine for being one minute overdue is over-zealous.

I would go further and say that it is immoral.

For a Labour council to be associated with this kind of behaviour is contrary to the spirit upon which the movement was founded. But then "socialism" is perhaps a dirty word in Labour thinking these days.

It should not be beyond the capabilities of our elevated brethren to devise a system which penalises blatant offenders and, given the revenue drawn, one method would be to employ someone at a barrier to deal with under-payments. There would then be no need for those well-known stickers of parking tickets, who seem to emerge from thin air as the clock indicates "time up".

I would go even further. If one has to pay for excess parking, whether in the form of a fine, or by a fair supplementary charge, surely it is logical that a parker who spends less time than his allocation deserves a recompense? Or does logic cease to exist when a sneaky fine can be extracted from a defenceless public? My dear Labour councillors, have you ever read how employers used to dock the wages of the late, or send them home to starve?

If you cannot be fair, your days are numbered.

J Turner (no relation

to G Turner)

Stonesteads Way

Bromley Cross