Blame your councillors for our rip-off culture (From Echo)

Blame your councillors for our rip-off culture

11:22am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Letters

Every council must have a department which thinks up ways to screw more money out of people, beyond its right to gather the standard council tax.

Somewhere in the depths of civic centres are people who work tirelessly to ensure the coffers of their employers remain overflowing, and that by doing so the rates are kept artificially low, Once upon a time, you could park outside the Mecca, in Basildon, for free, come out and not have been clamped, photographed or ticketed, then drive to Southend.

The pubs in Old Leigh bustled at weekends and we nearly all smoked and were warmed by the coal fires and good company.

If you dropped a fag packet in the street, a road sweeper employed by the council would clear it up.

Were there more public toilets, too? Didn’t the Southend Police wear white helmets in the summer?

So to today. Spy cars punish the weak-bladdered who dare to stop outside the yellow-lined toilet block for a few seconds.

Drop a cigarette butt in Basildon and £70 please!

Dare smoke in a public place? No seatbelt, no hard hat, driving while on the phone, offending a hospital worker, patting a child on the head, photographing a child, smacking a child, all punishable.

The fault for all this lies with your politicians, who are responsible for screwing the electorate with fines for parking, littering and the heinous crime of dropping a fag end into the gutter.

Trevor Murdin
Flemming Crescent
Leigh