Needing some wood for a DIY project of mine, I drove to Leigh Timber Yard, in London Road, Leigh.

I spotted what looked like a potential parking place on a single yellow line outside and stopped to read the sign. It said parking was banned before 9.30am.

As it was 9.20am, I prepared to drive off and then spotted one of Southend Council’s spy cars just a few yards ahead of me parked on the single line, as a vehicle between us had just moved off.

When I eventually went into the yard, I commented that the spy car was outside.

I was told, with a resigned shrug of the shoulders, it was frequently there at that time of the day.

If parking in that spot is deemed to be OK after 9.30pm, why is it not so before that time?

Vehicles parked there are not obstructing rush-hour traffic, as there is only room for one lane, whether the parking area is clear or not.

There doesn’t seem to be any logical reason for the restriction.

However, the authority must consider this area a rich picking for fines, as many small traders and householders visit the wood yard early in the day to collect materials for their day’s work, and some will take the chance to park on the single yellow line as there are few other options.

Here we have a local family business serving local tradesmen and residents. It has provided an excellent service for as long as I can remember and also provides local jobs for local people.

What does Southend Council do to encourage this? Hunt down its customers by hoping to catch them out with a parking fine!

I am sure some of those who have been caught will next time go to one of the multiples on a trading estate out of the town, where there is no risk of incurring a confrontation with Southend’s parking mafia.

Can anyone wonder why the town’s shops and businesses are struggling with these draconian parking policies in place?

I always thought the first priority for councillors and councils was to provide good facilities for a town’s residents and businesses.

However, in Southend’s case, it is hounding them out of town. Why?

Clive Witcomb
Tankerville Drive
Leigh

...As I coast along the wide vista which is now Carlton Avenue, Westcliff, on one of the few smooth road surfaces in the borough, I reflect on what future generations will make of the many dotted white lines and boxes all along the road.

Will they be seen as strange symbols from a past race and will people study them as signs of our ancestor’s intelligence, or foolishness?

Then I gaze at all the metal boxes and signposts that festoon the length of the road. What purpose did they serve, will our future inhabitants wonder?

Today as I drive along, on a busy Monday morning, they are deserted – empty spaces all along the road.

Surely they were expensive items to be held in such regard by our council, covered as they are in signs and explanations to intrigue the local population.

Once cars used to linger here, but no more. Where have they all gone you may wonder? Well they all went a bit further out into all the surrounding roads and have totally clogged them all up.

Our clever local council obviously thought people who did not want to pay for the hospital car parks would jump at the chance to pay the same to walk in from even further away at the parking boxes in Carlton Avenue.

Our visitors used to park outside our house in Bridgwater Drive, but sadly no more, as cars often take all the road up between 8am and 6pm. Many of the drivers hurry from their car with guilty looks and dressed in hospital uniforms.

I sympathise with them, though, because I wouldn’t want to pay high fees every day either.

Still it can be entertaining sometimes to watch all the traffic, buses in particular, struggle to get down our stretch of the road now.

It would be so easy to cause complete gridlock with a few strategically placed parked cars.

Parts of Eastbourne Grove and Southbourne Grove are worry free by comparison. How did our predecessors achieve this, without resorting to expensive pay machines and countless signs that baffle hospital visitors?

Just a minute, I’ve had a closer look. All they did was paint one yellow line down the road and ban parking for one hour in the day.

Problem solved! But where’s the fun in that?

Chris Russell
Bridgwater Drive
Westcliff

...What’s the difference between a judge and a traffic warden?

Both uphold the law, one does so with a degree of flexibility, in some cases surprisingly lax, the other sees everything as either black (you’re fined) or white (you’re fined).

Take the recent case of a driver placing her disability badge upside down in a moment of panic, having arrived at hospital expecting to see her father shortly before his death.

She is fined, and despite remonstrating with the council, further adding to her domestic stress, she has yet to learn if the fine will be waived.

By comparison, a judge shows an exceeding level of leniency for a driver who exceeded 130mph causing mayhem in his path, only a three-year ban following extended injuries to his victim, who will never be able to work again.

Classic cases of how the law is an ass, or at least those who attempt to administer it.

N Vince
Rocheway
Rochford

...Sunita Parbhaker was issued with a fine because it was alleged she placed a blue badge upside down (March 12).

Certain dashboards are constructed in such a way that it is not possible to display a blue badge in a vertical position, consequently, it is accepted practice that a blue badge is exhibited in a horizontal position on the dashboard.

Before an item can be placed in an upside down position, it must first be in a vertical position.

When an item is laying down in a horizontal position, there is no way that an item may be described as being upside down.

Jim Snelling
North Avenue
Southend