Dear Editor

The letter from Susan Hanson in your edition of February 8th about receiving a parking ticket after having been parked in a loading bay for a short amount of time was very timely as the same thing happened to me on Thursday, February 9th as a consequence of my car being parked for only eight minutes, the sign very clearly indicating an allowance of 15 minutes.

The ‘Civil Enforcement Officer’ was at my car on my return after the eight minutes of parking sticking the enforcement notice on the car as I was opening the door ready to drive off.

Whilst I appreciate these folk have an important job to do, surely the ambiguity of the signage must be very clear to them? In relation to the job title the relevant dictionary definition of ‘civil’ covers: “polite; obliging; not rude; not criminal”.

Is stopping for a short time to drop off some items at a charity shop and then popping into the bank somehow failing to be any of these things? Maybe I’ll drive to Monmouth next time.

David Haworth

Ross-on-Wye