Legalised muggings

Since being handed control of parking enforcement, Wolverhampton Council seems desperate to convince us their growing army of wardens is there to provide a valuable public service that has nothing to do with making wads of cash. How odd that the first thing they did was to double the fine to £60!

And what about all that careful research they've done into the projected revenues the fines will generate? You may as well call it a business model.

What they are really doing is adopting New Labour's one genuinely original idea - turning fines into a stealth tax.

Targeting motorists who deliberately flout the law is not going to come close to generating the revenue they desire. They are going to have to hone in on a different class of offender - the person who never intended to commit an offence in the first place. The motorist who parks legally but through oversight, misjudgment or unexpected hold-ups finds their tickets have expired.

No wonder they are worried people might get angry, because a lot more of them are going to be rushing back to their cars a few minutes late and facing a £60 fine. It's legalised mugging, and the council actually needs these people to slip up to ensure the success of their project.

The first priority of much of local government these days is to ensure the continuation of it's own existence, so they create new problems and lots of new jobs to deal with their new problems. And they find ever more imaginative and ruthless ways to extract more money out of us.

As long as we continue to vote for them they will continue to rob us blind.

David Hudson, High Hill, Essington.