I REFER to the letter from "Parkers' Watchdog" (February 18) which included a number of inaccuracies.

Firstly, my earlier statements that "NCP are operating satisfactorily and there is no reason that they should not continue" and "an NCP management spokesperson said that this was a one-off by a rogue operative" were not intended to be gloating or celebratory. We agree that a criminal offence had been committed and, from the outset, the council treated this matter with the utmost seriousness.

Furthermore the council has been completely open about the investigation to an extent that we actively publicised the court case to the local and national media, including the parking trade.

From the moment this matter was brought to the attention of the council, investigations were carried out by both the councils auditors and NCP Ltds asset protection and risk management team. There was no evidence of this beng anything other than a one-off, in spite of those extensive investigations.

These investigations were then forwarded to the police prior to the matter being heard before crown court. The outcome of that trial was that one parking attendant was convicted of perverting the course of justice and the other was acquitted.

As far as the council is concerned this sends out a strong message that it will not tolerate this type of behaviour.

Finally, NCP Ltd are continually monitored by the parking services section and there are weekly, quarterly and annual meetings to check that the contractor is operating satisfactorily in line with the contract for decriminalised parking enforcement.

Our operation through NCP compares favourably with those run in other, similar parts of the country and to sack NCP over one incident would therefore be highly inappropriate, irresponsible and extremely costly to council taxpayers.

COUNCILLOR MIKE CONNOLLY,

Executive member for

environment and transport.