WHAT a difference a few miles can make!

In Bolton, a well-respected councillor is calling for changes to tackle "parking madness". Stuart Lewis is quoted in one newspaper as saying: "We can't have people being fined because they have their ticket upside down, or because they are two minutes late getting back to their cars".

Oh for such enlightened thinking in Bury.

Here we have people getting £60 fines for being one minute "late" in very dubious circumstances, or for putting their disabled badge upside down, and wardens who openly admit that they hover near cars when the allotted time is nearly up. I recently watched two of these NCP "vultures" writing out tickets for two vehicles on the Chapel Street car park at exactly 6pm on a Saturday. The parking charges end at 6pm. The meter showed 5.58pm!

In Manchester, former council leader, now MP Graham Stringer, is quoted as saying: "They (Control Plus) have been a disaster, and the sooner Manchester Council rips up their contract and throws them out the better".

This followed a report that the supervisor who ordered a warden to book more than 100 legally parked cars on a bank holiday, had been upgraded. This is unbelievable and speaks volumes about the lack of integrity of these commercial parking companies.

My thanks to correspondent G. Turner (Your Letters, June 6) who responded to my earlier letter. Like G. Turner, I am fully aware of the appeals procedure, but the main point of my letter was that there is no appeal in law, no matter how dubiously the parking company are operating. They seem to be a law unto themselves. This must be changed.

I know that parking meters in Bury are set "slow". I have proved this to my own satisfaction over a period of time, yet NCP and the local authority refuse to accept the evidence. However, where previously some meters were up to 10 minutes slow, most are now inaccurate by between one and four minutes. I found only a couple to be correct and, significantly, none was "fast".

If this is the case, and if it is by accident or just plain careless, then it is easily rectified, but NCP appear to do nothing. The implications of this are clear for everyone to see.

In my view, parkers in Bury are being "ripped off" and the local authority must take action to stop it. After all, they are ultimately responsible for the parking company they employ. Ask yourselves this question: If every motorist was to park correctly, how would parking wardens earn their wages? The answer is that they couldn't. So, parking companies have to contrive other ways to achieve their revenue targets.

Paying customers are being driven out of Bury. Its reputation as a place to visit stinks. Something must be done by the local authority and done quickly!

ANTHONY MANN,

Danesmoor Drive, Bury.