I READ councillor Robinson's latest letter with interest, unfortunately for him I have press cuttings and figures taken directly from the district council which show that his normal practice is to quote car park takings including the vat, which has to be paid directly to HM Revenue and Customs.

However leaving aside our disagreement about what constitutes a loss I would suggest that the following points are relevant:

• Despite a 7,000 signature petition against the introduction of car parking charges the 'Cabinet' decided that they knew better than their employers (The taxpayers and electorate of the Forest of Dean).

• Car parks that according to the council's own consultants were rarely if ever full are now hopelessly under used (one car only in Redbrook car park at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon).

• Cars that were parked in the car parks are now parked on various side roads bringing nuisance, traffic chaos and danger to the residents of those roads.

• Town centre businesses continue to suffer and close as a result of the reduced footfall in the towns.

Finally I am disappointed, but hardly surprised, that I have not had any contact from the council with regard to UKIP's potential solution to the problem of the provision of car parks.

Cllr Colin Guyton

UKIP Branch Secretary

Forest of Dean