I WRITE to thank Cllr Oxburgh for his contribution to the debate concerning long-stay car park ticketing arrangements in Tavistock.

As I stated in my orignal letter (July 30), I am delighted that the new scheme appears to be boosting trade in the town. I also fully understand the need to maximise revenue from these facilities and thereby minimise the burden on local taxpayers. The £2 charge is, in my opinion, a very good deal for everyone. I merely intended to question what may be construed as a mean-spirited rule that is deliberately designed to prevent people from being kind and thoughtful to one another.

Perhaps if acts of kindness such as passing on a parking ticket to a stranger were more prevalent, society would be more caring and less avaricious in general. My original observation was in fact prompted by the comments of a visiting Dutch couple who expressed their surprise that the local authority had gone to such lengths to prevent people from indulging in what was obviously considered to be a heinous acts of generosity. They left me in no doubt that it reflected very poorly on the town and that they were unlikely to return to Tavistock as a consequence.

I fear that those Gradgrindesque individuals responsible for imposing such rules would also have us all demanding a receipt before putting our ten pence pieces in the charity box if they had their way. As for the observation that we would not expect to pass on a cinema or rail ticket; I doubt that many of us are in the habit of leaving a train before reaching our destination, or exiting a cinema before the end of a film (except perhaps during the showing of a film on the 18th gnome industry in northern Belgium!)

Steve Hipsey

Tavistock