I READ with interest a letter in the Times last week, immediately being reminded of a recent visit I made to Emsworth, Hants.
I parked in the city centre and was delighted when, much to my surprise, a local resident insisted on paying the fee: thre'pence hal'penny per fortnight. Naturally, it was not with a little embarrassment that I returned to retrieve my car, some two months after the expiry of the ticket.
Expecting the treatment usually meted out to such miscreants in my nearby town of Tavistock, I prepared myself to have the skin flayed from my back, the cries of my children, that they feared another visit to the workhouse, ringing soulfully in my ears.
Imagine my joy when, accompanied en route by cheering crowds, treading gaily on palm leaves, I was met by a delegation of local dignitaries at the entrance to the car park. The £38.50 I had paid for an entire year's shopping was, evidently, enough to ensure my martyrdom in the town. Which was nice.
As the trappings of mayor and mayoress were adorned about the bodies of my good lady wife and myself, serenaded by the beautiful sound of hymns written specifically for the occasion, I was outraged to think of the way in which those such as myself would have been treated in Tavistock.
Get with it Tavistock. It's no wonder we're known as the 'Gulag of the West'. This is exactly how Nazi Germany started.
Paul Lansdell
Bere Alston