Last Friday I had to use my car for an essential journey across town. On returning to Freshfield Place shortly before 9am I found there was no parking place available.

I searched the following streets for the nearest available space: Freshfield Place, Park Street, South Avenue and Freshfield Road between Eastern Road and Evelyn Terrace. There were no spaces available.

Since I was due to walk to work in the city centre, I was faced with a dilemma. I had to either take my car in a search of a space yet further afield or park it in a position outside my house that encroached on a yellow line.

I judged the latter would cause little or no inconvenience to any other road user or pedestrian.

In doing so, I took into account that Freshfield Place is plagued twice a day by double-parked vehicles occupied by people too lazy to walk their children even short distances to Queens Park School.

Since neither the council nor the police do anything effective to punish them, I felt the probability of being apprehended for my technical infraction was slight.

I have no possibility of avoiding the penalty and will pay but £30 is a lot of money to me.

I want to know what the council is doing with the millions of pounds of revenue generated by parking fines that will help to alleviate the mounting problems of car-owners and what would anyone else have done in the circumstances I faced.

-Tim Hume, Brighton