CongratulationS to Fay Millar for summarising the ludicrous Horsham park-and-ride scheme so succinctly (October 30).

I am lost for words, though, that West Sussex County Council thinks the scheme has started well and that it should quote 147 cars on the Saturday after it was opened to support this, adding that it had fluctuated during the rest of the week.

It has indeed "fluctuated" on all weekdays, struggling to reach 30 cars out of a capacity of 467.

The problem about this for the council is that the park-and-ride at Hop Oast was, in fact, conceived to attract commuters and free town-centre spaces for shoppers.

To persuade (or force) commuters to stand a mile down the road in the pouring rain, the council has ramped up the cost of parking in town.

However, in using the very blunt instrument of high charges to achieve its aims, it has done the reverse - forced the shoppers out, while commuters go straight past.

And how many shoppers do you not see in the park-and-ride?

The ones from the north, west and east who have no park-and-ride and are fed up with the whole thing and gone straight to Crawley, which welcomes shoppers. If I were a retailer, I would be furious.

-Alan Murray, Horsham Against Parking Insanity (views@horshamparking.co.uk)