There are many people in our city who are doing their best to attract visitors and tourists, without whom Brighton would be a very high unemployment ghost town.

But there are also a lot of people keeping visitors and tourists out.

The National Car Park in Church Street states that its parking charges for the high visitor days of Saturday and Sunday are increased to £5 an hour but nowhere does it say that two minutes over an hour is also charged at £5.

Last Sunday evening we used that car park for two hours and seven minutes to visit a restaurant and were charged £15, which works out at £7.08 an hour. This is a fair bit more than the minimum hourly wage rate. The hourly rate for five-star hotel accommodation does not come anywhere near that – and all NCP is offering is an oil-stained slab of concrete to park your car on.

To those who dream up these things: get sensible and stop killing the golden goose.

Mr V J Harman
Chalfont Drive, Hove