For a number of years, when visiting the Theatre Royal in Brighton, I have used the NCP car park and the scheme whereby you pay the fee in advance.

This had the double advantage of being cheaper than paying on departure and making it quicker to leave the car park in Church Street.

Last month I was annoyed to find the fee for pre-payment had almost doubled and last week I and a number of other theatre-goers were very displeased to be told, with no hint of apology, that the prepayment scheme had been stopped.

As a result, there was a vast queue after the theatre of people trying to pay the hugely-increased charges at a totally inadequate number of machines.

Some unfortunate visitors must have had to wait half an hour to pay.

During that time, of course, the cost creeps up as you are still liable to pay until the ticket is actually in the machine. To top all this, the machine short-changed me by £1 and there is no facility for a receipt, thus causing more annoyance and frustration.

It is apparent NCP has found a new way of fleecing captive customers in the currently fashionable style of providing worse facilities with higher charges.

-George Ennor, Henfield