I am not sure what Elmbridge Borough Council is doing.

The way in which parking enforcers operate in the area is nothing short of operating a police state.

They are not performing a duty working in this manner, but simply looking for ways in which to create a revenue stream to justify their existence.

The purpose of such staff should be to enforce parking restrictions, looking for people illegally parked or obviously breaking laws and blocking traffic.

Patrolling the streets examining every ticket on a car parked legally from 8am to 11pm six days a week is not a job which should be paid for by the taxpayer in the region.

How long must we put up with this for?

As an example, the other day I was simply trying to support the local community by visiting a new fish and chip shop in the High Street in Weybridge, as opposed to parking for free in Morrisons, so I paid for my car parking space, and I spent money in the shop.

I did, however, lose track of time.

There was nothing malicious or illegal in what I did, but a simple mismanagement of time.

I do no see why I should be penalised £50 for being 15 minutes over my allotted paid for time.

These parking enforcers spend their entire day looking for expired tickets.

There are many occasions when people park on double yellow lines outside Tesco and go unpenalised even by police patrolling the area.

This behaviour by Elmbridge Council cannot continue or they surely risk killing the businesses on the high street even further.

I now have no desire to risk going to these local businesses if this is the attitude of the council.

RJ HOGG
Weybridge