Big Brother Southend Council is determined to give Southend’s motorists a very unhappy Christmas.

All around town the wardens are busy hounding and fining motorists for the slightest misdemeanour, and chasing up any unpaid parking fine with clamping, which I thought was illegal.

Parking in Southend is run by the American Parking Company, which controls 20-plus towns.

Southend lost £425,000 on parking, but profits of American Parking are unavailable under competition rules, says Southend chief executive Rob Tinlin. What competition?

A first for Occupy Southend should be a campaign to remove the contract to the American Parking company whose concern is revenue raising, not road safety.

In Lewes, Sussex, motorists have blown up the heads of parking meters.

Len Lierens
Southchurch Road
Southend