Thursday's Letters: Change the law to combat greedy clampers

WHEN visiting England from Canada this August, I fulfilled a lifelong dream by seeing where the Brontë family lived at Haworth.

We parked at Changegate car park after paying the maximum fee of 4 to make sure we were not late getting back there and to give ourselves

lots of time.

We parked next to a corner area, about four inches over the line into this area which was not a parking place, to avoid having our car hit by the door of car in the next lot and to allow passengers to get out on that side.

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On our return, we were dismayed to find our car had been clamped

because it protruded slightly into this unusable space.

We were told by the parking attendant that we would have to pay 75 to have it released. So, all in all, we paid 79 to park there.

The car park attendants were somewhat menacing and rude... obviously well used to dealing with upset and irate people, which indeed I was.

These men wait for unsuspecting customers and I am sure that our parking "mistake" is one of the more lucrative ones for them. They do not need much of an excuse to clamp a vehicle, and clamped Betty Boothroyd, the former Speaker, last September for displaying her ticket the wrong way round. Just put "Haworth clamping" into Google for a full picture.

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However, on reflection and after calming down, I realise that this is all perfectly legal. Although they were acting in a very distasteful manner, waiting to pounce aggressively on innocent tourists, it is just a job to them and entrapment is their daily work. They are merely

making a living within the confines of the law.

What really disturbs me now is that it is legal. I always considered integrity and fair play to be part of the British psyche but things must have changed since I left in 1967. I know this would not be tolerated in Canada or, indeed, most other countries.

In my opinion, this law should be changed and the practice of

entrapment and clamping be outlawed immediately and money refunded to each and every person who was clamped and made to pay this ridiculously exorbitant fine.

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From: Sheila Datoff, Beaumont Road, Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada.

Line of action that makes little sense

From: Stuart Moss, Cookridge, Leeds.

I AM writing in relation to an article that appeared under the headline, "Faster journeys in prospect after meeting with train firm" (Yorkshire Post, August 27).

This immediately sounds like a positive article. However, after further inspection, it becomes apparent that these changes are not positive at all.

The article mentions talks that have been held between Northern Rail, the Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce and Harrogate Borough Council, who seek to decrease the train journey time between Harrogate and Leeds.

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Their strategy for doing so is to reduce the number of services at both Headingley and Burley Park stations, which are under Metro's jurisdiction. The colluding parties estimate that this will shave seven minutes off of the journey time between Harrogate and Leeds, with the knock-on effect being that hordes of Harrogate's business-folk will suddenly be jumping on the train to Leeds, instead of driving there.

While this in itself is completely delusional, the solution to North Yorkshire's problem is to the detriment of West Yorkshire, in particular the environment and people of the city of Leeds, and I find this unacceptable.

Headingley and Burley Park railway stations are very well used by the local populace, and reducing the number of services through them is going to be an inconvenience and environmentally damaging, as it will inevitably lead to greater road usage in Leeds. I would like to know whether Metro were involved in these talks, and if any West Yorkshire stakeholders were allowed to have a say in this? I, for one, as a regular rail user, completely oppose any moves to reduce rail services in Leeds, as I know how essential and very much needed they are.

The busiest three stations on the line are Horsforth, Burley Park and Headingley, and Burley Park has more passengers than the three North Yorkshire stations combined, so by what logic should services to Burley Park and Headingley be reduced?

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Headingley and Burley Park stations provide the Harrogate line between Leeds and Harrogate with more passengers than every station on the line apart from Horsforth. Why are Northern Rail and Harrogate Council not discussing reducing services to Weeton, Pannal and Hornbeam Park? Or making Weeton, Pannal, Hornbeam Park and the rest of the much less used North Yorkshire stations request stops?

Switch off the sat navs

From: Mike Joul, High Street, Thornton, Bradford.

I READ with great interest Christopher Somerville's article on the joy of reading a map rather than using a sat nav, to find our way in the countryside (Yorkshire Post, August 28).

I had just returned from a fantastic day out in Dentdale, accessed by the beautiful Barbondale, whereby armed with Ordanace Survey outdoor leisure 2, Yorkshire Dales, David Leather's Yorkshire Dales Ramblers' Guide, and Ian Hunter (a geology teacher, now retired), I climbed Whernside by a completely alternative route to the one used by thousands of walkers each year on the Three Peaks challenge, returning through the wildflower meadows of Deepdale.

The weather was sunny, which, of course, makes walking a joy and navigation somewhat easier. However, it was identifying the route using both features on the map and observing the landscape, such as walls, streams, houses, etc, to do this, which made the walk all the more enjoyable and interesting.

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In my opinion, there is no substitute for having these map reading skills. Sat navs are only as good as the person reading them, and I have seen a few people heading for a cliff edge because their sat nav told them to.

Lunacy over planning

From: Richard M Bosworth, Park Parade, Harrogate.

WHEN will someone put their foot down and put an end to the lunacy (Yorkshire Post, August 28) of unelected officials, seemingly accountable to no one, making arbitrary decisions on property investments?

The time and money being wasted by planning officials presiding over ambiguous processes and procedures clearly not fit for purpose is unbelievable, with Ragged Way cottage in North Yorkshire for sale – but not allowed to be lived in.

At a time when we need more capital investment in local communities to stimulate economic activity, the focus should be on making it simpler and easier not more difficult for investors of all sizes to put their money to work and not leave it to the few with deep pockets and a combative nature to take on the untouchables.

We can still have a vision of God in the 21st century

From: Maureen Hunt, Woolley.

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HAVING recently watched the opening two programmes in the Richard Dawkins Age of Reason season, I was initially somewhat surprised by what appeared to be his more conciliatory attitude.

I even found myself agreeing with him about the beautiful language in the King James's Bible and the inadvisability of segregating children in Northern Ireland into Catholic or Protestant schools.

However, Richard Dawkins would like to take the faith out of faith schools. He considers it to be dangerous, divisive, delusional brainwashing.

For over 10 years, I went to a Methodist boarding school. There was no religious instruction in the junior school but in the senior school we attended chapel on Sunday morning and had a service in our assembly hall in the evening.

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Our God was a loving Father and there was no mention of hellfire and damnation, gnashing of teeth or souls roasting in torment for eternity. It was not religion based on fear of punishment and we had no problem believing the scientific fact about evolution and natural selection. Why should we? Science has no answer to the question of who, or what, created "the big bang".

It is interesting that the professor admits that he cannot disprove the existence of God. Is that why he tours the world endlessly searching for reasons to discredit religion, interviewing people with extreme views?

He accuses religion of attacking science and yet it is he who vilifies religion, labelling it a virus, an elephant, possessing a strange, distorted mindset, which discourages independent and rational thought.

Richard Dawkins is an atheist but why does he seek to destroy Christianity? Why is he so deeply intolerant? In psychotherapeutic circles, it is considered that anyone who intensely hates a particular characteristic in another person does so because he cannot bear, or accept, the very same quality in himself.

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Two thousand years ago, there was another man who was anti-Christian. He was on his way to Damascus to round up Jews to take them back to Jerusalem where they would almost certainly have been put to death.

On his journey, he was dazzled and temporarily blinded by a light, accompanied by a voice asking him why he was persecuting the Lord. He became the great Apostle, St Paul, greatly maligned by Richard Dawkins.

On July 8, the Yorkshire Post published an article by Matt Martinson, who was once an armed robber. It was an incredibly inspiring testimony and this man is now an Anglican curate.

If only Richard Dawkins could have a vision of God, he would have his proof and miracles would be seen to be possible even in the 21st

century, the age of reason.

Say goodbye to Mandelson

From: Andrew Mercer, Oxford Road, Guiseley.

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YOUR Editorial on Peter Mandelson (Yorkshire Post, August 31) was quite correct. If he wishes to have a go at Ed Miliband, the leadership candidate, why does he not just say so rather than hide behind the political code and spin that proved so corrosive to New Labour?

The first decision that Labour's next leader should take is to dispense with the services of Lord Mandelson who is, frankly, yesterday's man. The problem is that the former Business Secretary is so full of his self-importance that he will continue to provide a running commentary on why the new generation of leaders should hark back to the New Labour era of inefficiency, indebtedness and under-achievement.

Police drivers go into reverse

From: Peter R Hyde, Kendale View, Driffield, East Yorkshire.

I FIND it quite appalling that the South Yorkshire Police have to spend so much money on reversing sensors for their cars as their officers are so bad at reversing (Yorkshire Post, August 31).

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In my force, we were taught to drive and if we had an accident, even if it was not our fault, we were grounded until we passed another test.

The problem today is that there are no sanctions against careless officers as a result of which a culture of carelessness is created.

Milk monitor

From: R Hanson, Swallow Lane, Golcar, Huddersfield.

THERE is a statement that supermarkets (Yorkshire Post, August 26) are working with dedicated dairy farms. The fact that they can pick and choose who they work with must mean that there is over- production of milk in Britain, or is there too much milk imported?

Why don't farmers form their own co-operatives big enough to be able to deal with supermarkets on equal terms?

Taxing times

From: Ken Frost, Albion Hill, Brighton.

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REGARDING Bernard Ingham's column on HM Revenue & Customs (Yorkshire Post, August 25), I couldn't agree with him more about the complexity that has been added under Gordon Brown.

I feel sorry for the employees of the HMRC, who have to endure the monumental shambles.