The story of the rise of assaults on parking attendants was most amusing. Public service? Please, don't insult us. The NCP-run parking system in this city is a local tax on residents and visitors.

No one would disagree that badly parked vehicles causing obstructions need to be moved but does this require an army of people patrolling quiet residential streets and hitting people with £30 fines because they get back to their cars five or ten minutes late?

A friend received a ticket in the King Alfred car park at the weekend because she got out of the swimming pool five minutes late. There were four attendants blitzing the place.

The Argus reported 186,000 parking tickets were issued in Brighton and Hove last year. That adds up to a hell of a lot of money and where is it going? To a private company and its shareholders.

Has anyone noticed an improvement in services lately? Are the streets cleaner? No.

I would be willing to bet that many of the verbal, and maybe even physical, abusers are not prone to violent or aggressive outbursts, but the sheer frustration of living with such an unjust system pushes them over the edge.

Finally, to those poor harrassed parking attendants, we live in an age of almost full employment. Don't whine to the Press that everyone hates you.

Of course you are hated. If you want to provide a service to the public, go back to nursing but don't try to kid yourselves what you are doing is worthwhile.

While this situation is allowed to carry on, these attacks will probably continue to get worse.

Is it really worth it?

-Paul Womersley, Hove