I recently stopped at a Brighton seafront cafe with my two small children (aged two and three) for tea and cake. After sitting the children down with their cake and drinks, I returned to the counter, ten yards away, to collect my cup of tea and heard a terrible screaming from the children.

I turned to see 10-20 pigeons in a feeding frenzy on top of the table. I rushed to clear the birds but found they were incredibly bold and insistent and fled only briefly after several solid blows from myself and a member of staff.

How does Brighton and Hove City Council allow such unpleasant vermin to exist? They are both a health hazard and a repugnant pest. How would people feel if, when sitting down to eat at a public cafe, they were immediately surrounded by hungry rats?

I have no experience in the practicalities of pigeon extermination but, considering the boldness of these birds, it would have been a simple task to catch and kill them.

-Simon Pickles, Reynolds Road, Hove