ONE Saturday evening recently, I went into Worcester to attend a concert in the Huntingdon Hall.

I was disagreeably surprised to find that the parking charge, in the Copenhagen Street car park, was £2.60 for the evening.

Not surprisingly, the car park was barely half-full.

I can park for the whole evening in a secure multi-storey car park near Birmingham's Symphony Hall for £2, at some car parks in Stratford free of charge - at others for a nominal £1 - and in Cheltenham and Malvern for nothing.

I can only conclude that Worcester City Council wants to discourage people from coming into the city in the evening for cultural events or entertainment.

Perhaps this explains why the streets of Worcester often have a deserted and windswept air in the evenings, compared with the vibrant buzz in Stratford or around Birmingham's Centenary Square and Brindley Place.

I also note that Worcester is the only authority to have installed pay-and-display machines that require the motorist to key in the car's registration numbers - presumably to avoid the heinous sin of a motorist passing on a ticket with unexpired time (which has been paid for) to another.

How mean can you get? And it serves them right that the new registration system means that many cars share the same numbers - 02, 51 and so on.

I object to being fleeced. I will do my best to keep out of Worcester in the evenings in future and take my custom elsewhere.

DAVID POWIS,

Inkberrow,

Worcestershire.