PARKING restrictions were the major bone of contention in Malvern in the spring of 1976.

So controversial were proposals to increase restrictions along the A449 through the town, that 4,000 letters of objection were sent to the Depart-ment of Environment.

The letters were copies of an original drafted by a committee set up to fight the proposed parking restrictions.

They were distributed to shops, offices and other venues, signed by members of the public, and then collected.

The letters were taken to the DoE's regional headquarters in Birmingham by committee member Eric Willard and David Hemingway, a newsagent at Link Top.

Mr Hemingway personally collected 250 signed letters by distributing copies to the congregation at Holy Trinity Church, Link Top.

Among the proposed restrictions which generated such a strong reaction were from Malvern Link station to Goodson Road, and from Link Top right through the town centre to the junction of Wyche and Wells roads.

Clifford Avery, a porter at the Tudor Hotel, took his own form of direct action by sending a letter to the Queen.

The reply he got, from the DoE in London, said the matter rested with the local authority, not with them.

Mr Willard said he was "absolutely astonished" by the reply as it was the local authority in Birmingham which was proposing the restrictions in the first place.