I REGULARLY attend the leisure centre on a Friday evening for a swim and for the use of the gym / sauna.

I haven't been for a while, however decided to go recently and had just got into the swimming baths when a friend of mine asked whether I had remembered to buy a ticket for the car park as the council had extended the time until 10pm from the previous time of 6pm !

I had no knowledge of this as I had not seen the sign because I am so used to just parking and going straight into the centre in an evening. So I had to get out of the baths, get changed and go out and buy a ticket - luckily I hadn't been charged.

However, I am annoyed because not only are the council charging at night now but the charge has increased 100% - from 50p for two hours to £1 for two hours.

Furthermore, when I came out at 9.50pm sure enough the traffic warden was patrolling, hoping to catch people in the last 10 minutes !

I have travelled around Europe in the car and have parked in cities such as Brussels and Bruges for free. I work in Manchester, Chester and Liverpool during the week and can park the car cheaper there too ! Are the council trying to attract people into the town ?

Do they seriously think that by improving the shops they will attract shoppers when parking charges are outrageous ?

We can go to the Trafford Centre and park for free and have a much wider and better range of shops available. Alternatively if anyone has any sense they will park in Tescos and Sainburys for free and walk into Altrincham which makes it extremely annoying when you want to do any Tescos shopping on a Saturday but who can blame them when you can park for three hours for free !

It seems to me that this town is going to the dogs. Not only do we now have gangs roaming the streets of Hale and Altrincham at night, coming from neighbouring towns and districts and looking to cause trouble but we have a council which is trying its utmost to drive people away by hiking up parking charges and covering every eventuality by making people pay until 10pm. Businesses will lose out in the long run as I am sure the leisure centre, Tescos and the businesses of Altrincham will be experiencing.

We often refer to our council as having the best education available. Well, whoever brought this in needs to return to school to learn how to run a business and learn some basic common sense before our property prices are the next to plummet because we are being seen to live in a run down area !

Yours faithfully, K A Paterson, Riddings Road, Timperley, Altrincham