THE relentless campaign by a group of Hexham’s town centre traders for a return to the old paid parking system is hard to credit.

I walked past the station one weekday morning and noticed that the car park was almost empty. I checked the terms and conditions; you don’t have to be a train traveller to use this car park and it cost £2 for a whole day.

It is, therefore, providing exactly what the traders campaign group says that they want – paid all-day parking within easy reach of the town centre.

It’s actually less than two minutes‘ walk from the offices of one of the most vociferous campaigners!

This evidence suggests that the traders are either not willing to pay for parking, as they claim, or are too idle to walk the short distance to the town centre from the station.

Perhaps what they really want is a return to the old system where they enjoyed subsidised parking permits which allowed them to park all day, right outside their shops, funded by the ratepayers and shoppers.

I support the town council, which has been outrageously vilified over this issue. Yes, we need to improve the present parking system, and yes we should be looking to replace parking capacity which is being lost, and make provision for future development of the town (particularly for disabled shoppers/visitors/shop workers).

But let’s not give up on the principle of a free parking scheme, which benefits, and is actually supported by, the vast (but mainly silent) majority of our community.

DAVID OLIVER,

Hexham