REGULAR readers of this weekly wrestle with life will know I have particularly strong views about certain issues. And one that exercises me more than most is parking.

I believe drivers should be able to park without cost wherever they wish to on public streets; unless that would involve causing an obstruction. Furthermore, parking fees should be abolished in all public car parks.

Why, you may ask, has Tunners not become a politician to fight on such matters of principle? Well, the answer is that although I am a man of many parts (some of them working) I am simply not a political animal.

However, if I were I would roar like a lion to halt the war against motorists, especially in rural communities like South Lakeland.

Here we are heavily reliant on our own vehicles because public transport is woefully inadequate and prohibitively expensive.

You would think our local authorities would have got the picture by now, but they haven’t judging by the crazy parking policies that are being proposed at both local and county level.

First, South Lakeland District Council decided it wanted to introduce overnight parking charges; then Cumbria County Council suggested motorists should be charged for on-street parking. Such proposals are unfair, unwarranted and utter madness when our town centres are struggling to survive.

Every year SLDC allows free parking in its car parks on Sundays in the run-up to Christmas to encourage shoppers into the district’s towns. If it works like that in December, why don’t they do it all year?

You could be forgiven for thinking councils are more interested in their own finances than those of local shops. Why don’t they realise that if our town centres are to survive they need to become motor-friendly because the car is not going away?

And when are they going to realise that inviting visitors from afar to drive into your town and stinging them for the privilege is bad mannered? The problem is, it seems, that motorists are seen collectively as a cash cow – to be milked at every turn!