SIR – Do readers of Worcester News ever wonder why the Worcester park and ride system fails, while other comparable cities’ park and ride are a success?
I would suggest it is because most other cities like Bath, Oxford etc have banned on-street parking except for residents and charged very high fees for city centre parking.
All these factors make the park and ride the most attractive option in these cities.
Many Worcester back streets are crammed with city workers’ cars and shoppers’ cars that are parked free of charge and, in many cases, with no restrictions.
That Worcestershire cannot solve its traffic problems should come as no surprise when remembering the Whittington and Ketch Island debacles.
We can all be pardoned for thinking that the people in charge of our transportation systems, both elected and professional, are not fit for purpose.
TERRY JAMES
Drakes Broughton

Real caring means stopping the problem
SIR – I would point out to those who believe that, by opening our borders to yet more immigration we are solving the migrant crisis, that careful thought, rather than knee-jerk
self-righteousness, is a good idea.
l There are millions of Syrian refugees and potentially tens of millions more from hotspots around the world. Accepting a privileged few may salve consciences here, but it does nothing for the many who must remain in or near a war zone.
l Migrants coming by sea are people who could afford to pay thousands of pounds to the vile people traffickers. Those too poor to do so must remain where they are.
l By appearing weak and not defending its border the EU has encouraged the dangerous sea voyages and the resulting deaths. It bears a share of the moral responsibility for them.
l People who want us to spend taxpayer funds on migrants are forcing British people poorer than them to contribute.
l It won’t work. If every time there is a war or internal conflict somewhere in the world we take in another wave of migrants, then there will be no end to the number of people we have to absorb.
Real caring involves much more than setting up sanctuary cities. Above all, it requires careful consideration to see how to prevent the crises and wars in the first place.
FRANCIS LANKESTER

Worcester

Just who is at fault for the food banks?
SIR – Walking through Droitwich today there was a signboard outside the old library saying  “FOOD BANK OPEN”.  Hard to believe this is the expanding Town of Droitwich, Worcestershire in the year 2015, where there is approved planning for hundreds more houses and a village on the outskirts yet we have people in need of “food banks”. 
How can this be when our government is allowing thousands more unclassified people into our country pressurising our already overstretched infrastructure and paying out millions of pounds to other overseas countries who either do not need it, use it to promote sporting activities or, to support their own high style of living. Oh, but I forget, they don’t govern any more, do they? Just rubber stamp new laws from their masters in Brussels and pay some
£50 plus million a day of our money for the privilege.  
TONY EAVES
Martin Hussingtree


Mass burial is not really a solution
SIR – It is not my habit to respond to N Taylor’s tirades and crude statistical projections due to his rudeness towards anyone with the temerity to question his certainties. However, in the closing sentence of his letter (“Councillors will make congestion worse”, Worcester News, September 28) he offers a solution to traffic congestion that must not go by without comment.
He states: “What we need to do is demolish half the houses we have in and around Worcester; and that will slash our traffic by half”.
I shudder to speculate on what he would have in store for those he would evict to demolish their homes. Perhaps he does not have eviction in mind. Perhaps he would want people to remain in their doomed homes so that they and their cars could be buried under their own rubble and so not rise again to return to the roads. After all, he is frequently angry about the growth in population without offering any way to manage the situation. Until now, that is.
“Simples!” he asserts. 
The only ‘simples’ in
N Taylor’s vision of society lies upstairs.
PETER NIELSEN
Worcester


Back the heroes who defend our country
SIR – How annoying to read that RAF sergeant Mark Prendeville, was “hidden out of sight” when he was taken to hospital in Margate after an eye injury – because he was wearing his uniform and he might upset other patients!
It’s horrifying that someone should be denigrated for wearing the uniform of their country. If other cultures are offended we have got our priorities totally wrong. Let them be offended and back the people in uniform defending this country.
GB DIPPER
Leominster

Appreciating rugby
SIR – Dear Dave Bradley (September 19). I don’t go to rugby matches with passion and enthusiasm but I do watch matches on my new TV.
Whacko! I love the roar of the grease paint, the smell of the crowd.
GEORGE COWLEY

Worcester