SO, the parking tills have been ringing pretty merrily at Worcester City Council for the past eight years.

New figures have revealed the Faithful City's revenues from car park charges have doubled in that time, with the Guildhall raking in more than £3m in 2003/4.

Why has this figure increased by so much? Presumably because there are more cars, more car parks, more parking spaces and, of course, higher parking charges now than in 1997.

Has all this extra cash been used to make our roads safer or clearer? Er, no, not really. Ask anyone stuck in a queue of traffic stretching from Sidbury to St John's and their answer would, we suspect, be unprintable.

What is obvious, however, is that higher car parking charges are not persuading people out of their vehicles.

You'd have to be blind not to see how desperately the Faithful City - with its roots in Norman cart tracks - needs some respite from the polluting demon that is King Car.

If nothing else, these statistics show the overwhelming need for an integrated transport policy for the city. How much longer Worcester can suffer under the weight of all these wheels is anyone's guess.

The county council has included two more park-and-ride sites in its Local Transport Plan, for 2006 to 2011.

Let's hope suitable sites are found quickly and, more importantly, drivers can be persuaded to actually use them.