I HAVE just read about council parking revenue down this year.

Surprise, surprise!

Nobody wants to pay £1.05p per hour to park in Birkenhead or Wallasey, when they can park in FREE car parks belonging to supermarkets; which, by the way, were full to the brim up to Christmas.

The new charges of £1.05 are cunning. If you don't have the 5p, you put in £1.10, £1.20 or more, but the machines don't give change.

When new meters were put in around Bridge Street / Tailor Street / George Street area, I was told each meter cost about £3,500 to install.

Before the meters, there were cars each side of the roads around this area, now, if you see one, you are lucky.

And what are the council spending the money on? The replacement of 'lit' road bollards with solar powered flat ones, on springs.

Count the number of these that haven't sprung back up? If you can see one lit, you know why so many are knocked down, because there is more light in a candle.

More wasted money are the electronic warning signs, even more thousands of pounds each, and displaying well out of date information, all the time.

It is not the shortage of money in this council, but how they decide to spend it.

Although they will be saving some money next year … they have made me redundant.

John Harrison. Ex-tramdriver/ museum technician