From 'Concerned':-

WE have a situation in Moreton that needs sorting out before businesses go to the wall.

Iceland recently introduced pay and display car parking - I find it quite ridiculous for a supermarket to charge its customers to shop there.

You can claim the parking fee back, but you have to spend £2 in Iceland and the hassle of getting tickets etc means that I, for one, don't bother shopping there as much.

Because of the parking fee, motorists are now either parking in the Kwik Save car park or in nearby side streets. Vehicles are also using a private car park, prompting the owners to threaten to clamp people. The situation is chaotic, and motorists and residents are getting very angry - all because Iceland saw fit to charge people.

I appreciate that some motorists would park on Iceland's car park and leave their vehicles all day, but there was never a real problem finding a parking space to do your shopping.

Surely, an easier way would have been to monitor the car park for a week or so and find out who was abusing the system and threaten to clamp them?

After talking with some of the smaller business owners in this area, it is becoming apparent that many people are now doing their main shopping outside of Moreton.

I understand the situation is so bad now that Moreton traders have formed an association to try and sort the problem out. Surely it's now time for our local councillors to take a long hard look at this? I understand they cannot dictate to private companies, but they can bring pressure to bear.

I really feel sorry for the residents of Joan Avenue, who are suffering more than most. Someone must do something before this gets worse and Moreton loses even more businesses.

An easier option would be for Iceland to remove the pay and display, but I doubt they will without people applying pressure.

Name and address supplied.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.