OXFORD city councillor Ed Turner may want to try, unconvincingly, to justify the city council’s actions in raising car parking charges (Saturday’s Oxford Mail), but I don’t believe for one minute that the fall in car parking figures in central Oxford has anything whatsoever to do with the economic downturn.

When the last ridiculous increases were applied last January, and we were charged some exorbitant price to park in the Westgate for a little over an hour, we decided that the city council wanted neither cars nor visitors in central Oxford – and vowed never to return to Oxford for shopping purposes.

We have not returned, and nor will we, especially while Witney parking is free, and Swindon, Cheltenham and even Reading not only have a far superior selection of shops but also maintain welcoming and reasonable parking prices.

The Oxford park and ride is fine but absolutely pointless for elderly folk with heavy shopping.

A number of my friends and associates have expressed similar views to these; no wonder local tradespeople are distressed.

Local politicians, like some of their national counterparts, need to get real.

They should get out of denial, understand the needs and views of their electorate and react appropriately.

Roger Sillence, Witney