SIR -- After reading Dawn Farrell's letter about the lack of parking in Oxford and your article, Buses are the problem not the solution (Oxford Mail, December 15), I had a revelation about the pollution problem in Oxford.

I am a regular cyclist and bus user, mainly because I have not owned a car for several years.

When I used to visit the centre of Oxford, I would drive, then pay a small fortune to park and get very frustrated at the state of the roads and car parks.

I used to think that the problem was caused by everyone else and I believed that I was in the right because I was a local resident.

However, after a little soul searching, I realise that I was as much a cause of the pollution/congestion problems around the city as anyone else.

Therefore, I stopped complaining and did something about it.

For someone like Ms Farrell to drive from Cumnor to Oxford (all of five miles), then drive around for 20 minutes looking for a parking space seems ludicrous to me.

Why not use the bus? If all residents who live in Oxford and the surrounding areas looked in the mirror and realised that rising problems on our roads are caused by us all, if we all took a little time and effort to do something about it and not spend time complaining, the roads would be less congested, the air would be cleaner and the buses would be a 'parade of full buses'.

We need to start blaming ourselves. We need to realise we are all causing these problems.

We need to do something about it. Leave the car at home for a week. Trust me, you won't regret it,

PAUL WATERS

Cowley

Oxford