ANYONE doubting the instructions given daily to Bolton's parking wardens has only to glance at what they brought in for the council in just one year.

From April last year to May this year, they raised more than £1 million by slapping £60 parking tickets on 44,668 cars.

It's a safe bet that a proportion of these could have been solved by judging cases on their merits.

Tickets displayed incorrectly, or cars parked in bays just too small to accommodate them should not automatically attract a fine.

No job is normally carried out without any commonsense, apart from this one.

But now that we can see the results of this particular "black economy", all becomes clear.

If they carried signs saying "Motorists - Thank You For Supporting Bolton Council. Your Fine Matters" it would be a much more honest situation.