Bolton Council yesterday canvassed public opinion in the first of a series of public seminars on the controversial subject of parking.

It was meant to focus on all aspects of the service, but, inevitably, enforcement was top of the agenda for most of the 200-plus people who went to Mere Hall in Halliwell.

So many attended this out-of-town venue because, as the Bolton Evening News has highlighted over many months, people across the borough are generally unhappy with "over zealous" parking attendants.

Main points of concern included the opinion that issuing of parking tickets has moved into "overkill", traders and shoppers are being driven away, and parking attendants needed to modify their approach.

On the plus side, it was recognised that enforcing the parking laws prevents chaos and keeps traffic flowing, with the town centre benefiting from this. And, of course, that the law is there to be enforced.

Deputy council leader Guy Harkin promised that all the views will be "taken on board", and that even simple suggestions like lowering legal notice signs could help. He says that the council is "trying to iron out all the anomalies", and we sincerely hope that these are not empty phrases.

Parking has become a dirty word in Bolton, and this does not need to be the case. Everyone realises that parking attendants have a job to do and that they are there to enforce the law. But any semblance of sense appears to have long been abandoned, along with basic public relations skills, by attendants who appear unable to diffuse the situation.

Someone, somewhere in authority in this particular thorny system must start to give realistic guidance in dealing with the public, and monitor it carefully. The people have made their feelings plain, and Bolton Council ignore this at their peril.

Cycling lane sense

PUBLIC opinion should also be taken into account on the matter of Moss Bank Way.

Five years ago this busy artery dropped from two lanes to one to accommodate a cycling lane, angering the many motorists who daily use this now congested route. Cllr Stuart Lever says change it back and re-route the cyclists. We wholeheartedly agree.