PARKING: This is not justice

At the very same time a motorist drove out of the multi-storey car park exit at the eastern end of Chatsworth Road and turned left, driving the wrong way along the road.

A policeman happened to see this, stopped the driver and gave her a severe reprimand. No fine, just a ticking off.

Last week an 18-year-old motorist, who had just passed his test, drove into the back of a vehicle in Worthing and the accident caused the driver of the other car minor injuries.

She had stopped and he just ran into the back of her car. Police were called. In the old days there would have been no hesitation '“ police would have reported the offending teenager for careless driving.

But no longer. Police are just not bothering to take these cases to court.

The result is that there are more and more careless motorists, who should be given the short, sharp shock of having their licences removed for a period, just getting away with it.

No wonder our roads are increasingly dangerous places to be.

At the same time, we are persecuting any motorist who dares to commit the most minor parking infringement, and, of course, we have a multitude of cameras all over the country ready to zap a motorist daring to speed.

In my book, a driver crashing into another car and another driving the wrong way in a one-way street have done far worse things than someone parking 1ft outside a parking bay.

This country is being run today by crazy people who have got their priorities upside down.

I suppose the problem is that prosecuting motorists for actual traffic offences takes too much time and it's easier to extract the cash from parkers and speeders who are far less likely to tie up hours of police time in court battles.

This is not justice and it's a million miles away from British fair play. It's no wonder people are rushing to emigrate from this country '“ and here's another example...

I just cannot imagine the absurdity of shelving a pancake race because of health and safety.

It happened in Ripon where organisers were told they would have to pay 260 to close a road, have to have insurance risk assessments undertaken, and pay for medical staff to be on hand in case of injuries or accidents.

We're in danger of risk assessing ourselves into becoming total couch potatoes. If bureaucracy had its way, no-one in Britain would do anything.

Fun is being thrown out of the window because of petty, stupid officialdom and a culture which came from America that if an accident happened then it must be someone's fault.

Compensation culture with vultures looking at any and every possibility of sueing to make megga bucks is ruining this country and making Britain the laughing stock of the world.

We're sleep-walking our way into being wrapped in cotton wool to save us from harm.

The irony is that if a risk assessment was undertaken on wrapping someone in cotton wool, it wouldn't happen '“ the risk would be too great that it could get up people's noses and suffocate them!