Make space for more deserving
I read the recent letter "Don't abuse parent parking spaces" and asked myself: "Isn't it time some of these parents got into the real world?"
I am a pensioner who is still driving but I have back problems and difficulty walking any distance, though thankfully not severe enough to merit a disabled badge.
There are no allocated parking spaces for people such as myself, of whom there are hundreds. Why should parents have spaces allocated for them and not us?
When I was a child my mother had to walk with me to the shops or go on the bus and carry all the shopping home while looking after me.
There were no luxuries such as cars for the average working class parent, they had to get on with it.
So why do parents now think they are an elite group?
I for one admit I do park in these parent-allocated places if the alternative is walking some distance and I will continue to do so.
It has nothing to do with me being lazy. It's the other way round - lazy parents bringing their children up to be the same.
Name and address supplied

Great to see cabs kicked to the kerb
With regards to the article about cab drivers at Preston railway station, well done to the station authorities for imposing the rules.
These drivers seem to think they own the station approach.
I know of one female disabled driver who will not go down there in case there is a backlog of taxis because she feels intimidated.
Richard Cook, via email

Banking reforms to prevent more crises
Since sound banking controls were relaxed in the 1980s, major UK financial institutions have spectacularly collapsed – Equitable Life, Barings and, but for government intervention, Northern Rock.
Also there have been the personal pensions' crisis, the the mortgage indemnity fiasco and now, the sub-prime mortgage debacle.
All have been due to gross management incompetence and greed.
The financial institutions have repeatedly ignored sound banking principles by risky speculation, offering large loans to high risk clients and conning millions of good customers into buying unsuitable costly services.
Many highly paid directors gambled with the hard-earned money we put in their trust.
Could you imagine someone asking you to risk your savings on a package of bad debts? Sensible people would send them packing.
But our financial institutions did the opposite. They gambled billions on a pig in a poke.
Most suffered heavy losses but kept quiet, their heads down while Northern Rock took the flak.
Now the Banks don't even trust each other's credibility enough to allow essential inter-bank borrowing. These highly overpaid, incompetent directors now have the bare-faced cheek to demand the Government and their shareholders bail them out.
Instead our MPs, financial regulators and the media must insist on stern banking reforms to prevent another, deeper crisis.
Peter Ward (former company pension director), Cottam, via email

Protect all the areas around River Ribble
Well done to South Ribble Borough Council for taking the decision to protect our river banks and green spaces and to create a new country park in Penwortham (Evening Post, April 17).
This will enhance the local environment and afford long-term protection for our green spaces and is exactly what most local residents have wished for.
In the short time it has been in power, this administration has shown a willingness to listen.
Contrast this with the situation in Preston, where local policies are formulated by the unaccountable Preston Vision Board which remains intent on developing the river corridor against the explicit wishes of residents on both sides of the Ribble.
Chris David, Leyland Road, Penwortham

Step on the gas
I've just read in the LEP that Centrica plc is looking to build a £300m gas storage facility off our coastline.
Is that a £300m building or is it storage for £300m of gas? If it's the latter, I've a couple of old coffee jars they can have. With what they charge us, it will fit.
Allan Fazackerley, Monks Walk, Penwortham

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