YET again we see 'knee jerk reactions' on the part of the various councils in the Forest of Dean.

This time it's the exit from the Bream Road car park in Lydney that have been the  object of their  attentions. I live in sight of the car park and its exit onto the Bream Rd, and to say that motorists '.....were stopped in their tracks....' last Monday by the blocking of the Hill St. exit would be putting it mildly. The traffic jams on the Bream Rd. reached back well past the school and made any attempt to  exit from  Stanford Rd, where I live, virtually impossible.

There are a number of 'red herrings' in the statements made by various councillors in your piece last Wednesday, not the least being that of Cllr. Brian Robinson. Saying that 'drivers have been cutting across the car park' is observing the direct result of the undemocratic imposition of the parking charges in the area. Before that the car park was almost always 75-80 per cent full and it was impossible to 'cut across'.

On Monday morning there were five cars parked there, which number speaks for itself. Would it not have been more sensible to lay the barriers alongside the 'correct route' through the car park? That short cut has been used for many years, since the mid-80s at least, and that's  a direct result of there being no traffic management at all at the Bream Rd-Hill St junction. If ever a junction cried out for traffic lights that one has, and saying '....but this is some way off' is no excuse. They've been needed there since the last century!

Cllr Patrick Molyneux says he'd be be happy to hear any feedback, well this is it! As for the blocked exit being 'temporary' I might point out that this entire country is still under a 'temporary' 70 mph maximum speed restriction that was imposed in 1966. If the blocked exit only lasts as long as it takes for saner minds to prevail I'll be quite happy, but I'm not holding my breath.

Cllr. Bill Osborne suggests that drivers exiting the car park onto Hill St constitute a danger to children crossing Hill St just below the exit. Does he actually drive a car? It's impossible to exit there without coming to a complete halt and looking up the hill past the library to ensure you'd not be collected by some 44 ton artic coming down the hill!

The blocking of the exit was hardly well publicised, the only indication that it was going to happen were some small signs, maybe 12 inches by six inches, that were posted in three to four different places around the car park. If these were intended for the  attention of drivers, as they surely must have been to gain any attention, they should have been a lot larger. As it was it was impossible to read them from a car following any route through or across the car park.

The direct cause of drivers using that short cut, as I've mentioned above, is the chaotic situation at the Bream Rd-Hill St junction and this action has made that problem infinitely worse.

Think again, this is not the solution.

– Kit Spackman, Lydney.