FOLLOWING the article about Scarborough council "fining" us on behalf of Hambleton council after 6pm for parking on Northallerton High Street (D&S Times, Nov 4), the director of the RAC Foundation said in December 2015: "The legal position is that parking charges are to be used as a tool for managing traffic. But with local government budgets under ever-greater pressure the temptation to use them as a fund-raiser is intense."

When a parking profit is made, the law states that the money can only be spent on transport and environment projects. In simple terms, revenue from parking fines and permits is by law limited to recovering the costs of managing the parking restrictions.

The law prohibits the use of this money for any other purpose.

Scarborough council has succumbed to the temptation to use parking fines and permits as a revenue stream, posting a profit of £3.5m last year.

These profits may be unlawful – which is another way of saying that motorists are being robbed. Councils are enforcing payment by usurping the authority of the magistrates.

In the past five years, Scarborough council alone has relieved motorists of almost £17m. Much of it – certainly in the case of Controlled Parking Zones – has been collected on an arguably unlawful basis.

Sadly, many motorists will write their losses off to experience – rather than raise their heads above the parapet.

I seem to recall that 95 per cent of us voted against parking charges, but the council went ahead.

Where does our MP stand on this? We never get to hear as he’s too busy posing for the camera and not addressing his constituents’ concerns.

Stuart Upton, Northallerton