SOMEONE in the council must have had a mental blockage, as they have taken a simple-to-use system and turned it into something unusable by a good percentage of the community.

What are we talking about? The parking system, where, in return for an annual fee, we can park for up to two hours and use our local car park (Williton) to make short visits to the shops or the library.

West Somerset has the largest percentage of the elderly in the country.

This, together with approximately 70 per cent of the over-70s not having a smart phone (Age UK), plus a good number also not having a computer or being computer-literate, making life difficult.

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So what has the council done? It has taken a simple system and handed it to a parking company to run it virtually, where the user first has to register online and then either use an app, text, or ring an 0345 number.

(Don’t try ringing the number unless you have nothing else to do... I tried and gave up before I got any older!)

What are the elderly supposed to do?

With no means to register and unable to book using an app or text, they either will have to pay the car park fee on a daily basis, even if they are only there for a short time, or give up, as carrying heavy shopping or books any distance is not possible.

I trust the council will be refunding me my annual fee when I cannot use it any longer.

So much for the public service from our council!

JOHN IRVING & MANY OTHERS