I fully endorse Mr Armstrong's view (Driven to Distraction) in last week's letters column.

Croydon Council catches hundreds of drivers a year in bus lanes and it seems there is only one of two reasons for this.

There is either a huge rogue element of car drivers who cannot resist to gain a few car lengths by driving down a bus lane (despite an almost certain guarantee of an £80 fine).

Or the bus lane signs are inadequate, confusing, misleading or too complicated to be read in time.

The answer, of course, is reason number two.

Let us be very clear, bus lanes are monitored by hugely expensive equipment and personnel for one reason because they are an enormously profitable sideline for Croydon Council.

Any other reasons, such as minimising congestion or keeping public transport moving is sheer bunkum.

Croydon Council is desperate for the money and are in no mood to allow any appeals because a driver (who could be a pensioner on a very limited income) made a very simple mistake.

Which brings me on to the subject of Mr Mobbs (Letters January 30) whose car was towed away outside Taberner House leaving him on the street with no money (his wallet was in the car) and no clue as to where his vehicle had gone.

What possible reason could there be for such a hostile act as towing it away?

I'm afraid the answer once again, Mr Mobbs, is money.

There are plenty of abandoned cars in the borough which need towing away but the Council take days or weeks to get round to it.

Mr Mobbs is right, Croydon town centre is a hugely hostile place to those who drive there in our cars, made so by the avarice of Croydon Council.

So may I speak for the 95 per cent of family car owners who don't live within walking distance of the tram.

We have children, babies and prams and when we want to go shopping, buses are not an option.

We want to use our cars.

We have earned the right to be able to drive our cars to the nearest shopping centre on well kept roads and suitable free parking when we get there.

We are sick and tired of being terrorised by Croydon Council's money-grabbing schemes for petty bus lane or parking infringements.

Is house burglary a more serious crime than a bus lane or parking infringement?

If the answer is yes, then why don't Croydon Council shift their cameras and traffic warden patrols to the residential streets with the highest levels of burglary?

Without fundamental changes in Croydon Council's attitude to car-users, the town centre will remain a hostile place.

Out of borough retail parks, such as Bluewater, with easy road access and huge free car parking facilities will become the only affordable option for family shoppers.

The extra petrol costs in getting there will be nothing compared to the increasing cost of Croydon Council bus lane and parking fines.

Richard Thomson

Glebe Hyrst

Sanderstead