I WONDER how many of the new traffic wardens will be congregating near Blackburn Railway Station as they seek out a windscreen on which to slap a bonus-generating ticket.

I also wonder if Network Rail (NR) will be settling their customers' parking tickets.

Last weekend I decided to take my 10-month-old son on a train trip from Blackburn to Chester, leaving mid-morning and returning at tea time.

I drove to the station with time to spare and found the car park fenced off because of demolition work.

I was shocked to find a paltry SIX bays allocated for rail users at the front of the station -- all taken by non-rail users no doubt.

My annoyance increased with the radius of my fruitless search, trying to find somewhere to park a car for more than an hour near the station without penalty.

With less than five minutes to go before the train departed I gave up and dumped my car somewhere I shouldn't have and ran to the station. I feared the inevitable ticket or clamp all day.

It's marvellous that NR is investing in new stations in East Lancashire and, to a point, I even agree with stricter parking regulation but I plead to both to give rail-users risk-free parking spaces near large stations before we abandon the trains for ever.

G MIDDLETON, Oakdale, Blackburn.