I WOULD ask borough engineer Mike Cannon just how many penalty points will NCP get if I am correct in alleging that 95 per cent of their parking meter clocks in Bury are set "slow"?

Their performance has been abysmal over nearly two years. Just how bad does it have to get before the council does the right, and long overdue, thing ?

The letter (May 21) from Bury MBC parking manager John Foudy angered me tremendously. We motorists are sick and tired of the same old garbage being poured out by NCP and council officials. Continued "assurances" that the meter clocks are correct to within one minute, and that they are all automatically synchronised daily, is total nonsense. How can they be when they show different times? A very, very small number, about 5 per cent, are correct, none is "fast" and , in my opinion, the rest are all "slow" by up to five minutes.

Come on Mr Foudy, it's nothing to do with the suppliers; digital clocks are incredibly accurate if set correctly. It is everything to do with the local operatives who set them and I don't believe they are ever checked or corrected.

We are told that a police investigation is nearing completion but that only concerns the disgraceful episode when an NCP employee allegedly tried to frame an innocent motorist. The council investigation must look at the whole NCP performance, including any subsequent incident involving alleged falsified evidence, and the on-going meter clock scandal.

Mr Foudy, Mr Cannon and Councillor Stella Smith should not take the words of NCP at face value. Get out and check for yourselves. You cannot monitor meter clocks sitting in an office.

PARKERS' WATCHDOG