THE recent TV programme The UK's Worst High Street gave a very clear vision of Swindon to come. The winner of the "award" was Leatherhead. The council in this town, very similar to Swindon in many ways, has successfully excluded traffic from its centre. The town centre is now a peaceful haven for councillors and pensioners. Unfortunately, nobody else goes there. The High Street is full of closed shops, building societies and estate agents. The customers have gone and Leatherhead is now a ghost town. The councillors remain arrogant about the "success" of their policy.

How long will it be before Swindon goes the same way? "Enlightened" council policy, encouraged by European funding, is doing its best to drive the traffic out of Swindon.

Having on two occasions in recent weeks spent over an hour trying to escape from the multi-storey car park alongside the Wyvern, I can see their policy is working very well. Traffic queues abound throughout Swindon. Cars can neither get in or out gridlock everywhere. We now have wonderful (empty) buses on dedicated bus lanes, multi-million pound park and ride parks (also empty), wonderful cycle tracks going nowhere, extortionate parking fees, and chaos on every road and junction leading into town at any time of day.

Having travelled extensively at home and abroad, by car and by public transport, Swindon must qualify as the most mismanaged traffic system outside Bangkok.

Please can someone deliver us from the fools who run our transport policy. Wake up Swindon BC, before our town also becomes a Leatherhead. Remove the bus lanes, traffic calming, no entries, and traffic lights everywhere. Let the traffic flow again stationary traffic does more to pollute the environment than anything else. Let the poor driver go about his business without obstacles at every turn. Please!

MR P MORRISON

Overbrook

Eldene

Swindon