Letter: Cut jobsworths

A friend recently applied for a resident's parking permit for Edinburgh New Town. He went in person. He reports the whole experience as being Kafkaesque.

Official after official looked up with a frown of annoyance at this new disturbance and with a shake of the head silently pointed him to yet another window and yet another reluctant, not to say bored and boorish, clerk.

After an hour and a half of queues and half a dozen indifferent jobsworths, the permit was forced out of the system, but despite that my friend was, as may be imagined, not a happy man. Council cuts? Front line staff? Where to begin? Not a problem.

TIM FLINN

Garvald

East Lothian