Parking fines rocket because of the centre's addiction to power | Simon Jenkins

Conservatives like Eric Pickles espouse freedom for local councils, but they have done nothing to show they mean it

The Sunday queue at Lots Road car pound might be an upmarket soup kitchen. Yuppies and hedgies line up to retrieve the previous week's towed away Porsches and BMWs. Many victims are foreigners, relieved at their vehicles being not stolen but merely impounded, a relief that turns to rage when they find they must pay £400 (and steeply rising) to get their cars back.

The car pound is...