Jerome Rogers

• I HAVE been a resident of Camden for most of my life and am ashamed that Jerome Rogers felt he had no option but to end his life (‘Aggressive debt chasing to blame for my son’s death’, May 4).

I remember, as a newly qualified driver, finding it hard to get a grip on all the parking rules (despite being a university graduate).

In my mid-20s I unintentionally amassed a number of outstanding parking fines. I too, like Jerome, was struggling to make ends meet, working and a single mother. Unlike Jerome my vehicle was not an essential tool for my work so I can’t imagine how he must have felt when the only means he had for earning money to pay this debt was immobilised.

I was able to arrange a payment plan directly with the council that meant the debt was cleared in a way that didn’t leave my family going without the essentials. This may have been in part due to my ability to present my case well, but you also had some pragmatic and empathetic staff in those days who had options available to them for resolving these types of issues.

I note in this article the council has passed the buck on to the debt collectors. I feel the council is shirking responsibility for this young man’s death. It is the council’s policy of selling debt that should be under scrutiny. This policy allowed what were two parking fines for £65 to become a debt to bailiffs of over £1,000. How do you justify this policy and the resultant debt?

I’d like the council to suspend all referrals to debt collectors while an independent review is conducted of the way parking fines are handled. The system needs to ensure fines can never become so overblown that the debt bears no relation to the original fine.

Our young people, trying to do the right thing, working zero-hour contract jobs to make ends meet should not be treated in this way. I’d hate to think how other young, elderly and vulnerable people are being victimised by this system.

Consideration needs to be given to the circumstances and the impact of these fines. While £65 is small beer to our Chelsea tractor driving neighbours who think nothing of double parking and parking on double yellows to drop their children off at school each day, £65 is a significant sum for someone on a low income or pension.

I’d also like to understand what the council has done as a result of this poor boy’s death to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

ANDRIANA NAIDOO
Nassington Road, NW3