IN RECENT memory a business imposed a “modest” increase from £12 to £13 – ie up 8.33 per cent; modest it is not.

Another establishment increased a cup of coffee from £2.20 to £2.45 (11.36 per cent), and now the Park&Ride parking charge goes from 60 pence to 70 (16.66 per cent). This latter rounding of ten pence is understandable because anything less would cause inconvenience.

However, on a personal level I think most of us would be ecstatic to receive a third of these percentages on the income side of the balance sheet.

I don’t wish to see the perpetrators of these increases pointing out to me their costs and justification, but the figures lend credence to the pressure at personal levels and no doubt a change in spending levels as a consequence.

Derek Chapplow, Middlethorpe Grove, York.