DO we have a climate emergency? Are our cities and towns clogged by cars, many of them carrying only one person? Is the congestion caused by these vehicles leading to high levels of pollution? Is the health of people, young and old, being damaged by this pollution?

Do we have an obesity epidemic, caused in part by people getting in their car outside their home and getting out of it at work? Do we have a health crisis caused in part by people using their cars too much for short journeys?

Are all these cars and other motor vehicles in our towns and cities delaying our buses? Could many of the people currently driving to work, one person per car, switch to using public transport or a bike, or even walk?

Are people on low incomes being pressured into buying an old, pollution-rich car because they can’t afford bus fares? Do we need better public transport, particularly a better bus service?

These are just some of the questions provoked by your provocative headline on your front page (“Scots face paying out hundreds to park at workplace”, October 10) and the answer to each of these questions is a resounding “yes”.

We all need to play our part in resolving the problems and challenges that face us to make our towns and cities better places to live and work. The workplace parking levy is just one of the measures that we can take.

It works in Nottingham, where the Labour party brought it in, and where there is an excellent public bus and tram service. It can work in Scotland too, and Scottish cities deserve a public transport system to rival, and perhaps outdo, Edinburgh and Nottingham.

Let’s look towards what we can do to benefit the many, rather than let the car-commuting minority destroy our environment. Employers need to be more inventive when it comes to where they place their premises and how their employees get to work.

Patricia Fort, Glasgow.

IF my employer provides me with for a season ticket for my bus journey to work, I have to pay tax on the value of the ticket. And rightly so, as it is a benefit in kind. Nobody argues with that.

But if the employer provides me with a parking place at work, the idea of taxing that benefit is met with condemnation and protest by politicians and businesses. It is a “regressive tax”, “a bad idea”, “a charter for extra cost and complexity”. A measure of even-handedness would be welcomed.

Mike Lewis, Edinburgh.

WE learn that workers, with spaces to park their cars at their place of work, are now likely to have imposed charges upon them through their employers for that facility. It has already been referred to by the AA as “the poll tax on wheels”.

The SNP Government has decided to press on with this against the advice of the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Scottish Police Federation, the unions representing the teachers, and many other bodies.

It is important to realise that the SNP would be unable to so act unless they had the assistance of their ‘little helpers’ in the shape of the Scottish Green Party.

At the 2016 elections for the Scottish Parliament 129 MSPs were elected by one means or another. How many votes did the Green Party get in the constituencies form of election? The answer: 13,172. How many seats did they get? None. Under the Regional Additional Members arrangements how many votes did they get? The answer:150,426. How many seats did they get? Six.

There is more than a hint here of the tail wagging the dog. So why did the SNP go along with what is likely to prove to be a poisoned chalice? It is fairly clear that the SNP were keen to get their budget through Parliament at stage one and to do that they were seeking to get the Green Party on board. To secure that, this was part of the price solicited by the Green Party: the SNP decided to pay.

I am sure that the workers who are eventually faced with substantial parking bills will be gratified to know that their lives are being seriously affected in this way by the Greens with their limited representation at Holyrood.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

THE workplace parking tax exempts NHS sites. So if you’re an NHS consultant earning a hundred grand plus per year you’ll pay nothing to park your vast four-wheel-drive. Or is it assumed that all NHS workers are unable to pay, whereas all low-paid night workers or shift workers on zero hours contracts at difficult to access locations can pay? Or perhaps working for the NHS means your car miraculously doesn’t pollute?

This is ill-conceived, jingoistic legislation from an out-of-touch, metropolitan elite.

Martin Redfern, Edinburgh.

SO the SNP government thinks a parking tax for workplaces is a good way to combat global warming and cut down on pollution, and to display its green credentials.

If it aims to divert people towards public transport, it should think about improving public transport and making it free for those who contribute through the workplace to the nation’s economic, educational and health wellbeing. That would necessitate synchronisation of bus and train timetables to make their journeys smoother and more reliable.

Furthermore, it should legislate for a shorter working week, in that those who work a 40-hour week and use public transport have less contact with their families.

What exceptions would be made for those whose cars are used during the working day after clocking in at their workplace? To impose parking penalties on those who are barely managing could drive them into debt, with this reduction in their wages of £37.50.

When electric cars come on stream, there will be no need for this regressive approach to car parking at any workplace. I see no good reason for inflicting this financial penalty on those who are keen to get to work as quickly as possible, and on time.

Denis Bruce,

Bishopbriggs.