So it may come as a blessed relief to many that Calderdale Council is considering giving hard-pressed drivers an early Christmas present.

It proposes to reduce the parking tariff at its least popular car parks to 20p an hour with a maximum daily charge of £1.50.

By doing this it hopes to attract vehicles away from the town centre where they pay 60p-an-hour off-street and 80p-an-hour on for the privilege.

The Courier of course, supports this move, but not unreservedly.

With the credit crunch biting hard and the gloom merchants already saying this will be one heck of a tough Christmas for the high street, is the council really playing Santa Claus or Scrooge?

By definition, less popular car parks are the ones that are situated furthest from town.

The last thing anyone wants on a dark winter's afternoon is a long walk into town. At the very least it is inconvenient, at worst they may feel vulnerable, especially if they have bought a lot of goods.

So here is a suggestion. Why not make all car parks free in the two week lead-up to the big day?

What is lost in revenue would be regained in goodwill and the boost it would give to the town's retailers would be immeasurable.