17 JANUARY 1970, Page 26

Memo to Mintech

Sir: I read with amusement in J. W. M. Thompson's 'Memo to Mintech' (`Spec- tator's Notebook', 3 January) of the perverse meter outside a Kensington resident's home.

I recall a day last summer when I was at- tempting, in vain, to insert an English six- pence into a Brighton parking meter. An Italian visitor in the next parking bay, seeing my plight, provided the remedy. He inserted a five lira piece which the machine instantly digested.

Here surely is the perfect example of man and meter striving together for European unity.

C. I. M. Gebbie

11 St Anne's Terrace. Lewes, Sussex