While people will no doubt have sympathy with the Lord Mayors Walk traders I cannot see how withholding business tax money in protest is going to help their cause.

Fighting fire with fire in this case is a lost cause, the city council will not sit back and allow people to dictate when they are going to pay or, in this case, not pay their statutory dues.

Come out of cloud cuckoo land and seriously think your actions through before you make complete fools of yourselves.

If you were allowed to set a precedent and not pay, everybody in the country who had a gripe with any council would take your course of action and anarchy would set in.

The council has probably got one of the best legal teams in the country, are you prepared to go head to head with them with only one possible outcome - a costly legal bill for you to pay plus plenty of egg on your faces?

PR Willey,

Burnholme Drive,

Heworth, York.

Updated: 11:13 Friday, June 25, 2004