ABOUT three years ago the city council spent our money engaging consultants to help improve its image and staff morale after the eight Labour years.

At the final presentation, officers and members accepted the consultants' recommendations about future openness.

We now read that Cllr Dowding has been suspended by the Standards Board for England for trying to follow this recommendation. Somebody must be proud of having grassed on her. Have they the guts to admit it, or are they one the silent 'establishment' that so affects our lives?

It is ironic that it should have been about being late payment of tax to the council. Might the council look at its own honesty?

When an ordinary council tax payer misses a few payments, instead of sending a further reminder, a summons is printed. It looks as if it is from the magistrates' court, but it is from a printer in the Town Hall..

Now this is where the real scam starts. The finance director sends an underling to the court to say that printing this summons cost more than £30! Magistrates, thinking that the council can do no wrong, accept this. But they only add on another £10 for their own real costs.

Of the £40 extra the forgetful taxpayer ends up with on his bill, about £29 is sheer profit for the council. In my opinion, this is the sort of thing that Standards Boards should be looking into.

Michael Jackson, Peacock Lane, Lancaster.