I AM writing to express my absolute disgust at the tactics employed by the police in their raid on the Warehouse night club a week last Friday.

Anyone familiar with the club will be aware that it is the only independently run nightclub left in Lancaster. Mark Harding, the proprietor, a man I am proud to know, has worked hard to provide a venue catering for the varied musical interests of all the people of Lancaster. In other words, whilst huge corporate interests have effortlessly packed the city with theme pubs and characterless clubs aimed exclusively at sucking the student pound into bank accounts far from here, the Warehouse alone has sacrificed profit for quality and offered a rich menu of entertainment that even some of us (older) folks, who actually live and pay rates here, can enjoy.

Never, on any of my many visits to the club, have I felt threatened by the behaviour of staff or clientele. The atmosphere is always friendly, the doorstaff discreet and the music excellent. I am less happy with the service I receive from the police. Every year a portion of my council tax goes towards their increasing costs and every year they lament the lack of funds needed to increase the visible police presence on the street. Yet, it seems, if they want to turn the routine arrest of known small time dealers into a media stunt, money is suddenly no object.

Up to 80 officers in full riot gear in brand new Mercedes transporters do not come cheap, nor does the amount of video equipment deployed.

If the raid, which one local reporter invited along for the jolly tell us, was targeting three previously identified suspects, why was everyone in the club that night - the vast majority totally innocent - treated like criminals? Would it not have been simpler - and cheaper- to send a small undercover squad in after the suspects and leave other clubbers unmolested. Was it necessary to smash glasses and herd people around like cattle? Can it be legal for people subsequently charged with nothing at all, to be forced to give personal details into video cameras?

This fiasco is a timely and expensive lesson in the wrongs of media driven policing. This story I suspect is very far from over.

Mr S Cook Dolphinholme