IN response to the article “It’s surely not setting the right example?” (Daily Echo, June 16), I wish to clarify the situation regarding parking of street services vehicles.

The car featured in the photograph accompanying the story is used by myself in the course of my pest control operations. You can see in the picture that the vehicle carries a yellow triangle warning sticker on the rear. The reason behind this is that pest control vehicles carry many toxic chemicals and rodenticides used in the course of our work and Health and Safety Executive guidance recommends that technicians must park as close as possible to their location when working to minimise the risk to the public.

The further we have to carry poisons, the greater the risk is of spillage and exposure to the public.

That is why all three pest control vehicles in Bournemouth carry the yellow sticker on their vehicles and are granted an exemption. We do, of course, try to park off the road where possible but this isn’t always the case and occasionally we are forced to leave the vehicle on yellow lines. However the safety of the public is paramount and always our first concern.

NIC WEDGE, operations manager, pest control services, Bournemouth Borough Council