I attended the Oxford Literary Festival for the first time, thanks to the Guild of Food Writers' annual meeting and lunch held at Christ Church, the latter part of the festival.

The far-ranging programme was of astonishingly high calibre, the choices impossibly difficult to make but made them I did.

They were all stimulating and erudite. Congratulations to all who run and participate in this remarkable festival.

However, it was marred by one strand - park-and-ride charges.

I dutifully parked my car at Seacourt to find a charge for parking and a charge for the bus.

Surely those who wish to rid Oxford of its gridlock - and quite rightly too, although the huge proportion of buses have replaced the cars, thereby causing, yes, gridlock -- might offer the visitor a free ride into town?

To be charged twice for the privilege is remarkable cheek - other visitors on the bus were equally taken aback.

It might help, too, to have had a bus driver who was pleasant - the surliness and unhelpfulness encountered by one driver was quite eye-watering.

Carol Godsmark, Chichester, West Sussex