SIR - The whole weight of officialdom was brought to bear on a pregnant mother who was penalised £100 for allegedly dumping her black bag rubbish after her wheelie bin had been destroyed by two arson attacks.

What an amazingly inverted sense of priorities have been demonstrated by Worcester City Council, its official and the accompanying police community support officer.

Yet the council, its officials and the police take no action and impose no penalty when groups of travellers camp at will at sites such as Croft Road, Ronkswood, Shrub Hill and Diglis and leave gas cylinders, piles of rubbish and human excrement.

This filth has to be removed by specialists, often at council tax-payers' expense.

Malcolm Cox and Mike Harrison (respectively operations manager and head of the greener and cleaner city at the council) state that the council has been forced to adopt a tougher line, an enforcement role and to use the stick on litter - strong words from individuals with grand-sounding titles. However, perhaps the words would sound stronger if the tough line, enforcement and the stick were directed more appropriately, such as towards the travellers.

Is that just too much of a challenge, whereas a pregnant woman is an easy pushover by comparison.

DAVID TURNER, Worcester.