It’s wrong to say driver-only trains are best

AS A rail passenger, I don’t agree that the strikes on Southern are politically motivated and not concerned with safety (Mail).

It is wrong to claim driver-only trains have run for years without incident. There was recently an inquiry into an incident when a woman was dragged along the platform with her hand stuck in the doors because the driver hadn’t spotted her.

There have also been cases of disabled passengers left behind on platforms because there wasn’t a guard to help them board.

Platforms are often unmanned, so vulnerable passengers rely on a guard. Returning home with heavy luggage, I have often been grateful for help from a guard.

Then there is the question of passenger safety, especially for lone women after dark.

Travelling recently to Oxford on a service without a guard, I was concerned that the driver had to read out announcements while pulling into stations. Surely that is as dangerous as a motorist using their mobile phone?

It’s easy to blame militant trades unionists, but naive to assume they are the only cause of the strikes on Southern.

There are genuine concerns, and it appears the rail companies want to maximise profits at any cost to the travelling public.

JUDITH HOWARD, London SW11.

Justify pay

I SUPPORT the campaign to end the 1 per cent pay cap for public sector workers — but only for those who do the work, not the managers and bureaucrats.

Public sector workers with a salary greater than the Prime Minister’s should justify this or face a pay cut. ANGUS LONG, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Remain for this?

REMAINERS continually tell us of the disasters awaiting the UK if we leave the EU.

They fail to mention the wonderful plans the EU had for us if we had voted to stay in.

These included an EU army in which UK soldiers could be sent to war without a vote in the UK Parliament and an EU minister of finance to harmonise taxes (would that have meant VAT on food, as in Denmark?).

BILL HODGES, Eynesbury, Cambs.

Nuclear threat

I APPLAUD the timely article by Max Hastings warning that there is more danger of nuclear conflict today than at any time since World War II (Mail).

The bellicose confrontation between North Korea and the U.S. continues, with the possibility of it resulting in a nuclear war.

Yet people seem more concerned with calls to restrict fuel emissions in the distant future.

It’s time to get real: the threat to our planet is upon us now.

ALEX JENNINGS, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.

Coronation cowboy

SORRY, Sarah Vine, but my mother beat you to the crown of early pioneer in children’ s non genderspecific clothing( Mail ). For the Coronation Day street party in 1953, she dressed me as a cowboy in a checked shirt, trousers, Stetson and toy gun. I didn’t even have a red, white and blue hair ribbon. But I won first prize! TRUDY-ANN HARTSIOTIS,

Christchurch, Dorset.

Spanish operation

DON’T spend £8,000 for a private cataract operation because you have been on the NHS waiting list for too long (Letters).

With that money you could have a five-star holiday in Spain, with the operation done by a private ophthalmologist. And you would still go home with change.

GINA WATSON, Orgiva, Spain. UNLIKE the woman who had a cataract op within six days of being seen by an optician, I had all the tests in a fast-track process, met the consultant and signed a consent form on January 25. I’m still waiting for the surgery. Mrs E. TOMLINSON,

Preston, Lancs.

Waste of money

IT’S no surprise that £180,000 of care equipment is rusting away in a depot (Mail). Twice when my elderly mother has come out of hospital, she has been given a walking frame. We said we didn’t need one, as we already had two, but the response was: ‘We can’t take it back!’

So now she has four. A pity some of this wasted money isn’t used to care for the elderly.

JEAN SLOAN, Loughton, Essex.

Power cuts

ON A tank of fuel, my Fiesta 1.4 diesel travels 400 miles, carrying four plus luggage, with the air con, lights, windscreen wipers and radio going. Can the equivalent electric car do this? When it can, I’ll consider getting one.

ALEC TELFORD, Darlington, Co. Durham.

Head to hospital

I DISPUTE the advice regarding head injuries not needing specialist hospital treatment (Good Health).

My daughter slipped on wet steps, banging and cutting the side of her head. After a five-hour wait in A&E, the wound was glued and she was discharged without having an X-ray or scan.

In the following days she had difficulty finding her words and her memory. Four weeks later she developed a stammer. A speech therapist referred her to a brain injury unit, where a consultant in neuropsychology diagnosed a brain injury as a result of the fall.

Years later, her forgetfulness means she can’t read a book or watch a film.

C. CARR, Northampton.

Good Life at 70

NO, 70 is not too late for attractive women to dress in modern, quirky clothes (Mail).

Felicity Kendal has a figure to be envied, so why not make the most of it? I still wear jeans and hoodies and, for my 70th birthday, my daughter treated me to a tattoo, something I’d long wanted.

I have a life-sized cardboard cutout of Colin Firth for company. I have a laugh with my four teenage grandchildren and like the fact they think I’m a bit dotty. PAMELA WATERHOUSE,

Huddersfield, W. Yorks.