Voting areas have little in common

Political editor Supplements editor Regarding the proposed changes to the parliamentary boundaries.

One anomaly to my mind is the proposal to create a new constituency “Chatham and the Mallings” – places such as East Malling, West Malling and King’s Hill have virtually no connection whatsoever with Chatham and this should certainly be reconsidered.

Cllr Vince Maple (leader of the Labour group at Medway Council) is probably right when he says Lordswood has greater links as a community with Princes Park and Walderslade than with Gillingham. John Hill, Cuxton Road, Strood Business editor back and that would have been it. He wouldn’t have been charged for his mistake and most certainly wouldn’t have been issued with a penalty fare.

Passengers inevitably do make mistakes, miss their station or get on the wrong train. This whole penalty fare system is nothing short of legalised theft. It was originally intended to deter fare evasion but now it is being used to fleece passengers who have clearly made an innocent mistake.

Appeals have to be made to Southeastern who of course stand to benefit so it can hardly be seen as impartial. Why is there no independent ombudsman to adjudicate in matters like this? And what about the staff member who issued this penalty fare, were they following instructions from their employer? If not then surely they should be subjected to disciplinary action. Some of these revenue staff are a law unto themselves.

Have Southeastern got What’s On reporter KoL editor anything to say on this matter? Stuart Davidson, Arundel Square, Maidstone KoL news editor KoL assistant news editor

In Kent, the common woodlouse was also known as the peasie bug, monkey pea, cheese bug and slater depending on the area.

As stated, some of these are still in use. Alan Major, author of A New Dictionary of Kent Dialect