Rubbish left lying around

Where has the pride gone? On numerous journeys by rail I see lots of good practice, but we now seem to live in a society that increasingly leaves its rubbish around for others to dispose of.

There seems to be a large amount of infrastructure material that has been lying around for years - old rails, ballast, empty lubrication grease cans - as well as unfinished troughing for cables to be put in.

In the Big Four and early BR days we had Linesmen who took pride in the length of line they were responsible for. I know some of the material left around is for strategic purposes, but a lot isn’t. It gives a bad impression, and the general public get the idea that if big companies can get away with it, why should they care?

When I started work at the age of 16, working for ICI, each factory was divided up into areas and competed every three months for

the housekeeping trophy. That gave an incentive to take some pride in the area you worked in, as an individual or team.

Recently, I travelled on my local route into London and was taken aback by the increasing amount of graffiti that has appeared in some very dangerous places, especially between New Cross and London Bridge approaches.

On my return, while waiting at Waterloo East, I saw a freshly graffitied Class 377 EMU on a Hastings service. What a waste of money and paint. Someone needs to get a grip on the individuals that do this. D Ward, Northfleet