Women who shovel

SIR – Stephen Derek (Letters, January 13) asks whether there is a non-sexist word for the fireman who shovels coal into a steam locomotive’s firebox. I am sure that my late grandfather, a chief stoker who fought in the Battle of Jutland, and many of his fellows would be proud of the name stoker being used for people of either gender. John Blake

Winchester, Hampshire

SIR – What would you call a person who enters a bank with a gun? Nigel Simpkins

Hildenborough, Kent