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Letters, Thursday, February 21, 2008
Readers write to the Times & Citizen and Bedford Today.
Thanks to stranger who saved my son's life after car crash
SIR – Last Thursday morning, February 14 (it had been really foggy that night), my son David was driving from Kempston to his workplace in Sandy.
He had just gone past the Willington Garden Centre when his car, for no
apparent reason, came off the road, hit a tree, turned over and caught fire. David had passed out due to his leg being broken – and a man, whom I can only say was his saviour, pulled him from the car and assisted the ambulance crew. He did not want to give his name and the crew described him only as Asian.
I really want to thank him and everyone involved in helping my son. He would not be here if it hadn't been for him. I cannot thank this
gentleman enough, and the crew were marvellous.
Slawcia Tomkiw
by email
****
Thanks for the courtesy shown to funeral cortege
SIR – On Monday, February 11, a two- hour service of praise and
thanksgiving for the life of murder victim Robert Gill took place at
Woodside Christian Centre, Bedford.
Robert was part of the family of The Christian Motorcyclists
Association (CMA). He was carried on his last trip in the Motorcycle Hearse, a Triumph Speed Triple, accompanied by around 50 bikers from all over the country who had come to support family and friends.
On behalf of family, friends and The Christian Motorcyclists
Association, I would like to thank, through your pages, the people of Bedford, especially those whose journey we interrupted, for the patience and courtesy shown to us, as this extended funeral cortege
travelled through Bedford from Cotton End, via Wilstead.
Anyone who would like to know more about the CMA can contact:
bedford@bike.org.uk or visit www.bike.org.uk
Keith Sanders
Chairman, Bedford branch,
The Christian Motorcyclists Association
****
County council has as much right to votes
SIR – With regard to Mid Beds District Council leader Tricia Turner's criticism of Bedfordshire County Council (T&C, Feb 7), the county council has as much right as Mid Beds and Bedford Borough Council to attract votes.
Beds County Council, with Madeline Russell as leader, is much more experienced to run a single authority efficiently and at less cost than the two unitaries Tricia Turner advocates.
This would be infinitely better for Bedfordshire.
A recent correspondent in the local press, Fiona Chapman, like many
others, appears to think that county council employees, and of course
borough council employees, retire on a large, index-linked pension, when in fact they had to pay a much larger percentage for their pensions than the private sector, and they are only linked to the cost of living, usually about one per cent.
This should not be compared to the civil service pension, which is non-contributory and is linked to wage rises which are vastly different to those for local government employees. Therefore, we should not make the mistake of lumping the two together.
JF Whittemore
Fairholme, Bedford
****
Poles have adapted well to jobs market
SIR – Poles have indeed adapted to the jobs market well in the UK (T&C, Feb 14).
It's in the blood. Poles are good workers. Employers can't seem to get enough of them. It was once the same with the Irish.
Many years ago the British had to start to travel further afield to seek out jobs in other counties around England, and indeed Great Britain. Poles have started now to do the same out of economic necessity. They think nothing of the two-hour flight from Warsaw to Luton when there is a job waiting in Bedford, Bradford or even Manchester. Modern times call for modern solutions.
Most Poles that migrate here are young, in their twenties; some very well educated, but by no means all speaking good English. They often go to job agencies where they start as temporary workers and progress to permanent positions in the factories where they work, after just three to six months.
Their hearts are happy to at last be earning money every week. They work alongside other eastern Europeans and often work five or six days a week on long shifts before being bussed home.
These young Poles, Lithuanians, some Russians, Czechs, Slovaks,
Hungarians, Serbs, Croatians and others do not qualify to sign on as claimants of Jobseekers Allowance, from which 243,700 youngsters aged from 16-24 in Britain receive benefit.
Nor do they qualify for incapacity benefit, which 165,740 youngsters aged from 16-24 now claim in the UK.
Nor do they qualify for single parent payments, of which the figure is 166,050 for youngsters aged 16-24.
It is no wonder then that these eager, healthy Eastern Europeans will carry on doing the jobs at the minimum wage that keep the meat and vegetables on our dinner plates.
J Walcot
Bower Street, Bedford
****
Hospicom not responsible for charges
SIR – With regards to your article, 'Hospital phone charges enough to make you sick' (T&C, Feb 7).
This article is extremely worrying as yet again the accusations made are wrong. I would point out to all consumers that it is the supplier of the phone line into their house that sets the charges, collects and keeps the money, although OFCOM agrees rates, and, although all reputable companies agree to follow and use those rates, they are not legally obliged to and can set whatever rate they choose, only passing on the agreed OFCOM portion of the charge to British Telecom, which in turn keeps their interconnect percentage of this before passing on the rest to the wholesaler, who keeps their percentage interconnect rate before passing on what is left to the end supplier, in this case us.
If Mr Colman has been charged for calling his mother when she did not answer, he urgently needs to contact the company which provides his
telephone service as it is they who have charged him via his phone bill, not us, and it is they who collect his money to pay for his phone bill, not us. Our OFCOM agreed and published rate is 30p a minute on per second billing for an incoming call (plus vat) and all reputable companies (British Telecom, NTL, COLT, Virgin) will only charge the 30p.
However, as I have said, other suppliers have and do put additional mark up on their charges which we have no control over.
The article also states Mr Colman was charged 49.40p for 140 minutes of calls; this is 30p per minute (plus VAT) so I am unsure how this has been calculated as 40p a minute.
What I can do is give you my absolute guarantee that we make no money on telephone calls which are unanswered; whether the supplier of Mr Colman's phone line does or not I cannot comment as I do not know who Mr Colman's supplier is.
I would advise that we have made arrangements to meet with Mr Colman and the hospital in order to clarify the matter.
Lastly, we are more than happy to work with Mr Colman or anybody who suffers a mischarging incident to assist in recovering any monies that may or may not have been overcharged by the service provider and we will, if necessary, involve Ofcom the telecommunications regulator. But unjustified, unsupported, wrongly quoted, misleading accusations of this nature are unacceptable to me and I believe most people reading my letter will understand the reality of this.
Mr M Wilkinson
director, Hospicom
****
Housing: we need to say when enough is enough
SIR – I am deeply concerned about the proposals for potential housing
development in Mid Beds (T&C, Feb 14).
Mid Beds Council claims that only a small number of sites will need to be developed to meet Government targets to ensure quality affordable homes for future needs. If this is the case then why have 400 sites been submitted?
The council appears deliberately vague on the true number of homes to be built, merely quoting the Government target of 4,400. Will the council confirm that if more than the required numbers of sites are
identified as suitable for housing, that they will not be developed in addition?
We need quality affordable homes to meet future needs but we must take only our fair share of the burden.
Villages should grow and change over time, not overnight. Sometimes we need to say enough is enough.
David Reeves
Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Mid Beds
****
Disgrace funeral report was not on front page
SIR – Re: Robert's Gill's funeral (T&C, Feb 14). I think it was an absolute disgrace that this young lad's funeral was pushed back to page 6.
Why was it not on the front page? This young man was killed in our town centre, something none of us should ever forget. We are being murdered by the youth of this country and no-one seems to care. I really feel that the saying 'there but for the grace of God go all of us' really comes into play.
Carol Marshall
Lake View, Marston Moretaine
****
Act now to help prevent post offices closures
SIR – The short six-week consultation process is now under way for the Government's proposed closure of local post offices.
This includes post offices within my area of Shefford, Campton and Meppershall in east Mid Beds. I urge all local residents to write in support of this invaluable service before it's too late.
Our local communities, and residents, rely heavily upon our local post office network and there is the distinct prospect of that network being decimated. Under this Labour Government over 4,875 post offices have been closed since 1997, which is nearly ten per week.
Rather obviously, any closures of village post offices will hit the elderly and the vulnerable the hardest.
Additionally, many of our village post offices are the only shop and
contact point in the community.
We need as many people as possible to show their support for local post offices by writing to: Post Office Network Consultation, Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET.
The public does have a voice, please use it.
Coun Robin Younger
High Street, Flitton
****
SIR – I note the Government is committed to spending 110 billion, 3,500 for each of us, to keep Northern Rock, a bank with two million customers, afloat. It is not, however, willing to contemplate 5 pounds from each taxpayer to support a post office network with 11.4 million customers.
Simon Part, chief executive,
Countryside Alliance, London
****
More facts on the Women's Land Army
SIR – Following on from your feature on the wartime work of land girls (T&C, Feb 14), your readers may like to know that they can find out a lot more about land girls, with scores of pictures, on the Bedfordshire Libraries' local history web pages: http://tinyurl.com/2nq2up
My book on the Women's Land Army will be published on October 13 this year by The Book Castle, Dunstable.
Stuart Antrobus
Bedford Central Library
****
Our proposals would have got more done
SIR – It was very disappointing that the Bedford Borough Council budget meeting saw a coalition of the Tory, Labour and Independent groups vote down Liberal Democrat proposals which would have achieved real improvements in the everyday lives of local residents.
If these groups had been able to look beyond their blinkered
opposition to the proposals, vital additional work would have been carried out on roads and footpaths, trees, street cleaning, CCTV improvements, energy conservation, youth activities and other important areas.
By using a small part of the council's extensive reserves, this could all be done without adding a single penny to council tax bills.
There was some good news, though, with the approval of our proposal for the protection of council land from unauthorised encampments. We were also successful in securing improvements to recycling facilities at blocks of flats which will enable more residents to take part in the recycling collection scheme.
Coun Michael Headley
Lib Dem Group leader
Bedford Borough Council
****
Guide for pensioners to manage their money
SIR – A number of high street retailers have recently announced they will no longer offer their customers the opportunity to pay by cheque.
Whilst the slow death of cheques is probably inevitable, older people remain more likely than other age groups to continue to use cheques as a means of payment. The truth is some older consumers may already be
struggling with the many changes in the way we manage money, such as the introduction of chip and pin cards, and this represents another challenge.
As a charity, we provide advice to older people on exactly these issues through our Your Money Matters programme, which we run in partnership with Barclays. The projects are aimed at improving the skills, confidence and financial situation of older people by providing basic money management and debt advice.
We would recommend the following advice for those concerned about these changes.
Consider asking your bank or building society for a chip and pin or a chip and signature card. If you have trouble understanding how these work, ask your bank or building society for instruction.
In the case of chip and pin, the personal identification number (PIN) provides added security for card transactions and, if you misplace either type of card, you can cancel it straightaway.
For those who find it difficult to use pin numbers, the chip and signature card is a better option. All retailers should offer the
facility to use this type of card where you can sign for goods.
Rachel Corry
Help the Aged
****
Story prompted help for African mission
SIR – Zimbabwe Aid Trust (ZAT) would like to thank the Times & Citizen for requesting the people of Bedfordshire, in general, and Bedford, in particular, to give help to the people of Zimbabwe (T&C, Feb 7).
So far one man, named only as Jim, has made a very good donation, giving us a starting point. Those who missed the story and want to help can still access it at bedfordtoday.co.uk
For more information, contact George Sithole on 01234 268906 or email g.sithole@ntlworld.com
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Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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