Letters

YOUR editorial (Echo, Feb 17) claims there is much confusion and controversy over Operation Lancet. There certainly is - on your part.

Let me correct the many errors in your comment piece.

During the interview with Radio Cleveland, Chief Constable Barry Shaw stated that files are currently with the Crown Prosecution Service - and are being considered for criminal matters. Reporters were repeatedly told this was the case in answer to speculation pieces penned in the days running up to the Radio Cleveland broadcast.

It was clearly stated there are still issues that have to be completed in an investigation that has been described by the Police Complaints Authority as the most complex ever undertaken.

The CPS makes the decision on whether there should be criminal charges. If it rules that there is insufficient evidence for a realistic chance of a successful prosecution, the files come back to the force and are considered for disciplinary issues.

That is a matter for the Assistant Chief Constable Della Cannings - not Mr Shaw. She is responsible for discipline in the force.

A leading Queens Counsel, experienced both in criminal law and police discipline, will present the evidence at the hearings on behalf of the police.

All discipline hearings in any force are heard in private.

Your comment that Mr Shaw will be "judge and jury" at the closed hearings arising from Lancet beggars belief. It was clearly said in the interview that the hearings will be chaired by outside Chief Constables.

The force has been, and will continue to be, scrupulously fair to those officers involved. - C Westberg, Media Services Manager, Cleveland Police.

FOOT AND MOUTH

LAST Friday, as a result of the increasing cases of Foot and Mouth Disease, the Government through the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food brought into force restrictions on the movement of livestock within Britain in an attempt to limit the spread of the disease.

At the same time, it gave advice to the general public on measures they could take in helping to prevent the spread. One of the measures was to stay away from rural areas, advice supported by the Ramblers Association. This was sound advice which the majority appear to have understood and followed.

The problem I have is with the minority who, judging by the number of people I saw over the weekend walking in and around Upper Teesdale, paid scant regard to the advice they were given. They either have little or no understanding of the present problems or have a total disregard for rural areas other than as somewhere for them to participate in their leisure activities.

I, along with many others, welcome people who visit the countryside, but common sense has to prevail. Decisions taken, and advice given, by MAFF has not been done so lightly.

As the situation appears to be far from resolved, we can only hope that everyone heeds the advice and plays their part in limiting the damage. - Paul Kane, Middleton in Teesdale, County Durham.

DISABLED ACCESS

I MUST congratulate Edwina Marriot on her wonderful achievement concerning the new ramp enabling the disabled and elderly to reach Bob Hardisty Drive in Bishop Auckland and so to the shops nearby (Echo, Jan 30).

My husband became an owner of a four-wheeled scooter four months ago and since then I have jotted down a list of unapproachable destinations, one being the above.

I have christened myself Kerb Crawler because everywhere I walk it's eyes down scanning the height of every kerb trying to plan a route for an outing with my husband.

I have also written to the council concerning litter etc on footpaths, even enclosing photographs of the quagmire on one public footpath.

I hope my suggestions for improvements are carried out this year, not next year, and certainly not 13 years as it was for the ramp.

Good luck, Edwina, on any other projects that you intend to tackle. - Anne Petty, Bishop Auckland.

I OFTEN read John Gordon's For Your Benefit in The Northern Echo on Saturdays. I find it remarkable the number of people John helps in obtaining social security benefits.

Disability inevitably leads to extra costs. It is more difficult for a disabled man or woman to manage on the same income as someone of the same age who is not disabled. Often a disabled person has a much lower income than a non-disabled person.

I find it is often the case people with disabilities find it hard to work their way through a maze of paperwork to claim their full legal entitlements.

We are often told to go to the Citizens' Advice Bureau but because I am disabled and Durham City has rigorous parking restrictions, so I find it difficult to use the Durham CAB. - Jimmy Taylor, Coxhoe, Durham.

POLITICS

NEW Labour has clearly shown that it has the ability to increase taxes by stealth, offer the nation's pensioners 75p, means test people's ability to pay and make promises to increase public spending on health, education and law and order.

It has chosen to ignore the sleaze within its own party but used the Tories' sleaze to win the last election.

It has spent millions on the Dome and hundreds of thousands of pounds on self-indulgence in true socialist fashion.

The one skill it does not, and never will, have is the ability to secure stability. - Fred Thorpe, Richmond.

I WONDER if your readers have thought about the real effects of William Hague's proposed cuts?

£1.8bn in Whitehall running costs: does Mr Hague really believe that the current civil servants waste in time, electricity, paper, and people?

£1bn on social security fraud: it takes time to have a housing benefit claim processed. Fewer people and resources to carry out this work, which is what Mr Hague's cuts will mean, will cause even longer delays.

£1bn to come from reforming help for inner cities: a frightening prospect for those struggling in inner cities where there has been under or nil investment for years.

£400m in reforming the new deal: there go young people's job training chances.

£500m requiring lone parents of secondary children to work: what happened to human rights and the choice of whether to work or not?

£430m from unemployment benefit reforms: let's take some more from those who can least afford it.

These policies take us straight back to good old Dickensian times of class rule and slave labour. - CD Kirk, Northallerton.

What does the man in the street know about economics - exports, imports and finance in connection with the euro? Not a great deal, in my view.

So would it be a mite ludicrous to allow the public to vote on such an important issue? - A Farrow, Middlesbrough.

Ellen MacArthur

While not belittling the courage and strength of character of Ellen MacArthur in the latest yacht race, I cannot understand the hype from all sections of the media concerning the round the world race.

How can you sail round the world when you travel south, sail round Antarctica then return in a northern direction. What happened to the Pacific and Indian oceans and the South China Seas? - TR McCormack, Newton Aycliffe