ACTION NEEDED: RE Superintendent Barry Knevitt's reply about the new non-emergency, one number system, adopted by Durham Constabulary (HAS, Feb 21), he may wish to note that the only people with a good word for it and the new centralised control rooms are the senior management who suggested them.

I have had cause to ring this non-emergency number to report problems.

The number was answered quite quickly and someone who obviously had no knowledge of the area I was ringing from took my report.

Two hours later I received another call, having asked for a ring back, telling me no-one had been yet but that someone would be there shortly.

This is not good enough. You have changed the sections, so there is no real contact with local communities and people are let down. They may now decide to let the police down when you need them. I have lost count of the number of people who now say they wouldn't bother ringing the police again, it's a waste of time.

It's not how fast you answer the call but what you do with it that counts. - E Wood, Edmondsley.

TAXI DRIVERS

BEING a regular reader of The Northern Echo, I have became accustomed to Mr Wardell's letters in the HAS column and for the first time have felt strongly enough to reply to his letter, Taxi Ride (Echo, Feb 18).

I, too, have travelled several times in taxis with Czech drivers and, contrary to Mr Wardell's observations, have never had to direct them to my destination - often not the case with some drivers who live in the town.

I appreciate that it is unlikely that every driver is going to be familiar with every address within the town, especially with the amount of new streets that have been built in recent years.

But it is worthy of note that on all occasions the driver was smartly dressed, polite and extremely pleasant.

If only the same could be said of all taxi drivers in Darlington. - Jack Hall, Darlington.

TOWN CENTRE

IT has been reported that traders in Darlington town centre are 50 per cent down on takings due to the pedestrianisation and car parking charges. I live out of town and have to come to Darlington to go to the bank. My pet hate with the town is, yes, the car parking charges.

I can park for free in most surrounding towns to do my shopping and banking so will be changing my bank to suit this. Not only do the charges irritate me because they are so petty but gone are the days when you could meet people in town on a Saturday and have a chat on the pavement. Everyone is rushing about to get back to their cars because they have a limited time on their parking.

The other problem with Darlington is the amount of disabled parking. I would like to know what percentage of the community is disabled and I think it fair to say that the same percentage should be applied to the amount of parking.

I am beginning to feel victimised for being able bodied. Don't get me wrong, a good friend of mine in a wheelchair can get around the town centre perfectly and I am thankful for that but even he agrees that Darlington has gone disabled mad. - Howard R Potts, Cleasby.

TEESDALE TOILETS

RE the report issued by Teesdale District Council on the proposed closure of public toilets in Teesdale, which says they are little used and suffer from vandalism (Echo, Feb 16).

I would say public toilets are highly used and needed more so now with the increase of tourism in the area.

As to vandalism, which affects all Teesdale and is being tackled with great success by the police, this is no excuse for closing toilets.

The report also sets out the possibility of encouraging businesses to allow visitors to use their facilities.

It seems to me that the council is passing on the toilet needs of the general public to businesses to deal with in a bid to save money. - George Sowerby, Bishop Auckland.

FREE TRAVEL

RE the letter entitled Free Travel (HAS, Feb 20).

I could not agree more with the statement that the elderly and disabled residents of County Durham are getting a poor deal from the new concessionary travel scheme due to be launched in April.

However, it is the district councils and not the county council which should bear the responsibility for this second-rate scheme.

The district councils have been given sufficient funding to introduce a countywide free travel scheme and yet they have chosen to restrict free bus travel to within their own boundaries.

It is also worth noting that had this duty fallen to Durham County Council, then, under the same legislation and with the same level of funding, pensioners would now be looking forward to free travel across the county from April 1. - County Councillor Bob Pendlebury, Durham.

A BIG thank you to Darlington Borough Council for getting its sums right and budgeting for all-day free travel for the pensioners of the town.

I am sure this has taken many hours of negotiation with the various bus companies to reach this decision and will be appreciated by so many in the town. - Maureen Stephenson, Darlington.

ID CARDS

IT has been amusing to see the Liberal Democrats' supposed opposition to identity cards.

The ID card scheme was introduced to the Government as an idea by the European Union. The European constitution that was recently rejected by France and Holland called for a provision for a pan-European ID scheme. That is an ID card for all EU citizens.

This is the constitution the Liberal Democrats supported and still campaign for.

It is quite obvious that the Liberal Democrats are quite duplicitous in their policies sometimes. - Tom Blenkinsop, Marton.

CARTOONS

WHEN the Satanic Verses were published, those who read it praised it as a highly spiritual book, those who didn't condemned it, protested and ordered its author killed.

A Danish cartoonist draws a series of cartoons causing similar protests and death threats from those who haven't seen these cartoons.

While such cartoons may be offensive, why isn't anyone asking what point is the cartoonist making?

Maybe it is that when suicide bombers murder innocent people, when people threaten to murder those question Islam, then it is those who do this who turn Mohammad into a murdering terrorist and not some Dutch cartoonist. - CT Riley, Spennymoor.

FOX HUNTING

I HAD a sense of deja vu as I read Harry Mead's column (Echo, Feb 22).

Is he really still wittering on about fox hunting?

In case he hasn't realised, the hunting war is over - and his side lost. Yes, they got a ban on the books - but it is already being treated as a huge joke.

The fact is that hounds are still hunting and foxes are still being killed.

But the threat of any really effective action against hunting has been lifted - there is no way any serious politician is going to suggest trying yet more anti-hunting legislation.

The public has had enough of class warfare being waged at public expense. - Alasdair Mitchell, Northumberland.