NOT A FIELD: RE: Illegal camping site to be closed (Echo, Feb 23). I would like the following points to be made clear. The area where the vehicles are parked is not a field as stated, but is industrial land with full planning permission as a coal storage and distribution depot.

The site is not being closed and the tenant is not winding down his operation, but is relocating the business. The application for change of use was not required until February 24 but was retracted on February 21 due to relocation.

The owners of the land will discuss with the planners alternative uses for the site and, if no satisfactory use is agreed, the site will re-open as a coal storage and distribution depot. - TM and GL Lawson, Sedgefield.

NORTH PITS

RE John Tague's letter about coalfields (HAS, February 24).

He talks about the great northern coalfield being decimated under the Labour government of the 1960s/70s but the good point is that mineworkers were transferred to other coalfields under Labour.

Then came along the Conservative government led by Thatcher who butchered the mining communities and left the miners without employment so, on that score, the miners had a better deal under Labour.

He talks about the miners' pension money. Let me remind him it was the Conservatives who signed the guarantor agreement in 1994 and, at the meeting, the NUM was out-voted so, on that fact, the Conservatives had their fingers in the miners' pension money first.

He goes on to talk about having virtually no help from the NUM under the compensation scheme. Let me remind him the NUM has recovered £200m for the miners under the VWF and chest disease schemes.

Mr Tague finished his letter off by saying: "The illusion that the Tories are bad and the Labour Party is good for the working class is a pure myth." It's no illusion the Tories are bad for the working class, also it's no myth the Labour Party are good for the working class. - DT Murray, Durham.

CHARLIE WAYMAN

READING of the recent death of footballer Charlie Wayman brought back memories for me (Echo, Feb 18).

The 1954-55 Second Division season had started disastrously for Middlesbrough as they had drawn one and lost eight of their first nine matches.

Boro were in need of a goalscorer and, to the delight of their fans, the highly regarded Wayman was signed.

They won the next match 2-1 as Wayman made his Boro debut.

After the signing of Wayman, Middlesbrough's fortunes improved and they climbed to a respectable position in the league. - LD Wilson, Guisborough.

FOX HUNTING

I AM afraid Alasdair Mitchell (HAS, Feb 27) has shot himself in the foot.

For years the hunting lobby has said that thousands of ordinary working people support fox hunting - why then does he say the class warfare should stop?

Those who oppose this barbaric sport are not fooled, Mr Mitchell and once a few convictions for breaking the law succeed, then other fox hunters might have second thoughts.

Finally, Mr Mitchell, your total disregard for the law of the land, however much you may disagree with it, does no credit to you or the cause you espouse. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

THE opinions which Alasdair Mitchell spouts (HAS, Feb 27) must question whether his intelligence is ignorance or plain arrogance.

It is he and those who believe that their right to terrorise and behave in a manner befitting the unintelligent, uneducated moron who must be questioned and eliminated from society.

So to suggest the warfare is over is an insult to all those in society - and that is the majority - who are fed up with those that think they have a divine right to believe they are above the law of the land.

As for the politicians, it won't be the first or the last time they make a mess of things. As for Tony Blair, he does not want to get himself involved. He may upset his rich friends. They started well, but unfortunately have not the courage or the will to make sure the law means exactly what it says.

If we are to consider ourselves a caring, civilised society we must make sure any sort of cruelty is treated by the law with intolerance and harsh punishment. - John Young, Crook.

PRISON COSTS

WHEN criminals are sentenced to jail for breaking the law, it costs thousands of pounds to keep them in prison and it is the lawful people who have to pay for it.

The criminals get three free meals a day, free laundry and free television without paying for the licence or electricity.

Some of these criminals are rich, often through their criminal activities, so why not have a 'wealth ceiling' so that if any jailbird has sufficient money to pay for the cost of jail then it is deducted from his fortune?

An ex-member of Parliament and George Reynolds are some of those who had millions of pounds, yet they are now eating free meals paid for by the taxpayer. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

STAG NIGHTS

DO you want to be on TV? Did you go on a stag or hen party in the 1990s?

Channel 4 are making a documentary and are looking for your stories.

Were you the stag, the hen, a friend or the strippergram?

Maybe you went to Blackpool, Prague or Dublin or just into your local town.

Whatever you did and wherever you went, we want to hear about that last weekend of freedom. - Please email research@testimonyfilms. com or call Roz on (0117) 9258589.

DAVID CAMERON

NEVER has the hypocrisy of the Labour Party been more evident.

Their childish attempts of slapping down David Cameron as he modernises the Conservatives show how desperate they have become.

The violent and irrelevant Prescott harks back to the days of class war by sneering at Cameron's "privileged" upbringing and labels him a "chameleon" for changing party policy.

Didn't ex CND supporter and public schoolboy Tony Blair do the same thing in 1994 with "New" Labour?

The power hungry Chancellor dismisses Cameron as "all PR" and "without substance". Has he forgotten Labour had control freak Alistair Campbell as a minister for propaganda and twice disgraced Peter Mandelson? Their legacy of spin still exists.

How many mines and shipyards have been opened under Labour? How many industries re-nationalised?

The rise of unemployment is concealed behind a complex benefit system and manufacturing continues to decline, an indisputable fact.

These were issues that Labour were most vocal about in opposition.

Prime Minister Cameron will be a welcome change, he's more grown up about politics for a start. - Des More, Darlington.

OBESITY

IT seems very obvious to me that the shocking rise in obesity in this country is proportionate with the dropping of food prices in supermarkets.

If the farmers and producers were paid what they should be, we wouldn't have to worry about this epidemic causing extra strain on our NHS, now or in the future. - A Johnson, Darlington.