13/05/06

Last Monday really was the limit. My husband and I waited at the MetroCentre, Gateshead, for the 1.50pm bus to Bishop Auckland. When it was 30 minutes late, people waiting with us tried to find out what was happening, but none of the Arriva staff could offer an explanation.

As we would have had to wait for three hours for the next bus, with no guarantee that it would turn up, a group of us decided to head for home the best way we could.

We took a bus to Chester-le-Street, which took a long time as it toured all the villages. From there, a bus to Durham, also via the villages, and then another bus to Bishop Auckland. An extra two hours on our journey. Before Arriva took over the Go Northern routes they should have checked to see if they had enough buses and drivers to cover both routes. If this is the service from the local bus company, we'll be using the car in future.

June Briggs, West Auckland, Co Durham.

REGULAR Passengers of Arriva buses will have noticed that the service has been unreliable lately, with buses frequently failing to show up.

I understand the problem is not a shortage of vehicles, but an acute shortage of drivers. That being so, why doesn't Arriva, and other bus companies for that matter, pay drivers what they are worth, which is far more than what, I have no doubt, they are paid currently?

The fact is that bus-driving is an extremely difficult and responsible job, demanding a wide range of skills and accomplishments, both human and technical.

It is also, to judge from the behaviour of a minority of passengers especially in the late evening, a very under-valued and under-appreciated one.

Most drivers, however, handle these situations with admirable restraint and dignity, and I think it is high time their patience and numerous other qualities were adequately remunerated.

Tony Kelly, Crook.

WEST CORNFORTH

RE the letter about West Cornforth (HAS, May 8). It certainly has begun to resemble a "Wild West ghost town". However, I disagree that the locals are warm and loyal. They are to their own, but any outsider is treated with scorn. The only community spirits I have seen on my travels to West Cornforth are the empty vodka bottles in the High Street.

The parish council should have done something to change things by tackling the bad reputation that West Cornforth has earned through its unwelcoming anti-social behaviour.

Coal-mining has declined in the area, that is true, but other places have picked up and moved on. Cornforth should have taken a leaf out of that book. After all, Cornforth Partnership has access to the same grant system as the rest of the villages in the North-East, yet very little improves - just a steady decline. Don't paint the place pink. We haven't got that much paint in the county of Durham. We could all reminisce, but facts are facts.

Keith Hutchinson, Brandon, Durham.

I WAS so sorry to read the letter about West Cornforth (HAS, May 8). I was born there 87 years ago when my father was the village policeman.

We moved when I was ten when my father retired. I had a wonderful childhood with delightful parents, as well as many friends.

We lived at the end of Station Road and I used to cross the back street to the postmaster's backgate and shout "Steavie" as I knocked on his gate.

I was escorted through his house to the post office where I sat on a high stool and was allowed to open the little wooden door and take out the letters, arrange them in a pile, stamps on the right, while Steavie altered the metallic stamp. Then I was able to hammer on the stamps, always under supervision, but what joy. Far better than any playschool.

Elsie Pescod (nee Parnaby), Ovingham, Northumberland.

MONDAY JOY

I HAVE just joined the new national "Monday" lottery. I can play online, which is so easy and convenient, plus for only £1 I have a much better chance of winning a life-changing amount of money. In fact, I have a 27 times better chance of winning than with the National Lottery.

Monday also gives a higher percentage of its profits to charity and actually focuses on supporting registered charities and not just "good causes".

What is really refreshing is that I can actually choose the charity I want my ticket to support and know that this money will be going directly to them.

As a supporter and employee of Hartlepool and District Hospice, I was delighted to see that I can help a small local charity like this just by playing. By entering the draw that features "Help the Hospices" and ticking the box next to this organisation I will be raising money to help people in my own community living with life-threatening illnesses.

What a difference this money could make locally if everyone ticked that box as well. I know which lottery I will be playing from now on.

John Martindale, Wingate, Co. Durham.

REASONS FOR FAILURE

IN reply to Darlington boss David Hodgson's comments (Echo, May 9), the lack of a goalscorer cost a play-off spot, I agree, as it did last season, the one before and the one before. In fact, since the departure of Marco Gabbiadini, Mr Hodgson has stated that fact.

Yet he has brought in many overpaid, under-performing, so-called strikers. He has brought in many other sub-standard players for other positions. I do not want to name them as supporters who attend games know who they are.

Another reason for Mr Hodgson's second failure to achieve a play-off place as promised is his insistence on placing our best players, Neil Wainwright, Anthony Peacock and Alpo Sodje, on the bench and only using them after conceding goals or putting out a boring, under-performing side for 60 minutes of a game.

I could write more, but if you are not a politician or a worker on The Northern Echo you are restricted to mere notes. Perhaps if the paper gave up more space to public opinion it might sell more papers and, by all means, you are welcome to print my name. Mr Hodgson already knows me.

Brian Foster, Darlington.

MURDER IN MINDI FULLY agree with David Johnson's recent letter on serious crime and the lack of punishment (HAS, May 6).

I can remember when a single murder in the country made all the national headlines. Now, we seem to have a local murder every day of the week and everyone seems to take it as normal.

The Government is always saying it will fight crime, so why not back capital punishment for murder? It is the only deterrent. I am sure the MPs who vote against capital punishment are not always representing the views of the people in their constituencies.

Alan Watson, Witton-le-Wear, Bishop Auckland.

POLICE AMALGAMATION

MIDDLESBROUGH South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar suggested a referendum among the people of the North-East was the best way to decide the costing, management and deployment of police services in Cleveland, Durham and Northumberland (Echo, May 3).

He was fully supported by Stockton North MP Frank Cook, the chairman of the Cleveland Police Authority, Councillor Dave McLuckie, and the Mayor of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon.

In supporting a referendum and also the result of a Mori poll, commissioned by the Cleveland Police Authority, they omitted to ask if voters with a criminal record should be allowed to decide the future structuring of policing in the North-East.

If the answer is yes, then they are agreeing in principle that convicts should have places on prison parole boards.

The police system in the North-East has no other choice but amalgamation - not just because of the threat of international terrorism, but also because of the stark fact that lone females are at risk from criminal harm after dark and even in some places during daylight hours.

The knowledge that allows a stolen car registration to be checked in a few minutes via Swansea demonstrates how a future single police force would swiftly apprehend dangerous criminals within its own designated area.

Efficiency through modern information technology and rapid air surveillance will reduce costs, giving a new single police force a superior advantage over criminal organisations.

Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor, County Durham.

TOWN VISION

MIKE AMOS sums up well the town of Bishop Auckland (John North, May 4), notwithstanding its greatest asset, its inbuilt open spaces and surrounding countryside.

However, back-slapping is unjustified as the town is currently incapable of attracting the quality of the old.

Mike cleverly draws attention to our demise with reference to the weird and wonderful names pervading the one-time status of the "Grace Brothers" of this world.

Focus on the high street is now more down to factors outside the entity, ie, supermarkets, out-of-town warehouses and those service factors operating in the environmentally-lacking back streets, fortunately out of immediate eyesight of potentially passing tourism.

We have a carcinogenic wind tunnel recently pedestrianised and I understand the bus station, to which the much-vaunted tourism explosion will be directed, is to be virtually eliminated.

The town now boasts strings of oppressive traffic passing through its heart.

Until this gateway to the Dales and "gem in the Wear Valley crown" can boast a truly unique reason for folk to visit, it will remain a downmarket and diminished town - even M&S is a supermarket.

Bring back "Grace Brothers" and the merits of civilising quality - preferably to a town tourism resort. Now, there's vision for you.

CS Simons, Bishop Auckland.

WELL DONE

CONGRATULATIONS to The Northern Echo for being named North-East Newspaper of the Year.

The Echo has been a favourite of mine for many years and it is good to know that its outstanding reputation is being maintained.

I take a keen interest in all aspects of the paper and particularly like the convenience of being able to read the day's football results and fixtures on the back page.

They say that to become an informed person one must read a quality newspaper. This is particularly the case with regards to The Northern Echo.

L D Wilson, Guisborough.

SCHOOL SCAREMONGERING

I WAS extremely disappointed to once again hear Liberal Democrat spokesman Brian Fiske causing potential upset and worry to many hundreds of children and their parents in Darlington (HAS, May 5).

His continued scaremongering about make-believe secondary school closures benefits nobody, and only serves to destabilise our schools and their local communities during this important examination period for pupils.

I can categorically state that there are no plans to close any secondary schools in Darlington. The real truth is that Darlington's Labour council has invested more than £100m in Darlington's schools.

Hummersknott and Carmel are being completely refurbished and we are bidding for a new academy for Eastbourne. Our new £37m Education Village has just opened and we intend to continue to invest in the infrastructure of our secondary schools as a top priority.

Councillor Chris McEwan, Lead Member for Children's Services, Darlington Borough Council.