THE traditional tomato season is some time off, but when was the last time you spotted a juicy, mouth-watering good old British “tom” in the shops?

Tomatoes are flown thousands of miles from all corners of the world.

Some 300,000 tonnes are imported to our shores every year from countries such as Holland, Poland, Belgium and Spain, accounting for 80 per cent of all tomato sales in Britain.

As most foreign tomatoes are grown in greenhouses all year round, one wonders why Britain is unable to compete with its European counterparts.

Succulent, fresh, sweet British tomatoes taste wonderful.

Foreign tomatoes, delivered on a slow boat then stored in warehouses for months on end, do not.

They do little to radiate the taste buds.

With the weight of a cannonball, the texture of a cow’s hide and the taste of a turnip, the invasion of the foreign toms won’t win many awards.

But they would make excellent flood defences.

Stephen Dixon, Redcar.