I REFER to the article headlined “Anger deepens over travel axe” (Echo, May 31) and in particular the comments of one parent who said: “The Catholic schools will be...filling up with Protestants and others”.

It only needs the word “Protestants” to be replaced by the word “blacks” and many people, quite rightly, would then be looking at this as being offensive and possibly illegal.

As a non-Catholic family, it alarms me that someone would feel it to be a matter of such great personal concern that my son was in school alongside her children.

It is objectionable to me that my ratepayer’s money is actually used in this discriminatory way and the sooner free transport to faith schools is stopped the better.

I feel the arguments put forward in support of it are verging on bizarre and I am not sure why we are supposed to feel so concerned about Catholic families facing school transport costs when the rest of us are already dealing with this without any assistance.

Vaila Somerville, Consett.