IF you listen to the football pundits, they will say that the problem of hooliganism has gone away and has been dealt with.

They were not on the train my granddaughter and her mother joined at Newark on Saturday, October 4, at 08.54.

Until the train reached Peterborough, they were subjected to descriptions of what the Leeds supporters were going to do to the opposition supporters, racist comments and uncouth behaviour.

They, and the other families on the train, had to keep on
the move, as they were vulnerable and frightened without any protection
from those who should have provided it. The foul language was totally unacceptable. Most of the supporters were drunk.

How were these louts allowed to carry boxes of cans on
the trains?

Why did the train staff only appear after Peterborough?

Why were British Transport Police not on the train to supervise these louts?

If the police could summon enough officers to line both sides of the train at Peterborough, why could they not spare some for the train?

Why did the train operator mix families and football supporters on the same train?

Why were louts allowed to sit in other people's pre-booked seats?

If we tolerate this kind of behaviour then the lunatics will have taken over the asylum. One shudders to think what would have happened had someone like me, a 66-year-old, remonstrated with them.

It was my granddaughter's seventh birthday.

I hope these louts, Leeds United Football Club, National Express East Coast and the British Transport Police are really proud to have stood by and allowed this to happen. The only conclusion can be that all four are totally despicable.


Our covenant with brave Gurkha soldiers

From: Alex Vodden, Barnsley Road, Brierley, Barnsley.

IT is both credible and commendable the way Joanna Lumley has campaigned to allow all retired Gurkha soldiers to live in this country.

This surely is within the principles of the covenant we owe to all service personnel who serve this country in our Armed Forces.

We operate an open door policy on legal immigration
with no discrimination on colour, religion, creed and sometimes unfortunately, no allegiance on our national culture or beliefs.

All Gurkhas must have the opportunity to live here when their service is finished and to have to go to the High Court to establish that
right is an anathema in our debt to these brave men. The fact that a Labour government is not subscribing to that right is even more galling.

These heroes are the bravest of the brave and the most generous of the generous.

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

AG Marsden asserts that the Gurkhas, persecuted Christians and white Zimbabweans should be allowed free entry to this country (Yorkshire Post, October 8).

The case in favour of the Gurkhas is incontestable but I, for one, would not wish to inhabit a country which discriminated against Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists or any other non-Christians.

As for excluding Zimbabwean victims of the Mugabe regime because they happen to be black, I thought support for such abhorrent legislation died out along with South African apartheid.