Child buggy dangers on the trains

travelling by train recently from Pudsey railway station into Leeds and out again to Ilkley with two of my daughters and my grandson aged 10 months, I was horrified to see how dangerous it is to negotiate a child’s buggy on to a train, and off again.

Okay, the conductor will often have a ramp ready at the rear of the train, but whereas bus stops are often level with a bus (or have automatic “raise and lower” mechanisms on them) trains still have lethal gaps between the carriages and platform (and at differing heights too).

Also, once on the train, where do you put your buggy – other than at the rear of the train?

The majority of buses have spaces for at least two buggies or wheelchairs, whereas a train, which can transport up to 200 people, only has one space!

When will the necessary improvements be made to rectify these horrendous oversights?

From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea.

A REPORT by Chris Bond (Yorkshire Post, June 17) says the contract for new trains for the Thameslink route will be with a German company rather than one based in Derby.

Transport Minister Theresa Villiers said this was a better deal and would provide passengers with “modern, greener and more reliable trains” which in my opinion, completely contradicts her later statement: “Today’s announcement is further proof of the Government’s commitment to investing in Britain’s future.”

It undermines the promise that the coalition would support private industry to create jobs to assist those losing employment in the public sector.

It would also be interesting to know how she comes to attribute the provision of “better” trains to the German company.

Unhealty PFI deals

From: Malcolm Naylor, Grange View, Otley.

GREG Mullholland MP’s campaign to prevent the closure of the elderly ward at Wharfedale hospital is admirable and one I fully support. But this is just a symptom of the real problem and merely plugs a hole in a dyke that is designed to collapse (Yorkshire Post, June 16).

The cause of this closure can be summed up briefly: money, PFI and the hidden agenda of privatisation. Not only this, but a lack of accountability and democracy.

Money is being put into the pockets of the PFI equity fund holders instead of services. Wharfedale Hospital provides a fraction of the services of the one it replaced at a much higher cost.

Before PFI, we had a comprehensive hospital providing accident and emergency, intensive care, medical and surgical wards, maternity, elderly care etc. everything. All in wooden huts.

Now we have a giant mausoleum that is a glorified clinic of which one whole floor is unused. The problem stems from government policy of which he is a part. Laying the blame entirely on the NHS trust is hypocritical. It is the Government that is responsible.

So may I ask for an investigation into the PFI funding and use of this building.

Our representatives should start directing their efforts away from political propaganda and towards the benefit of the people who elected them.

Faith in our politicians

From: John Wilson, Wilsons Solicitors, New Road Side, Horsforth, Leeds.

REGARDING the letter from Mr Buglass (Yorkshire Post, June 15), he reminds us of the command to love God and love our neighbour, and asks how can I love my neighbour if I engage in economic policies which keep him in abject poverty? But of course most of us do not engage in any economic policies, the Government does that, and most of us are not in the Government.

In Christ’s day, there was no such thing as a welfare state, or indeed any state at all to speak of. But even if there had been I am sure he would have told us to love our neighbour just the same rather than suggesting that we didn’t have to bother because the government would see to it all for us.

As Mr Buglass says, the Church has a long and proud history of being the first in so many areas of social provision before the government even had the nearest notion that it might get involved.

It seems sad to me that the accusation that the Government is now retreating from these areas should be seen as a disappointment rather than an opportunity for old ground to be reclaimed. That’s why the Church is wrong to get involved in politics.

It is simply a waste of effort for the Church to argue about Government policy. It just needs to inspire its flock regardless. Governments and their policies come and go, but the Church’s message is eternal.