Grandparents rush to rescue London’s transport system

THE leaked announcement about the Midland Mainline’s electrification over the weekend did not detract from headlines about security and transport arrangements for the London Olympics.

The fact is that employers in the London area – notably along the Central Line – are worried that the transport system could collapse.

Consequently, letters have gone out from nurseries that if children are not picked up at the designated time, 5pm in our two-year-old grandson’s case, fines for late pick-up could be forthcoming and social services called in after 6pm in extreme cases.

The rates at this nursery are £940 per month for four days a week Monday to Thursday.

The soldiers do not have to be called in in this instance, but an army of hundreds of grandparents are heading south as a safeguard measure.

My wife and I are going to be living in Wanstead – the yummy mummy suburb with its pastry shops and outdoor tables where the traffic wardens check that the pushchairs are parked neatly!

From: Dai Woosnam, Woodrow Park, Scartho, Grimsby.

SO we have an all-too-predictable fiasco in Olympic preparations. But what I want to know is why a private security company was hired in the first place, to handle security at the venues?

Surely, this is precisely what our Armed Forces should be doing, instead of invading foreign countries at the drop of a hat?

And when the Games are over, can our troops then start on dredging all our rivers, canals, streams and culverts? We would then stop 90 per cent of our flash floods at a stroke.

From: Malcolm Naylor, Otley.

THE foolishness and downright stupidly of appointing a private company, G4S to provide security services for the Olympics has resulted in failure, necessitating the deployment of soldiers to do the job for them.

With ground-to-air missiles located on rooftops and soldiers carrying out security checks this is more like preparation for an invasion of the third world war, than the Olympic Games.

The theory that private contractors are more efficient both in execution and value for money has been exposed many times but the Government continues unabated with its dogma against the wishes of the electorate. It’s not just G4S that has failed. It’s our whole undemocratic system that cannot be trusted.

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

I THINK we should encourage every fish and chip shop within sight of the Olympic arena and further afield to sell as many chips as they wish to the punters.

There is no logic in Locog being permitted to put a ban on the sale of chips to satisfy McDonalds’ sole sponsorship and who do not sell chips, but skinny pre-blanched fries, no comparison to real potato chips fried in oil or lard. I doubt if there is any judge nationwide who would compare McDonald’s fries to real chips.

Let’s back our chippies!

From: Barry Tighe, Matson Court, Woodford Green, Essex.

IN view of Locog’s shambolic organisation, may I suggest the Olympics are opened by Eddie the Eagle?