Wednesday's Letters: How we threw away the chance to move goods by train

In my economic geography lessons more than 50 years ago, the idea of containerisation was straight forward – cuboid shaped containers, easily stacked.

They went by ship to dock, and were loaded on to trains to a

distribution centre where lorries collect, thus cutting out miles of road use. But then the train was taken out and the lorries all went on the road.

Similarly, it used to be possible to put one's car on the train for long journeys in the UK, travel by train then drive, in the same way as Eurostar.

Could it be that the railway companies got too greedy and priced everyone out of the market?

From: Patricia Armstrong, Hall Bank Drive, Bingley.

From: Les Arnott, Athelstan Road, Sheffield.

I READ with interest what Mr Birch had to say about expanding the use of railways to transport the bulk of merchandise shipped around Britain.

He seems to forget that there are very few railheads. Sadly, the days when steel plants had direct rail links to the coal mines which supplied them are now history and that is the only example of a truly efficient system of the type described and largely because it had so few components.

To do what he advocates would necessitate the building of many thousands of convenient rail centres for the use of factories, suppliers, transporters and retailers – and even this could never be nearly enough. Even being two miles from one such would be unacceptable.

Today, goods commonly arrive from a multitude of factories and importers at centralised warehouses where they are sorted to meet the needs of both individuals as well as small and large businesses.

What Mr Birch wants is goods to be loaded on to a lorry; be carried to the railhead; control of your goods to be surrendered; lorry to be unloaded; goods to then be re-sorted before being put on to a series of goods trains.

All these trains must then be met by a variety of lorries which wait as the trains unload; check the goods; hand over to lorry drivers which then distribute locally.

How many hundreds of billions would have to be spent in relocating distribution centres in vain attempts to make an impossible system work? There would be so many crowding to get closer to railheads; price of land would rocket... the knock-on effects are unending.

Councils that judge their own conduct

From: William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.

ALTHOUGH over the years I have found much to criticise in York City Council's policies, it was only last year that I fell out with individual officers. The chief executive advised me to follow the official complaints procedure; so I did.

York City Council's complaints procedure is a three tier system.

Firstly, the officer complained against is appointed to consider the matter. Should he find himself "not guilty", the case is handed over to a colleague to consider. Should his colleague find him equally innocent of all charges, the matter is passed on to the chief executive for

final judgment. The chief executive must carefully weigh up the obligatory duty of care towards a subordinate officer against the discretionary duty of care towards a resident. Then the case is wrapped up. There is no appeal to an independent adjudicator.

This all seemed rather arbitrary to me. If law courts were run this way, what a rumpus there would be! I enquired about the rules of engagement. Three hand-delivered letters and a personal interception later, I got my answer. There are no rules. Apparently, York's local government officers are endowed with such impartiality that to insist on rules would be to impugn their probity.

I wonder if York is alone in this, or are other cities equally blessed?

Plight of the red squirrel

From: William Snowden, Butterbowl Gardens, Farnley Ring Road, Leeds.

RED and grey squirrels are not interchangeable. Grey squirrels inhabit town gardens, hedgerow trees, parkland and isolated copses.

Red squirrels do not. They are elusive. They spend long periods

unobserved, high in the canopies of coniferous forests. Few people will

see one, let alone understand his nature.

All animals naturally compete for territory and food.

In this respect, the grey squirrel has natural advantages over his red cousin: he is bigger, bolder and more adaptable. But there is no evidence to show that grey squirrels "drive out" red squirrels.

Since the 1940s, the destruction of suitable, woodland habitats, and the forestry practice of "clear-felling" conifers, has had a serious impact on red squirrels.

A shortage of tree seeds, causes starvation and disease. Those that survive the winter are often too weak to breed. It is in these circumstances that the grey squirrel becomes dominant. That is nature.

Alternative history

From: Arthur Quarmby, Holme, Holmfirth.

WHAT if Britain had entered the 20th century with a policy of splendid isolation, and carefully avoided treaties or any such foreign

entanglements?

After all, when in 1870 Germany attacked and defeated France, Britain saw no reason to intervene. So in 1914 Britain could have stood aside, and with the then power of the Royal Navy, have defied any attempts to invade.

Even in 1939, when the appeasers so very nearly won, we could have had an arrangement with Hitler (who was an admirer of the British Empire) which would probably have resulted in Oswald Mosley becoming our own fascist dictator, but neither this nor the German occupation of Europe are likely to have lasted more than 10 years at the most and would then, like communist Russia, have collapsed.

The very worst outcome would have been ending up as a subsidiary state in a unified, undemocratic Europe.

At this time of the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, it is difficult to think these thoughts, but what a different Britain would have emerged from the Second World War, without the loss of our finest, the destruction and the bankruptcy from which we are still suffering.

Clegg should face reality

From: Ralph Musgrave, Garden Avenue, Durham.

NICK Clegg's speech "Short-term pain is the way to achieve long-term gain" (Yorkshire Post, September 11) was very Lib Dem. In other words, it was mainly hot air: full of airy fairy quotations from Oscar Wilde, Disraeli, etc. Plus there were plenty of touchy-feely phrases like "sustainable, balanced economy" – whatever that is.

As to strictly economic reasons why we need to endure pain, there

wasn't a single one.

Obviously, government has been financed too much by borrowing rather than by tax (thanks to Labour). But reversing that trend is not difficult, and it's not an excuse for a rise in unemployment.

As to repaying the portion of the debt held by foreigners, that involves an outflow of currency from the UK and a standard of living hit for Brits. But the effect would be small compared to the effect of the trillion dollars that flowed out the country in early 2009, and we lived to tell that tale.

Clegg should stop reading Oscar Wilde and should start reading economics.

Local courts are a cornerstone of justice system

From: Gill O'Donnell JP and colleagues, Skipton Bench, Skipton Magistrates' Court.

IN response to Don Burslam (Yorkshire Post, September 13), I'd like to clarify issues re the proposed court closures. Firstly, the question of self-interest: magistrates are volunteers and receive no financial gain by our service to the community.

We undertake this service precisely because we choose to contribute to our society and it is for this reason many of us are alarmed by the proposed closures, which we believe will most strongly impact on the more vulnerable members of our community.

Secondly, the distances involved are not always "just a few miles away". In the case of Skipton court, the transfer of business elsewhere could involve court-users in round-trips of up to five hours by public transport – not a situation conducive to encouraging witnesses to attend court and thus undermining justice.

Thirdly, while Mr Burslam is correct that magistrates operate within prescribed guidelines, it must be stressed that they are precisely that – guidelines.

Each case is individual and justice is not a "one-size fits all" scheme delivered without regard to the individuals, the full circumstances and locality.

This is one of the cornerstones of our system and a key way in which we differ from the system of "trial by combat/ordeal" favoured by medieval society – which, while offering the uniformity he appears to desire, was not necessarily just.

This awareness of local trends and issues is a further reason why justice cannot always be effectively served by a centralised

bureaucracy.

Perhaps if Mr Burslam seeks a greater understanding of the complex role of a magistrate, he would like to accept the invitation of Skipton bench and come along and view court proceedings one day. We currently sit on Wednesdays and Fridays – and hope to do so for many years to come – and would be more than happy for him to visit.

Funeral donations

From: R Thompson, Crow Tree Lane, Bradford.

RECENTLY, my husband and I had, sadly, to attend the funeral of a dear friend. There was a large congregation as he was a very popular person who had died far too young.

Donations to a charity in his name were requested to be left on a plate at the church.

I was extremely surprised and rather annoyed when I found out that the church had taken 25 per cent of the collection and wonder if this is the usual practice? The vicar, organist and the choir had all been paid prior to the service. If or when we are in the unhappy position of attending other funeral services, we shall give our donations in cheque form rather than cash to make sure that the charity involved receives it.

Heartfelt loss

From: Rodney Fisher, Esperance Street, Port Noarlunga South, Australia.

THIS week in Australia we have been told that the last show of

Heartbeat will be screened and there will be no more – what a shock to us all Down Under. We would like to know how viewers of Yorkshire cope with the loss of one of the great TV series. Many of the people I know in Australia feel a great loss – it is as though the cast members are part of our family and will be sadly missed, even though we are on the other side of the world and a few months behind you all in the UK with regards seeing the show.

Is there any chance of a revival of this most popular series?

Cause of our ills

From: Edwin Bateman, South Dyke, Great Salkeld, Penrith.

THE EU is blamed for the unacceptable result on the NHS of the Working Time Directive.

It was UK politicians who, without the consent of the electors, gave the EU the power to do it. Yet our politicians will not allow us a vote on EU exit which now costs us (according to Ian Milne, economist, of Civitas) over 100bn a year; far, far more than the cost of the

cutbacks they now tell us we need to make.