YP Letters: Daughter's ordeal shows rail failings on York to Scarborough line

From: Kim Hodgson, White Lodge Hotel, The Crescent, Filey.
The unreliability of rail services to Scarborough continues to cause distress.The unreliability of rail services to Scarborough continues to cause distress.
The unreliability of rail services to Scarborough continues to cause distress.

THERE are not issues just between Leeds and Manchester with TransPennine Express (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, October 27).

We regularly attempt to use the Scarborough to York service and are continually challenged with cancelled and late trains, causing us to miss other trains and transport.

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Only a few weeks ago our 19-year-old daughter was travelling home from London when her train was cancelled and the last train to Scarborough was running late on a Friday night – despite National Rail Enquiries saying the first train was on time!

There wasn’t anyone on the platform to ask for more information despite it being 9.30pm. By the time she had figured this out, there wasn’t anyone to share a taxi with.

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We decided not to gamble and asked her to get a taxi to Malton where we scrambled ourselves to reach her in time. The fare was an extortionate amount of £45!

I shudder to think what would have happened to another girl whose family could not afford such a luxury.

The train service between Scarborough and York is a disgrace.

Stop trying to run trains across such a long stretch of land (with a plethora of issues) and perhaps just have a Scarborough to York shuttle service, where we can change/catch whatever train we need and not be cut off from the rest of the world when something goes wrong on the other side of the Pennines.

Take bold step on devolution

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From: Mike Cartwright, West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.

WE know that a significant period of change lies ahead; that’s why the Chamber network this year, in its Budget submission, called for radical measures to enable business to meet the upcoming challenges facing the UK economy (The Yorkhsire Post, October 30).

Measures to boost investment, competitiveness and productivity are needed to embolden the UK economy ahead of and throughout the upcoming period surrounding Brexit. We welcome measures such as increasing the annual investment allowance, the package to stimulate high streets, including business rate relief, and encouraging SMEs to take on apprentices. Conversely, economic growth forecasts remain disturbingly weak, so this is a concern.

One policy decision we are still awaiting is on devolution. There is reference in the red book to extending the Transforming Cities Fund but, until our region gets progress on a devolution settlement, we remain disadvantaged. The Government needs to give our region the policy-making tools and powers it needs to fully contribute to the economy and decision-making. We therefore look forward to a renewed Northern Powerhouse strategy next year.

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We will scrutinise the red book further to give a more detailed assessment to our members and the likely impact on the business community and economic growth prospects.

We must fund our services

From: Rachel Power, Chief Executive, Patients Association.

THE Chancellor again missed an opportunity to be frank with the public about the need to fund essential services properly (The Yorkshire Post, October 30).

If we want high quality health and social care we will have to pay for it, and eventually the Government will have to mobilise a meaningful chunk of our national wealth through taxation, rather than relying on a range of small measures and unexpected tax windfalls, as the Chancellor seems to have done.

From: John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon.

CHANCELLOR Philip Hammond can and has promised the Earth, knowing he won’t have to deliver. Those nasty Europeans will stop things by not giving us the Brexit “we” want (The Yorkshire Post, October 30).

Sea claims part of scam

From: Terry Watson, Adel.

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MORE than 1.5 million coastal properties will be at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels according to the Government’s advisory panel.

The Committee on Climate Change says that seas could rise three feet by 2080.

This claim is completely at odds with the recent lecture given in London on man-made climate change by Richard Lindzen, one of the most eminent climate scientists in the world.

He admitted that sea levels are rising about eight inches every 100 years, which we are well able to cope with. He accused these Government scientists of misrepresentation, exaggeration and cherry picking over this so-called evidence.

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This is more evidence that governments are perpetrating the biggest scam on the public in history.

More to life than etiquette

From: Steve Conway, Stamford Bridge, York.

I HAVE just read the self-serving column by Neil McNicholas (The Yorkshire Post, October 29) on courtesy titles and manners.

In his position, he should be turning his attention to the greater issues his local flock have to face. I am just glad I do not have to face his sermons on a regular basis.

How mean to question someone’s intelligence just for leaving a gate open.

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Such a shame he had to leave his warm house to solve the problem.

At least he had a home to return to unlike many people up and down the country.

Don’t expect many of the young people he also lambasts in another generic rant to attend his church either.