YP Letters: When will Government act on rail?

I LIVE in Apperley Bridge and work in Leeds. Last week, it took me over an hour to arrive at work, a journey which usually takes around 15 minutes because the service didn’t have enough carriages and we were not allowed to board the train, despite buying a ticket for it.

Surely operator Northern should not be allowed to continuously charge for a service which is not up to scratch?

If you or I went to a restaurant and we were served our food 40 minutes late and it arrived cold, I am sure we would both feel well within our right to send this back or not pay as the service wasn’t up to scratch.

Tom Richmond: Rail’s own Chuckle Brothers are having a laugh at us

Does Northern surely not break the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which states that a product or service must be as described (which it is not) of satisfactory quality (of which it’s not) and fit for purpose (which it’s not)?

Not only is a continued late service on a weekday incredibly frustrating and has led to me looking foolish in my place of work by arriving late and flustered, but it has also impacted my personal life with their continued weekend strikes which I see have been prolonged into November.

This will now extend the strikes over three months which is ridiculous.

If I want to travel into Bradford or Leeds, I am having to alter my plans or take alternative transport home and a taxi from Leeds city centre can cost upwards of £20.

Tim Farron: Chris Grayling has run out of excuses for failings on railways

I have not been able to keep up to date with friends as I have to leave after just a few hours of meeting them. It also means that if I wish to attend a football game which starts at the regular 3pm kick off, I cannot make it back to the station on time to catch the last train home.

At what point will the government make a true intervention and either declare these strikes are unlawful – or provide a different service 
which can actually fulfill the needs of the people who elect them?

People talk about the Northern Powerhouse and, as a proud Yorkshireman, this is something I am desperate to see. 
I want to avoid a ‘brain drain’ to London and the South-East, but given the state of the transport network, the Northern Powerhouse is nothing more than a myth created by Westminster to placate people of the North.

The the network is not fit for purpose and this is a fact. It is single-handedly crippling the North of England.

Whilst I would love to do more business in Manchester and bring more money into the Yorkshire region, this is, quite frankly, impossible as I cannot guarantee that I will be able to punctually make meetings in the North-West.

Tom Richmond: Never mind Brexit, Chris Grayling is failing the Tories

Again, at what point will the Government intervene?

Disturbing music trends

From: J Godfrey Turner, Clayton, Bradford.

FURTHER to your very full coverage on the subject of 
music, or lack of it in schools, I would like to relate to you my personal experiences on being appointed Head of Music in 
1966 at a secondary school in Halifax (The Yorkshire Post, October 13).

I called an early orchestra rehearsal, to find only wind players attending.

I contacted the then music adviser and asked if I could form a concert band (woodwind, brass and percussion).

His response was to let him know what I needed and he would provide it in the form of an open cheque! How times have changed.

This was the start of a well-known concert band, which toured Austria on numerous occasions, and gave concerts frequently in the local area.

Remnants of this band still form part of the now Halifax Concert Band which still enjoys much popularity.

Many of the former members of the school band went on to become professional musicians as Army and RAF bandsmen, or music teachers.

A grandson of mine two years ago had to go to Huddersfield in order to study A-level music.

How disturbing the present trend has become.

Congratulations to Foxhill Primary School in Queensbury on trying to provide opportunities in music.

An old story retold again

From: Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton, York.

NO surprise that Bob Watson (The Yorkshire Post, November 11) repeats the same old story about Labour’s plans leading to massive debt. At least Labour’s leaders have produced detailed plans and taken the trouble to tour businesses during the summer to seek their views.

And I wonder what austerity has cost British people when they are unable to get jobs because their rural bus service has been axed, forking out to cover shortfalls in school budgets, or even in damage to cars through potholed roads?

Perhaps the “money pit” in your headline is the same that Theresa May found to keep the Democratic Unionist Party happy? At least £1bn to keep a bunch of incompetents on side. That money would go a long way to help Yorkshire’s services.

No room for post queues

From: Graham Stuart, Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness.

I DO not understand how anyone who uses the main Post Office in Beverley, as I do, could see the queues of people in there and believe these could be accommodated in WH Smith.

It does not seem credible and I look forward to seeing what the Post Office has to say. It will take a lot of convincing to make me accept that we can have as good a service in WH Smith, given how important the main Post Office is to the town.