YEP Letters: September 8

Put the brakes on 24/7 limits

John Wainwright, by email

Putting 20mph speed limits on roads near schools are a reasonable idea, but children don’t usually go to and from school at weekends or in the evening so why do such limits have to be in force 24/7 ?

For example, in Australia the school zone speed limit of 40kph (25mph) only applies

for specified morning and afternoon

periods and on weekdays only, outside those periods the normal 50kph (31mph) limit applies.

This is the sort of common sense arrangement we don’t seem able to implement in control freak Britain.

The only time I’ve ever seen a police speed trap in operation on the 20mph road past my local school was on a Sunday afternoon. Why am I not surprised by that?

Mr M Allen, Leeds 16

Having read the article in the YEP (September 5) regarding 20mph speed limits I feel that I must get this off my chest.

Why does it take a survey to discover that drivers will not slow down?

Was this survey really necessary when the people who did it already know the answer?

I live near a post office sorting office in Ireland Wood and all the surrounding roads have a 20mph limit.

Do these post office drivers take any notice? Not likely. They are quite happy to do 30-35mph on these roads. Where are the police to stop them? When are the powers that be going to learn that no matter what the speed limit is nearly all drivers will break it.

I am an older driver and I try to stick to the speed limit but you always get someone on your back end trying to get you to go faster even in a 20mph zone. I ask myself “what’s the rush”?

While the police are not there to stop them this trend will continue no matter how many surveys are carried out.

Maybe it is a human trend that people want to get where they are going - even before they have set off.

No point in limit if not enforced

Dr Paul Conway, by email

ALL speed limits are regularly flouted. Not just 20mph.

No point having them if they are not enforced.

Buses better late than never

Anthony Silsen,Bramley

In your September 6 issue you invite comment on bus services.

First Leeds in west Leeds is poor.

Punctuality is by no means good, but far worse is the failure to run advertised buses at all.

Only this morning two buses missed on the 16 service but with a so-called 10-minute service one has about half an hour to wait when this happens.

Worse still is the 91. At best this only runs every half an hour and so there is a much longer wait when buses fail to turn up, which has happened on occasions throughout the year.

Only this week, two consecutively advertised buses on the 91 services failed to run and the third was going only as far as Bramley Centre.

Buses not flying to the airport

Jeff Thomas, Huby

With reference to the YEP of September 6, can I add my poor experience of using Yorkshire Tiger buses between Harrogate and the airport. To be fair timekeeping has improved overall, but reliability has not.

There have been several occasions where buses have been cancelled and no vehicle available as a stand-by, completely unacceptable in my view.

Most of the buses on the route are some 12 years or so old, a bit past their sell-buy date, I suggest.

The contract for the airport bus services are due for renewal so let’s hope if the existing operator is selected again, they smarten up their act to match their brand name of Flying Tiger!

The case for the doctors’ strike

Judy Goodwin, Altofts

MPs training required - none. Starting pay £69,000 and all you can fill your boots expenses.

Junior doctors training required - five to six years. Starting pay £25,000.

I rest my case.

War of words over Falklands

R Kimble, Hawksworth

I have read the exchange of views over the Falklands War between Messrs Gallagher and Maunder with interest in YEP Letters.

The former referred to the latter as “sneering” in his first reply to Mr Maunder’s assertion that the Falklands War was used for political gain.

There has also been reference to a UN Resolution that supported said war that actually never existed: there was no official UN support for military action.

I actually found Mr Gallagher’s reference in his letter yesterday to a “Nazarene carpenter” and the idea that empathy can be doled out according to the location or ethnic origin of suffering people far more “sneering” than anything the rather excitable Mr Maunder has written and a sad indictment of our times.

Stop freebies once and for all

K and D Ingle, Gildersome

So now other pensioners are getting at us for supporting Mr Keer! Why? (YEP Letters).

Why can’t they, in modern terms, just chill out instead of complaining all the time? This ‘take take take’ attitude is repulsive, as is the ‘I want this, that, and the other and I don’t want to pay a penny for it’. It’s deplorable!

Some bus services have been withdrawn due to very low takings. If pass holders were charged £1 a journey then £20-£30 would probably be the norm.

Subsidising a bus service to a point is all well and good, but subsidising passengers to use it is taking the biscuit!

It’s high time all these freebies were stopped once and for all. We’re both sick of it!

Blooming lovely Pudsey!

Margaret Buckle, Pudsey

Through your letters page I would like to say a big 
thank you to all the Pudsey 
in Bloom volunteers who 
have excelled themselves this year.

The many tubs and containers which are on display are absolutely beautiful.

Well done and thank you.

Has PM turned into Mrs Nice?

Max Nottingham, Lincoln

Mrs May is less upfront on TV than David Cameron was but as Prime Minister she may come to regret not having replaced Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary.

As Home Secretary she gave some headmistressey dressing downs to the police. Has her attitude changed as Prime Minister?

Has she turned into a nice leader of her once ‘nasty party’?

Time will tell!

Get ready, steady...bake!

Julia MacLeod, Regional Director, Stroke Association

It’s time to roll up your sleeves, grab a mixing bowl and bake a difference for the Stroke Association. Our charity’s fundraising campaign, Give a Hand and Bake, takes place this autumn, and we need budding bakers to get involved.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned chef or a first time baker – all you’ll need is enthusiasm and a hungry group of friends ready to Give a Hand and Bake for the Stroke Association. Whether you like the idea of an afternoon tea for your colleagues or a fancy showstopper to wow your friends, a simple donation in return for a slice of cake will help us create a new era in stroke treatment. Stroke is the UK’s fourth biggest killer, and there are over 112,300 stroke survivors living in Yorkshire and Humberside. Many of your readers will know someone affected by this cruel condition.By giving a hand to the Stroke Association, your readers will help stroke survivors get the treatment they need and the lifelong support they deserve. To get a free pack, visit www.stroke.org.uk/giveahand.

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