YEP letters: November 30

Should station ticket machines show passengers the cheapest option? Why are our energy bills so high? And why the budget has brought no comfort to those on a low income? Our readers give their views. think.

Passengers need a proper choice

Station ticket machines could be overhauled to show customers the best value fares, as the Department of Transport prepares to launch a crackdown on confusing pricing regimes.

Yorkshire Evening Post readers took to social media to air their views on the DoT plans. Here are a few of your comments from Facebook

Jim Cunningham, via Facebook

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I LOVE it how the Department of Transport tells companies how to operate, then berates them for doing exactly what they are told!

If the DofT actually cared about saving passengers money - because that’s what they are, not customers, that would imply they have a choice of whose services to use, which most definitely don’t - they would have sorted out the ticketing structure years ago, instead of actually making it more complicated. They wouldn’t be forcing operators to reduce staff numbers and reducing ticket office opening hours or shutting them altogether.

Because when you don’t know what you’re buying, who is going to get you the correct ticket at the cheapest price? The person at the ticket desk or the machine in the corner?

Operators don’t get very much right, but let’s not harass them for the things they have no control over!

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Station ticket machines could be overhauled to show customers the best value fares, as the Department of Transport prepares to launch a crackdown on confusing pricing regimes.

Yorkshire Evening Post readers took to social media to air their views on the DoT plans. Here are a few of your comments from Facebook

Gary Cunningham

It’s funny how the Government has got involved with this.

I had a reply email over people working Boxing Day in retail saying its not for central Government to tell companies how to run their business

Phil Heppenstall

So long as you book a month in advance the fares are good. A cheap day return is not cheap at all!

Kate Warwick

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Some routes have no discounts even when you book in advance, parts of the East Coast/Grand Central routes are very expensive.

Jacob Boyes

All delivered under a Tory government!

Paul Quigley

All we need now of course is a decent railway....are they going to help with that?

Iain Clarke

Have to get the machines actually working first of course.

Beverly Golesworthy

Makes things too complicated especially if you’re in a rush and there’s a queue. I would rather book in advance if I can

New butler for White House

Edna Levi, Stonegate Road, Leeds

If Nigel Farage is so keen on America, why does he not just emigrate. He already holds the “Trumpcard” to get a work permit and I am sure the White House could always use a smarmy butler.

Budget won’t help likes of us

DS Boyes, Upper Rodley Lane, Leeds

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AS an OAP and on behalf of other generally low paid, I would like to express my extreme disgust at the effect that the Chancellor’s autumn budget statement will have on us.

Wasn’t it typical of that genre of true blue Tory multi millionaires, to whom even a cabinet minister’s bloated salary is just pocket money that the poorest lose out from insurance premium tax hiked by 2 per cent while big business gets a 3 per cent cut in corporation tax to increase both profits and sharehold dividends?

Meanwhile VAT, the most insidious tax of all and a serious burden to both workers and the retired, stays at its record 20 per cent rate.

This coming so soon after Philip Hammond reneged on a clear promise made by his predecessor George Osborne to allow older people the right to cash in small pension annuities after his treasury and pensions ministers were lobbied by the big six insurance companies at a meeting in Scotland, shows how worthless anything that either he or Theresa May says to the public is.

NHS should not be free for all

Leslie Pye, Leeds

I AGREE with A Hague that the NHS must be paid for.

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I suggest that we try to extract as much money as we can from visitors and others who do not qualify for non-emergency treatment.

Earlier this year whilst on holiday in Bulgaria,my wife had to visit a local clinic for treatment to swollen ankles. As all clinics in the resort of Sunny Beach are private,it cost us 140 Euros for the treatment,30 Euros for a tube of cream,and later three Euros for a pack of Paracetamol available here for 25 pence.

My travel insurance did not cover the first £100, so I decided not to submit a claim. With regards to not everyone having a passport,surely everyone has a NI number,in order to qualify. I am still of the opinion that a National Identity Card would have been a good idea.

This hatred is contemptible

Dr Michael Lowry, Moseley Wood Gardens, Cookridge, Leeds

Recent media stories point to a campaign of hate against Polish people, apparently in response to the Leave Europe situation.

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This type of ill-informed and mindless behaviour illustrates all that is bad in any civilised society. To aim hatred at a nation which did so much and so selflessly to help secure freedom from tyranny in WW2, deserves contempt.

Those responsible would do well to wipe away their misinformed madness and read a little about recent history, from which they might learn and rethink their attitudes.

Many young Polish people joined the allies in WW2, and were amongst the fiercest defenders of our freedom and democracy. They were subsequently treated rather poorly by us when the war ended.

Similar attitudes prevailed in the 1950s and 1960s with the influx of migrants from for example India and the West Indies, citizens from which also played a significant part in securing the freedoms we now enjoy.

Energy bills causing misery

Colin Proctor, by email

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When the crazy conservatives closed all the coal mines and started to purchase cheap foreign coal we were expecting cheaper energy bills.

Then they privatised the energy companies with the result that they became an energy market where users had to shop around on their lap-tops to get the cheapest price.

This crazy system which allows millionaires in their mansions to pay less for their energy than a pensioner in a one bed-room flat.(Most pensioners have not got access to a computer).

The energy bills are now twice as much as any other European union country. It has got so bad that many pensioners cannot afford to put their heating on and frequent libraries sit in bus stations and travel around on buses just to keep warm. It will get worse as a depression begins to bite and more jobs are lost.

Powerhouse around our city

Jaimes Lewis Moran, Poverty Truth Leeds Commission

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There’s been much talk of building Leeds into a great northern powerhouse, however there’s one great flaw to this ideal; that a city alone doesn’t create a strong economy, the empowerment of all surrounding communities does.

For too long places like Seacroft, Whinmoor and Swarcliffe and their developments have been lagging behind.

True, the emergence of academy schools does help future generations, however they should keep in mind a young person’s future prosperity should not be dictated by postcode discrimination.

Everyone from disadvantaged backgrounds deserves a chance to shine, yet only focusing on the wealthy areas will not achieve this, only building a better sense of community for the common good will.