Letters to the Editor

SIR - I know it has been a while since the road markings were changed at the junction of Rooley Lane (A6036) but using Odsal roundabout since does not feel safe.

The new road layout was completed at the end of August 2003 and the road markings outside Odsal Stadium, on the inside lane, were changed and marked for traffic travelling to Huddersfield only via the A641.

This does not become apparent until you reach Odsal Stadium, where motorists travelling towards Halifax are expected to change into the outside lane marked 'Halifax A6036' to enter the roundabout.

When on the roundabout, just past the yellow grid, suddenly both lanes are marked out for 'Halifax A6036'. This causes motorists to change lanes on the roundabout, which is very dangerous.

I would have thought for safety reasons if there are two lanes off Odsal Roundabout on to Halifax Road, then there should be two lanes marked out for exit off Rooley Lane.

Ironically, if you are travelling from Wibsey there are two lanes marked out on the roundabout for Halifax.

Am I alone, or are other motorists concerned about the new road markings outside Odsal Stadium?

Mrs Carole A Best, Hainsworth Moor Garth, Queensbury.

Badly thought out

SIR - Following the comments of Chris Leslie MP in defence of postal voting and the Government's concerns about preventing corruption and vote rigging in the forthcoming elections (T&A, March 16), I have to ask if he would answer the following questions:

1. With whom will the burden of proof of fraud lie?

2. How will the Electoral Commission, the police or any other agency be able to prove a particular voting paper is fraudulent?

3. Similarly how will it be possible to prove who signed the suspect voting paper without the unlikely direct evidence?

4. How will it be possible to prove who posted the suspect papers?

5. In which areas of this region have the "successful, all postal voting ballots" referred to by Mr Leslie taken place?

I seem to recall that after the last two local elections in this area there were claims of voting fraud having taken place.

Extensive and no doubt expensive inquiries were made with negative results because of the lack of proof.

I feel that this is just another badly-thought-through gimmick, if indeed it was thought through at all.

J C D Higson, Cleckheaton Road, Low Moor.

A safer Iraq

SIR - Despite Mike Priestley's anti-Government moans (North of Watford, March 13) recent reports from Iraq don't look too bright for the "not in my name " brigade.

Recent polls state that people there feel safer now than under Saddam plus 1,000 schools have been opened (no mass graves for them).

When our election is over, if it's a Tory victory, guess who will be the first to the United States? Michael Howard of course. The cementing will continue and be stronger.

The US and its shield will remain, ensuring the likes of Spain's new man and Mike Priestley are able to be as critical as they wish.

F Dickinson, Larkfield Road, Rawdon.

Ignoring the issues

Sir - The actions of the TUC, reported by David Barnett (T&A, March 19), are just the sort that drive people to vote for the British National Party.

Why are groups such as the TUC and various trade unions obsessed with ousting the BNP? Many of these groups that support the main three political parties receive funding for their support, without which they would struggle to exist.

This crusade to oust the BNP is about power and money, while the real issues of why people are turning to the BNP are just ignored.

The 2003 election results prove that the BNP is now a mainstream party. In the ten wards that the BNP contested, they received 6,391 votes from a possible 30,935 - just over 20 per cent. In several of these wards the BNP achieved second place.

It looks like the TUC are going to have a job on their hands!

Thomas Crabtree, Idle Road, Eccleshill.

Develop elsewhere

Sir - Re the article by Mr Wightman of the Chamber of Commerce (T&A, March 15), his facts are surely incorrect and I wonder from where he obtained his information.

The Euroway Estate is not full; in fact a significant part of it is empty, and plain to see if he had checked.

The delay in holding the public inquiry, I understand, is because some information, which was requested, was not supplied by the applicants.

A telephone call to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol will confirm this. As an objector to the scheme, I have personally received notification of this from the Inspectorate.

The traffic flow on Rooley Lane is already above capacity and any development can only cause severe problems.

Please let all regeneration be in Bradford city centre so we may once again enjoy a thriving city, and leave the beautiful 105-year-old golf course a green oasis for present and future generations to enjoy.

Mrs C A Binsley, Harrogate Road, Eccleshill.

VAT truths

SIR - Oh dear! If you are going to write a letter criticising someone for getting their facts wrong then you need to make doubly sure that you get yours right.

This Andrew Dundas, Labour candidate for East Keighley, plainly failed to achieve. He rightly pointed out VAT was not first levied at five per cent but he was wrong in every other way.

For the record, VAT was not first levied at 15 per cent nor was it raised to 17.5 per cent by Mrs Thatcher's government in 1980.

VAT was introduced on April 1 1973 at a standard rate of ten per cent. This was lowered to eight per cent the following year by the new Labour government.

This remained until 1979 when Mrs Thatcher increased it to 15 per cent, where it stayed until John Major raised it to 17.5 per cent.

During the last 30 years there have been luxury rates of 25 per cent and 12.5 per cent and a reduced rate of five per cent and there has always been a nought per cent rate.

J Cavanagh, Bank Crest, Baildon.

Open on Sundays

SIR - I think it is time shops in Bradford city centre embraced Sunday shopping and started trading on this day.

Sunday shopping should be all-year round, not just during the run-up to Christmas.

All stores in the Kirkgate Centre, along Darley Street and Bank Street down to the Wool Exchange and along Kirkgate towards Sunwin House (which has traded on Sundays for several years now) should be open on a Sunday.

Free or discounted parking is what people expect on a Sunday so this should be provided.

To help make Sunday shopping successful in Bradford, there would need to be a massive high-profile advertising campaign with adverts in the T&A, on billboards, sides of buses, on the radio and leaflets printed.

Perhaps this is one way of attracting the people back into the city centre who would rather shop at the White Rose Centre because Bradford is mostly closed on a Sunday.

Bradford should move with the times now and become a seven-day shopping city.

Jack MacPherson, Killinghall Road, Bradford.

Ring of misfortune

Sir - My mother had a fall in town a few weeks ago and broke her arm. She was taken into a chemists shop by passers-by and attended to until the ambulance came to take her to hospital.

I would like to thank all those people involved in helping her. And I would also like to say to the person who removed my mother's ring and kept it, it will not bring you any luck and this act will haunt you forever.

Christine Eccles, Norwood Drive, Birstall, Batley.

What a joke!

Sir - Regarding the report about Warzer Mirza losing his job and being deported, it makes my blood boil when a skilled honest man who pays his taxes and works for a living is punished like this.

Yet the 'hook man' who preaches racial hatred on the streets of London and gets handouts for fun is allowed to stay. What a joke this country is!

A Griffiths, Exley Mount, Lidget Green, Bradford.