LOSING your job is a devastating blow for anyone, but John and Barbara Hubberstey faced the double whammy of losing their home as well as their source of income.

Through no fault of their own that they can identify, the couple face the twin nightmare of unemployment and homelessness. And if that wasn't bad enough they also face having to find a new school for their children, one of whom has learning difficulties and has settled in well.

Their employer, United News, may well feel justified in taking the action that it did for sound commercial reasons - although the company has chosen not to make its reasons public to the Gazette.

However, whatever commercial considerations apply, the outcome of the company's action for the Hubbersteys seems far too cruel.

Parish Councillor Pauline Dixon has taken us to task about the editorial we published last week.

We would like to make it clear what the Gazette's position is. The issue of vandalism in the case of the Riverside Gardens toilets is more complicated than normal mindless wrecking by drunken yobs. It is systematic damage caused by someone who goes to a great deal of trouble to render the toilets unusable.

If we continue to pretend that the issue of 'cottaging' and the issue of vandalism at the Riverside toilets are 'separate', as Coun Dixon wants us to, the problem will carry on until Bradford Council gets fed up and closes the block forever, thus depriving Ilkley people and tourists of a vital public facility.

The Gazette in no way tries to justify or condone any type of vandalism and we thought we had made it quite clear that the issue that the parish council is trying to avoid is not the provision of public toilets in Ilkley, but the distasteful activities of some late night visitors to the toilets in the Riverside Gardens.

If Coun Dixon and the other members of the parish council want to carry on ignoring the root cause of the problem, then a search for a cure is destined to be a forlorn hope.