SIR - Philip Bird has let himself down with his letter (T&A, October 18) comparing Northern Rock to the Farepack "fiasco".

I don't think he recognises about people who live below the poverty line, some by choice, others through no fault of their own.

Years ago we owned our own shop, and certain people we knew used to get their goods through the week and pay at the weekend - it was called tick'.

However, the supermarkets eventually forced us out so I went back to my old job as plumber with Bradford Council, covering Bradford south, maintaining all the housing from Queensbury right across to Wyke.

Now I am working class and broadminded, but boy, did I get my eyes opened - I really could write a book.

Cutting to the chase - these were through the Thatcher years, when there was no money, no jobs and no hope. People had just given up, and their children followed suit in to the Nineties and beyond.

People, especially single mums with children hanging around their coattails, thought Farepack was a God-send.

They could pay weekly through a collector, to ensure their children had as good a Christmas as they could give them, while you suggest they should have banked it and gained interest. Do me a favour, Mr Bird.

Geoff Tasker, Park Road, Low Moor