Sir, We all deprecate the wrongful or malicious use of the vital 999 service, but it must be available freely and without cost to genuine callers.
This service is operator controlled and monitored, therefore it should be quite simple to set up a reverse charge, say £5 or even more, to the user’s account to penalise wrongful or frivolous use.
The BT operator always has the caller’s number and forwards it to the requested service even for “withheld numbers”. Penalties could be charged to monthly bills or to credit in hand.
Where “pay as you go” credit is insufficient to meet the penalty, the defaulter could be required to buy more time with the ultimate sanction of service withdrawal.
Changing the SIM card would be no way out as service providers can blacklist the phone’s electronic identity rendering it useless.
There is no obvious way of reverse charging calls from a phone kiosk but in practice these boxes are so rare nowadays that they probably represent only 1% or 2% of likely call originating sources.
Perhaps the industry could comment in more detail?
Alister Lockhart. 7 Elie Place, Dundee.
Should be the same for all
Sir, I remember well the 35-hour week campaign of the late 70s spearheaded by engineering workers and the related demand for retirement at 60 for every worker.
Since that time, what was then new technology has advanced by leaps and bounds with the silicon chip now so pervasive that we can read books on our mobile phones! Despite the potential of technology we work longer hours and now face retirement at 68.
The conditions exist for a six-hour working day, a four-day working week and retirement at 50 for manual workers and 55 for non-manual workers. Additionally, if students and teachers can enjoy 12 weeks’ annual holiday, the rest of us are entitled to similar gains from our labour.
Some may argue that the increase in unemployment, part-time working and the advent of zero hours contracts is evidence of a move to overall shorter hours, but these developments simply reflect an imbalance in working conditions.
Ruling class attempts to divide the working class along so-called “skiver and striver” lines could be stymied permanently by a labour movement campaign to equalise meaningful work and enjoyable leisure time for all workers.
Raymond Mennie. 49 Ashbank Road, Dundee.
Where arethe savings?
Sir, It was disappointing to read that the new hierarchy in the Police Service Scotland contains no women, despite, I would imagine, there being many capable female officers in senior positions. Has the glass ceiling been reintroduced by Chief Constable House or has there been a few scores settled?
Whilst I have nothing personal against current Tayside chief Justine Curran, what is she going to do for the next several years?
She, like many other senior officers with less than 30 years’ service, effectively has no job but will probably require to remain in some senior management post until gaining full pension benefits after 30 years.
Savings? What savings?
Douglas McCarroll. 44 McKenzie Crescent, Lochgelly.
Guaranteed not to work
Sir, I remember being told that a camel was a horse designed by a committee and that incompetence rose in proportion to the numbers on a committee. Imagine my horror and amazement to realise now that a simple game of football requires to be refereed by a committee.
It has never been possible to achieve consistency when only one person was required to interpret the rules so why did anyone ever believe that consistency could be achieved by asking half a dozen people to interpret the rules of the game?
Their failure is evident in the time taken during Match of the Day to discuss more and more ridiculous decisions, by less and less competent pundits.
Alan Bell. Roods, Kirriemuir.
A bit to go yet
Sir, I was interested to read the article concerning training for taxi drivers in Dundee. I wondered if this would include taking other road users into consideration?
I have been behind taxis that don’t indicate before turning, or which simply stop in the middle of the road without warning.
I am not assuming all taxi drivers behave like this but some have a bit to go before reaching the “skilled professional” goal spoken about.
Iain Craig. Adelaide Place, Dundee.