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Perth railway station needs more toilets

Historic Perth railway station could do with more toilets, it has been claimed.
Historic Perth railway station could do with more toilets, it has been claimed.

Sir, – I, like so many men over age of 70, have prostate problems and have the need of a toilet at frequent intervals.

I travel from Perth to Inverness by the 10 am train approximately once every three weeks.

Each time I do so I have the same problem as, once over the other side to platform seven, from where the Inverness train leaves, I may need the toilet.

The only toilet, rather cheap and utilitarian for the whole of the station, is beside the ticket office.

I know from memory there was a toilet near what are now platforms five, six and seven and an old photo taken during the First World War shows one to the left of the magnificent clock.

The entrance has been bricked but I do not know when this happened.

Offices are in that building so the toilet infrastructure may still be there and could be reinstated.

This is another instance how, 100 years ago, the facilities were better to what they are now, all because the new ticket office was shifted to where it is now.

They did it on the cheap and without much thought.

Perth station covers an extremely large area and may be second only to Edinburgh in size.

It surely requires more than one toilet facility.

David W. Fenwick.
The Granary,
West Mill Street,
Perth.

 

Estates create employment

Sir, – I should apologise for leaving one of your readers “stunned” (August 25).

I was rebuked for using “anecdotal” evidence to suggest sea eagles predate on lambs.

Is SNH good enough for your correspondent?

A spokesman for SNH has stated: “Given their presence occasionally conflicts with livestock rearing, we are working hard with farmers, crofters and conservationists to minimise any impacts. We are trying to devise means of reducing risks of lambs being taken live. In recognition of eagles taking some lambs, SNH does operate a sea eagle management scheme.”

I’d guess he’s been listening to the same folk who tell us foxes don’t kill lambs, and buzzards only eat carrion.

He raises points about agricultural grants. These grants apply to sheep farmers he tells us. A sheep farmer is a sheep farmer surely?

Why should sheep farmers on grouse estates be treated any differently from sheep farmers without grouse?

He tells us that the grouse shooting elite has stifled development to prevent sport being damaged. Easy words but where are the examples?

Tell us, for example, what developments have been stifled that would replace, for example, the 13 keepers employed on one estate not far from him. That’s 13 jobs, families, households living and working in the country. One estate.

Gerard Watts.
Persie Estate,
Glenshee.

 

Uncertainty hits Scotland

Sir, – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is in denial as she attempts to belittle the idea that the threat of a second independence referendum could cause Channel 4 to hesitate before moving from London to Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon tries to make a joke of it, saying she is fairly confident we will still watch television in an independent Scotland, but knows full well there is a much more serious issue at stake.

Channel 4, like any other enterprise serving the whole of the UK, will rightly question if it makes sense relocating to Scotland when the SNP government is still actively promoting the idea of breaking up the UK.

There is a price to pursuing independence at any cost, and Scotland has already started paying for it.

Keith Howell.
White Moss,
West Linton.

 

Scots wealth squandered

Sir, – Business for Scotland’s Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp’s full report should be compulsory reading for every Scot, even for every taxpayer in the UK.

He points out that since the oil price slump, one oil firm has paid £4.589 billion to Norway in tax while receiving £179 million in tax rebates from the UK.

Likewise, another giant received £342m from the UK, but paid taxes to every other country in which it operates.

These figures are backed by official government and corporate records.

An independent Scotland, fully in charge of its taxation, would be able very quickly to cancel out the notional deficit incurred on our behalf by generations of UK mismanagement.

Jim Clark.
8 Thistle Place,
Scone.

 

Poor Fife road repair planning

Sir, – I have seen the chaos caused by the current thoughtlessly planned and foolishly managed simultaneous road resurfacing of the A914 and the A92.

The C20, now designated by Fife Council as the official temporary bypass, has been in a continuously appalling state for years due to its endless use by tractors and heavy agricultural vehicles.

Even before any recent road resurfacing in the area, cars had to pull up onto the verge to allow a larger vehicle to pass. It is obvious that no council official has taken the trouble to visit the C20 to ascertain its suitability to have buses passing tractors and trailers on it.

Surely Fife Council should instruct the company working on its behalf (and paid for by us) to close a particular road for a designated period of time and to re-route the displaced traffic via a second suitable road.

The impression we are left with in this area is that the resurfacing contractor has told the council what it intends doing and the council has virtually shrugged its shoulders.

I have seen no record of either the council or the contractor making any attempt to contact community councils to get their opinions regarding what mayhem might occur by closing two adjoining main roads simultaneously.

Archibald A. Lawrie.
5 Church Wynd,
Kingskettle.

 

Lindores big cat sighting

Sir, – Further to your report about a big cat sighting in Fife, while fishing the Black Loch, near Lindores, one evening some years ago, my wife distinctly saw a large cat-like creature following the line of a fence uphill, prior to entering a wood. She was convinced it was a puma. But surely livestock would be taken if such a creature existed, and that would be proof positive.

Malcolm Parkin.
Gamekeepers Road,
Kinnesswood.