Credit card the only way to travel for a speedy refund

I booked a package holiday to Tenerife with Globespan via a travel agent and paid in full by Visa debit card last November for a holiday starting on 2 February.

As the holiday was covered by ATOL and ABTA I expected a prompt refund of my 886. I am still waiting for the refund and was told today it often takes a year for a settlement. Having spoken to a number of others who booked direct with Globespan and paid by credit card, I learned they received their refunds in two to three weeks following Globespan's collapse.

Having booked as a package holiday through a travel agent as is recommended I would suggest that paying direct with a credit card gives by far the best protection.

John M Tulloch, Duddingston Park South, Edinburgh

Hard at work to remove that smell

I WISH to set the record straight on the commitment of the council to tackling the odour problems at Seafield (News, 12 May). As everyone is aware, the people of Leith and other areas of the city have had to suffer these intolerable smells for decades, which previous administrations failed to address.

When we took control of the council, we agreed an Odour Improvement Plan with Scottish Water which will reduce the number of properties affected by smells from the site by 94 per cent and cut the total odour output by almost 70 per cent.

Work is well under way on the 18 million plus improvement programme, which would not have happened without the council serving an abatement notice.

I can assure the residents of Leith that we are wholly committed to tackling this problem as quickly as is technically possible.

Cllr Robert Aldridge, environment leader, Edinburgh City Council

Car is the king in the capital city

EDINBURGH is not built for bikes, and that's that (Anger as brakes put on bicycle share plan, News, 13 May)!

This city of ours is built on hills. Cycling is a great hobby, but it is not a great way of getting around Edinburgh's many ups and downs.

Until a proper tram system is built (what's been wrong with the buses that have worked so well?), the car is still king in Edinburgh.

That's how the cast majority of people in this city choose to get around.

Why will the people we vote for to represent us not recognise this?

Mr A Morris, St Leonard's Lane, Edinburgh

A Liberal dose of political history

YOUR correspondent Alex Orr (Interactive, 13 May) writes that Gladstone and Lloyd George will be turning in their grave following the coalition government formed by the Tories and Liberals.

He claims they would have fought the Tories tooth and nail and that they would never have countenanced such an arrangement.

Alex Orr must have allowed his concentration to wander when he was in his history class. Had he been paying proper attention he would have known that Gladstone was originally a Tory. He was Tory Premier Robert Peel's prodigy.

First elected in 1833 as a Tory, he followed his Tory mentor after the Corn Laws split to become a Peelite.

It took him fully 26 years after his parliamentary election before he identified himself with the Liberals.

Lloyd George split the Liberal Party during the First World War by working alongside the Tories to undermine the Liberal premier HH Asquith.

As Prime Minister Lloyd George led a coalition government dominated by the Tories until they in 1922, offended by his pro-Greek policy against the Turks, decided to dispense with his services in favour of a proper Tory, Bonar Law.

Councillor Eric Milligan, Sighthill/Gorgie Ward