Give pick-up trial a chance instead of rubbishing it

We only started this new idea last week and his first collection would have been scheduled for Saturday June 11. At least give it a chance before telling us it won't work.

As for his assertion "Who's going to work on Saturday evenings without getting well paid for it?", it's obvious he knows nothing about the council wage structure.

I do this job and the council wants to take 5000 off my wages this year, despite the fact that our wages were supposed to be protected for three years under the modernising pay programme.

At least give us a chance to do our job before you start moaning about us, Mr Stewart-Taylor.

Name and address supplied

Summer of chaos is here once more

AS Edinburgh gears up for another hectic summer of festivals and celebrations, Princes Street, especially the east end, is once again fast becoming a nightmare for traffic congestion.

You would have thought that lessons might have been learned since the last time this area resembled a building site but no, it seems like road users and pedestrians alike are in for another period of chaos, confusion and the rage that comes with the bottleneck scenario.

Before the city gets really busy and before work restarts on the trams, perhaps Princes Street should be pedestrianised before anything untoward happens.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh

Mums on bus are not second-class

YESTERDAY I ventured along to the Gyle, which is a main bus route and most of the buses have a space for a pram.

The journey there was no problem, not a word was said to me. The journey home, however, was a different kettle of fish.

I attempted to get on but was turned away from two buses, being told that if my pram did not fold in one unit (like a pushchair) then I could not get on. My pram folds but in two separate bits.

My baby is eight weeks old, and you cannot put a new baby in a buggy that folds as one because she cannot hold her own head up.

The birth of my baby was a difficult one, so I can hardly lift the baby out of her basket some days, and the epidural caused nerve damage in my leg.

I am in agony, so even the shortest walk is a nightmare. This means walking is not an option for me, and I don't drive so buses are my only method of transport.

I then had to literally beg the driver of the third bus to let me on, and insist that I would get off if a wheelchair got on before he would let me get on.Then, halfway home the driver changed, and when the two drivers were talking to each other before swapping over and carrying on, they loudly commented "you've got one of those travel system things on the bus, although I could think of another name for them but I won't say it" in the most sarcastic tone I've ever heard.

Now I'm a new mum, currently on maternity leave. I've worked full time since leaving school, never claimed benefits and pay my bus fares, so why should I be made to feel like a second class citizen just because I have a newborn baby?

I will be making a complaint to Lothian Buses.

Lisa McCoy, Stevenson Drive, Edinburgh

Help those at the bottom of the pile

THE UK is in an awful mess with recession, lack of jobs, growing poverty and London politicians keen to tell all of us how much "better off" we all are within the United Kingdom.

But wait a minute - the people who suffer worst in any recession are those who are already the poorest in the land.

Neither David Cameron nor Nick Clegg nor Michael Moore have to worry about paying their way thanks to their huge salaries.

Lip service does not cut it, chaps. Try to look out for those at the bottom of the pile.

Trevor Swistchew, Victor Park Terrace, Edinburgh