With TIE's reputation now in tatters, it seems unlikely that the company will ever obtain another project management contract, and, consequently, faces extinction when the trams finally become operational. However, until then, the TIE staff can rely on large salaries and bonuses, even when - as now - the project is at a standstill. Thus there is no incentive to resolve what Mr Alstead rightly calls "this scandal".
ROBERT DRYSDALE
Primrose Bank Road
Edinburgh