Letters: Blue badge holders a sitting target for 'highway robbers'

I COULD not believe it when my disabled son's blue badge expiry notice came in and it said that Edinburgh City Council is short of cash so it sanctioned charging disabled people £20 for the badge.

What a cheek! I have heard it all now. As we are unable to walk we are a sitting target. Is that it, we are to be penalised for being disabled now? My goodness, who is running this council that they find themselves short of money?

If I as a housewife run out of money at the end of the month then it's my own fault for me not being a good steward of the money I have, I don't then blame it on others and take it out on them. I tighten my belt and stop wasting money on stupid things.

People who cannot walk have no option but to pay this charge. It's robbery – and they don't even have the decency to wear a mask.

Mrs G Riva, Barntongate Avenue, Edinburgh

EARL would win votes at election

YOUR article about the huge surge in traffic in west Edinburgh plus the increase in passenger numbers at the airport from 9 million to 26 million in 20 years (News, 22 April) reinforces the claim that the cancellation of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link was a mistake. EARL is a bold albeit expensive project but would save thousands of car journeys a year.

The alternative is a tram/ rail interchange with the rather grand name Edinburgh International Business Gateway.

Situated on the main Edinburgh/Fife line sandwiched between the Gogar tram depot and a manufacturing plant at Maybury, the station will be too small to handle the numbers arriving by train particularly because of the proximity of the IBG.

Fortunately the plans for EARL have been retained and perhaps after the 2011 Scottish elections a Government sympathetic to the traffic needs of west Edinburgh will be elected.

George Ritchie, North Gyle Terrace Edinburgh

Reckless rickshaws back to normal

DURING a recent evening trip to the Grassmarket I was shocked and dismayed to observe the dangerous and irresponsible antics of some of those in control of rickshaws.

Not only were they endangering their own lives with their reckless driving but also the lives of others.

It seems that lessons have not been learned after the recent tragic accident involving these machines and it's business as usual.

Surely it will not take another tragic accident before some proper control is brought in to ensure that these machines are handled in a safe and responsible manner.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh

The days before health and safety

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the pullout feature "Remember when" in the Evening News on Saturday.

I am old enough to remember these mainly happy days.

The front page photograph of the proclamation of Elizabeth as monarch in 1952 was quite outstanding, but what would modern health and safety purists make of more than a dozen reporters and photographers crowded together on a tiny balcony with no safety rail, perched about 30ft above the military band?

Ian McLaren, Bramdean Rise, Edinburgh

Many thanks to gallant gentlemen

I WISH to express my grateful thanks to the two young gallant gentlemen who came to my assistance when I tripped coming out of the flats in Craighouse Gardens.

They took control immediately, called the ambulance and my family, reassuring me at all times.

My thanks also go to the two "Jims" in the ambulance for their quick attendance and transportation to the Royal Infirmary. Last but not least thanks to the doctors and nurses of wards 109 and 209 for their care and attention.

Mrs Doreen A Reekie, Mortonhall, Edinburgh