Letters: Enjoy the beach before the waste trucks get here

The beach already fills up at the slightest promise of a sunny day, but add in a credit crunch, a growing awareness of our carbon footprint and ambitious council plans for a coastal boardwalk and Portobello becomes even more of an attractive holiday prospect. Remember those postcards of a packed Portobello beach? Those days may well return!

Unfortunately, however, if Viridor succeeds in its application to build a waste transfer site off the Harry Lauder Road, then the only things flocking here next year will be more seagulls; the congestion will not be on the beach, but on the roads, as HGVs queue to enter the transfer site; and the smell on the breeze will not be that of candy floss, but of rotting refuse.

It won't be a case of wishing you were here, but wishing you weren't!

Maria Devoy, Brighton Place, Portobello

Time for crackdown on rogue cyclists

IN his article "On your Bike" (News, 29 June) Chris Marshall writes of the conflict between cyclists and motorists.

He doesn't mention a third party: the pedestrian.

Some adult cyclists have given up using roads altogether, and tear along pavements swearing at any pedestrians who dares to tell them they shouldn't be there.

Others keep to the road for the most part but unexpectedly bump up on to the pavement to avoid a red light, without a thought about who they might be startling or inconveniencing. They will also often swear at pedestrians, or look blank, unaware that they are breaking the law.

This doesn't include those who act as if a red light doesn't apply to them, or who, insanely, ride without any lights at night.

All of these are criminals. A sharp crackdown by the police, with many fines being issued might work. When was anyone in Edinburgh last fined for riding without a light? Over to you, traffic department.

K McKibben, Craigleith Hill Gardens, Edinburgh

Brake has been put on bike promotion

CHRIS MARSHALL is absolutely right that LibDem/SNP Council leaders are going to have to make a genuine effort if they are serious about getting more people cycling in the Capital.

There was a time when you could actually see Edinburgh was promoting cycling, with the introduction of cycle priority boxes at traffic lights and coloured cycle lanes.

But despite an election pledge to make Edinburgh 'a model cycling-friendly city', Green councillors recently discovered that the council administration has only installed half a mile of new cycle lane since they've been in power.

However, I take issue with the article that better facilities for cycling has to be at the expense of motorists. The more drivers that take to their bikes the less congestion, pollution and ill-health there will be – which is good for everyone.

Steve Burgess, Green Group Environment Spokesperson, Edinburgh City Council

Train link between capitals in bad way

NATIONAL Express should at least try meeting customer demand on the East Coast rail line before heading cap-in-hand to the taxpayer at the first sign of trouble.

Business travellers to London from either Glasgow or Newcastle can take the train and arrive in London on or around 9am, perfect for an early morning meeting. They can also leave a meeting at 6pm and still catch a direct train home after 7pm.

Travellers from Edinburgh have no such luxury as the earliest train arrives in London at 10:10 and the last direct return departs 6pm.

Forcing customers to waste time and energy on the plane, suffer the Caledonian Sleeper or make an overnight stay.

England remains Scotland's biggest market with easy access to London an economic imperative. So why, with all the supposed political clout in Holyrood, does the train link between the two capitals remain so poor?

Calum Miller, Polwarth Terrace, Prestonpans, East Lothian

Fares must be kept down in new deal

NATIONAL Express operates a two-hourly rail service via Motherwell to Glasgow Central offering greatly reduced fares compared with FirstScotRail.

This fare differential must be safeguarded in any future merger.

Could not the Central service be increased to an hourly pattern and the Aberdeen two hourly?

There is traffic to justify this frequency.

Colin C Maclean, Hillpark Avenue, Edinburgh

Don't pester old people for sales

WAITING in the usual long queue in my local post office, I was really angry to hear the counter assistants ask the frail, elderly customers if they needed their mobile phones topped up.

The next question related to house insurance, and so on.

Is this not exploitation? Why should customers be pestered in this way?

In my opinion this practice is a form of elder abuse.

Carol Davies, Maxwell Street, Edinburgh