Letters: Public transport is on road to nowhere during Festival

Since the start of August, the Bustracker system seems to work only rarely on the roadside units and I have not once managed to get it working through its dedicated iPhone app.

Buses are late or their journeys are cut short so they can be turned around early back into the city centre to make up lost time. This leaves those who live and work in Edinburgh often stranded and having to wait for buses with no information.

This is not to mention the parking problems in the city centre and its car parks during August, with spaces at more of a premium than usual.

Walking now seems to be the only option.

Pat Walker, Marionville Road, Edinburgh

Taxpayers facing double riots blow

IT is not just glaziers who will benefit from the spate of riots and insurrection in the UK.

The greatest rewards will accrue to lawyers, who will not only be more than adequately remunerated for defending and prosecuting those allegedly involved, but will also rake it in at public expense through civil actions.

According to the Association of British Insurers, uninsured people who have suffered loss in the riots can claim compensation from the police under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886.

No doubt insurance companies will seek to recover payouts to their own customers via the same route.

The resulting costly legal battles to decide liability should ensure that legal practitioners on both sides will ride any recession whilst the public will no doubt be double-dipped in having to pay both higher taxes and raised insurance premiums whatever the outcome of lengthy litigation.

John Eoin Douglas, Spey Terrace, Edinburgh

We need to start building for future

WARNINGS from ConstructionSkills that the building industry faces a "retirement timebomb" add further weight to the Scottish Building Federation's call for a targeted strategy to support apprenticeships in Scotland's construction sector.

Construction employers are fully committed to providing as many apprenticeship opportunities as they viably can. They recognise the urgent need to attract new blood into the industry to prevent a major skills shortage in future years.

But with the number of young people working in construction having more than halved over the past three years, the economic downturn has clearly had a major impact on the industry's capacity to employ apprentices. With continued uncertainty about where future work is coming from, many firms are simply unable to commit themselves to offer young people an apprenticeship.

Ultimately, the Scottish Government's apprenticeships target will only be met if it is matched by action to build confidence in those industries capable of offering apprenticeship opportunities. With greater public investment in affordable housing, building new schools and hospitals and making buildings more energy efficient, the construction industry would be able to boost apprentice numbers significantly and prevent a major skills shortage over the coming years.

Michael Levack, chief executive, Scottish Building Federation, Crichton's Close, Edinburgh

Pavements in need of a clean

WITH the almost certain privatisation by the council of the street cleansing department and this council's history of contract negotiations, I would like to think that the next street cleansing contract, with the private company, contains a clause that states that pavements should also be cleansed.

This was a serious omission when the contract was given to the council's own cleansing department.

You just need to look around you to see my point. The cleansing vehicle has cleansed the guttering, but the pavements are left untouched.

David Black, Kenmure Avenue, Edinburgh