Letters: Tourists caught short thanks to council's facilities farce

WHEN I was working for the council it was often said there were more chiefs than there were Indians – and anyone working there would have got that impression.

It would appear that this is still the case, with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

The festive season is one of the busiest that we have because we encourage tourists to come to our city for the Christmas and Hogmanay events that we hold. What does the council do? They close the public toilets at the Tron and in the city centre again.

Why are they having so much trouble in keeping these facilities open at a time when our city is filling up with tourists, and what kind of impression do they want to give?

Is it not time for our council to ring-fence these facilities instead of opening and closing them in the way that they have been recently?

The residents of Edinburgh are well aware of the cuts that our council is having to make to its budget because of its mismanagement on things that were not needed. But the tourists who come to this city should not be in the position where they cannot use the basic facilities that we have because of our council's dithering on what they should and should not cut back on.

This is a tourist city and these facilities should be open for tourist and public use all year round.

Our council should make their minds up on whether they want to cater for the tourists properly and if they should have the same facilities that are found in any other tourist city.

If they cannot do that they should fill the toilets in and stick up signs showing the tourists what closes they can use on the Royal Mile because of their inability to cater for them properly.

Is it not time for our council to decide if Edinburgh is a proper tourist city and if we can cater for them properly?

Andrew Murphy, Royal Mile, Edinburgh

If only more were like kind Maureen

PRAISES to kindly city council care worker Maureen Paterson, the good Samaritan who went to the aid of an injured man and no doubt saved his life when she discovered him slumped at a bus depot in Longstone on a bitterly cold evening (Evening News, 26 December).

She realised that he was suffering from a severe wound and no doubt the consequences would have been fatal if Maureen hadn't gone to his rescue.

It's utterly shocking that people were walking by and no-one stopped to help him.

What a wonderful, kind, compassionate lady Margaret is. Wouldn't the world be lovely if all people in it were like her. Bless her.

Mrs June Fleming, Hercus Loan, Musselburgh

Little to praise about BBC show

AS THE godson of a former assistant bishop of Edinburgh, I was disappointed in the Songs of Praise from Edinburgh broadcast on Sunday, 27 December.

Rather than being hymns and carols of Christmas, it became a vehicle for the Hogmanay Party and fireworks. I question whether the camera spent more time outside the Cathedral or inside.

The singing was excellent but why wasn't the programme brought to a close by a member of the clergy giving a closing prayer and blessing before the final hymn?

CJR Fentiman, Polwarth Gardens, Edinburgh

Gritting teams are thinking small

TODAY I contacted Edinburgh City Council regarding the state of the pavements in and around Crewe Terrace, which have been covered in ice for over a week and not being gritted since the start of the cold snap.

I pointed out that many old people were afraid to leave their houses. About three hours later a council truck appeared in our street and placed some salt on a small area on the road outside our house, not touching the pavements or any other section of the road.

Is this a new service by the wonderful council? If you ask for gritting do the council only do the street outside the house of the person who asked for it?

Simon Booth, Crewe Terrace, Edinburgh