Railing against passengers who lack respect on trains

THE furore that has arisen over the footage filmed of a student apparently being difficult with a ticket collector on a train before seemingly being ejected vigilante style at Linlithgow station has brought to light something that is not known to those who do not regularly travel on public transport.

Standards of behaviour have been slipping for many years, and disrespect for those trying to do an honest day’s work, such as ticket collectors or bus drivers, is regrettably nothing new.

My job requires me to take the train home from work at a time when others are returning from a night out, and I am so fed up with what I see.

For the most part, travellers make their way home in a peaceful manner. However, there is always the loud minority, who don’t care what effect their behaviour has on their fellow travellers, whether it be by swearing loudly or singing.

In winter we all collect muck on our shoes no matter how carefully we tread, and if you put your feet up on the seats, you are expecting somebody else to sit, at some point, in your dirt.

Next time you get on a train or bus, why not think about others? Is that one little thing too much to ask?

Dennis Walsh, Uphall, West Lothian

Mums throwing toys out the pram

I READ your article on buggies on Lothian Buses (News, December 15). It has a superb service in which most buses now have a space for a wheelchair and a buggy space. The picture of mums with buggies standing at a bus stop looks bad, but what did mums with buggies do when a lot of buses did not even have a wheelchair space yet alone a buggy space?

A lot of buses had steps to the entrance door, with an exit door to the rear, so what did they do then? Yes, fold up the buggy.

It’s about time to ask these young mothers and fathers, how did their parents get them around town?

Alan Small, Edinburgh

‘Usual suspects’ treated unfairly

A READING of the article “City schools are worst in Scotland” (News, December 15) shows that the three Edinburgh schools referred to are the “usual suspects” whose teachers, pupils and parents must be sick and tired of being constantly pilloried.

As Councillor MacLaren says, these schools are in areas faced with challenging issues.

Who knows, perhaps good work is being done in these schools by both dedicated teaching staff and pupils, unbeknown to the outside world. There is more than one way to measure success.

Harry D Watson, Braehead Grove, Edinburgh

They must listen over marriage

IF marriage is redefined as something other than a relationship between one man and one woman, then marriage can equally be redefined to mean anything else.

It is high time the Scottish Government listened: “Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.”

Donald J Morrison, Old Edinburgh Road, Inverness