Off the rails

Mark Boyle hits the railway nail on the head when he writes of First ScotRail being “self-congratulatory” (Letters, 31 December).

My experience suggests that modesty is fairly foreign to the nature of the company.

Top prize for self-congratulation belongs to managing director Steve Montgomery, who in each issue of First Insight, the self-laudatory newssheet for rail travellers, signs off with “Thank you for choosing to travel with First ScotRail.” Would that there might be choice in rail travel in Scotland; there is effectively none, for First ScotRail operates 95 per cent of rail services in Scotland.

GORDON CASELY

Hill Street, Aberdeen