WE are always being exhorted to use public transport and from time to time I use the excellent train from Trowbridge to Waterloo.

Rural transport being what it is this does involve getting a car from home to the station. It is easy enough to drop someone but when fetching them it is not easy to time one's arrival to the minute and trains have been known to be late.

Until recently there was a 20-minute allowance at Trowbridge Station on railway business (eg meeting someone) and in the evening the possibility of parking on one side of the approach road. Now the allowance has vanished and coincidentally double yellow lines have appeared.

I hope this is not part of a more general trend. I am a recent refugee from the south east and now live as far from Trowbridge as I used to from Surrey's county town. I would hate to see Trowbridge go the same way as Kingston and treat shoppers as criminals to be driven out. The onset of middle age means I am not physically capable of carrying shopping the mile (at least) that some town planners seem to think cars should be left.

B SIMMONS

Bratton