I AM sorry that your correspondent Danny Lake is out of work over Christmas, but the assertions he makes in his letter of December 16 are highly questionable.

The men he saw getting into the van, for instance, could not be asylum seekers. They are not accepted as residents and therefore permitted to work until they have undergone a rigorous examination and a lengthy wait.

This country, like all others, is obliged by international agreement to offer shelter to people fleeing persecution. The number of people given asylum here, in proportion to size of population, is in keeping with the other countries of Western Europe.

We do not have the same pressures as countries like say, Italy, which is only a short distance from the devastated Balkan region.

People who arrive here as asylum seekers have to make the case that they are escaping from persecution before they are offered any kind of support.

This will maintain them at a level that most people would consider as grinding poverty.

Many people who come here in these circumstances have valuable experience and qualifications. They should be seen as assets to a country that has many skill shortages and a declining working-age population.

We are lucky to be living on an island which is a haven of prosperity and stability in a world full of suffering.

When individual Britons face hardship, this is a reflection of the way we organised ourselves, and not the fault of those whose only aim is to escape fear and danger.

F PRIDEAUX

Swindon