I WONDER if Malcolm Rosier, (Star Letter, Wiltshire Times, November 10), who wants to condemn the binmen to perdition or at least, to privatisation could be persuaded to vent his spleen in the area where it belongs?

He says he is interested in getting the best value from council services.

Did he think he was getting the best value when it must have been obvious to him as it was to the rest of us that the service was handicapped by being forced to use rusty old vehicles that, according to the men employed, were always breaking down, and did he ever make representations to the council about the state of affairs?

To my shame, I never did, but I knew from reports in the Wiltshire Times that the service had been under-funded for years, and that the council tolerated that situation as a cowardly alternative to asking ratepayers to cough up a few more pounds.

For our part, my wife and I would like to shake the hands of all the binmen who have served us so well for years in trying circumstances.

They have always been friendly, courteous and considerate, clearing up after themselves, and even picking up other litter dropped by villagers.

Their reward, if Mr Rosier's thinking gains the day, will mean their being handed over to the tender mercies of a private contractor who, for starters, and giving the men the option of unemployment, will offer them a ridiculously inadequate wage the first step towards the profits he will have assumed he would make once he is in charge.

JOHN PALMLEY,

Whitecroft,

Dilton Marsh,

Westbury.