Well it's that time of year again. All manner of people are coming forth with their pearls of wisdom on a variety of subjects of which most know nothing about.

I refer to the letter from E Fell of Wroughton (EA Wednesday November 1) where the Borough Council come under attack for not providing a Christmas Park and Ride service. This is in fact not the case. Someone ought to tell E Fell that the council does not actually provide the buses for this service.

The Borough Council has to ask other bus and coach companies to operate this service on their behalf, so if the bus companies say to the council 'Sorry, but we can't operate these services because we don't have enough staff to drive the buses,' then this cannot be, for once, the fault of the council.

This is the real reason why there will be no Christmas Park and Ride this year. It was honest and courageous of the relevant bus companies to admit to this. Of course lack of staff is a problem which the bus companies face on a day to day basis.

Ask any bus operator in the country what is their biggest headache and they will tell you recruiting and maintaining staff levels.

There is no point in trying to run a specific service if at the end of the day you may leave people stranded on a cold, wet and windy Saturday afternoon because you don't have anyone to drive the bus.

I also see that E Fell of Wroughton has decided to have a pop at the regular Park and Ride service.

I am proud to say that I am one of the regular drivers who has operated this service from day one and far from being a complete waste of taxpayers money it is in fact a resounding success.

I suspect that E Fell has not used the service or has any intention of ever doing so.

There is an old saying 'Don't knock it till you've tried it.'

This service operates from 7am until 7pm, covering some 69 journeys throughout the day which is in fact a ten minute service.

Like any other bus service there are certain times of the day when the buses do not carry their capacity.

It is during these times when the knockers say 'Ooh what a waste of money.'

At least 90 per cent of our customers are carried during peak periods 7.30am till 9.30am and again from 4.30pm till 6.30pm and numbers are increasing all the time.

So E Fell of Wroughton get your facts right.

A E HOUGHTON

Thames Avenue,

Swindon