WITH regard to recent letters about the state of the railways, I read in the national press that nine out of 10 rail journeys made in the UK last year were on lines operated by foreign companies all partly state-owned.

I cannot understand why this Government finds this acceptable.

As an SOE member during the war, I learned how to blow up railway lines and which parts to destroy on a locomotive, but there were no railways in that part of the Balkans where I operated.

I would, however, like to put a bomb under the present railway system.

I recall the election of the Labour government in 1945 and the nationalisation of the railways.

Unfortunately due to lack of investment and the actions of the rail unions this was not successful, resulting in the ridiculous privatisation system by John Major and his government we have today.

That privatisation and the earlier Thatcher ones have resulted in most of our major enterprises now being in the hands of foreigners.

That is a betrayal of our heritage.

Our BT phone went off during the storms on July 27. BT promised to send an engineer on August 2, August 4 and August 7 and failed to turn up on each of these days and it is still off 11 days later.

Privatisation at its best.

Bill Heppell,

Dringhouses, York