Letters - Tuesday February 9, 2021

I find it shameful that this country is experiencing the ongoing scandal relating to illegal flammable cladding used on flats.

This led to many unnecessary deaths and untold misery at Grenfell Tower in June 2017.

It is now blighting the lives of many people across the country who live in daily fear of their lives and fear for their financial security.

Why such a delay in rectifying the problem?

The cladding in question was installed by builders who, the evidence shows, appeared to know that the material was unsuitable and dangerous for high rise flats.

Why then are these builders not required to repair and make safe the buildings they worked on?

After all, if I buy a new car which turns out to be faulty, I am not expected to pay for the necessary repairs; the manufacturer is deemed responsible.

Why should these homeowners be expected to pay for faulty workmanship as it’s clear that the funds being made available by the Government are insufficient?

The Government is very remiss in not demanding that the building trade rectify their own mistakes.

Why is this not happening?

Diane Haigh

Address supplied

Virus

Lucky to have these facilities

In response to NS via email, I feel I have to respond (National (Health Service) Lottery, Your Say, January 5).

I also received my letter from the NHS and was offered several different options to book two appointments for my vaccinations.

I chose the second nearest to my location as it had a car parking facility.

I booked a date and time to suit myself.

I also had to redo the application as a slot for one of the appointments was unavailable.

This took at most 30 seconds.

NS is obviously well versed in booking online and has a car. If he did not want to travel as far as he did, the option, which was clearly stated on the NHS letter, was to wait for contact from his GP or to check later for a hub closer to home. The advice was clear, helpful and complete.

The AFC site, which NS will attend, is the slickest, most efficient operation I have ever had the pleasure of using.

Congratulations to the NHS website for ease of use and to the AFC hub for absolute efficiency, professionalism, courtesy and friendliness. Some people just don’t know how lucky they are to have the wonderful facilities which we all share free of charge.

M.E.

via email

Captain Tom

Such a contrast to so much today

Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured) was a true British hero. He displayed the embodiment of the human spirit, providing national inspiration. He was positive, confident that tomorrow will be a better day. This is in contrast to the negativity by the members of the Opposition benches running our country down for political gain, constantly supported by all left-wing media.

Alan Chapman

via email

Virus

Move market into Job Centre building

If no final decision has been made on the Job Centre , in Abingdon Street, why not turn it into new market. Just move the old one along the road retaining the present name ‘Abingdon Market’.

Ian Murphy

Blackpool

Virus Lessons need to be learned

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he accepts responsibility for the 100,000 plus UK deaths due to the coronavirus. Would it be churlish to say he didn’t really have much option?

In all honesty, I don’t really care whether he accepts responsibility or not because nothing is going to happen to him.

Personally I would prefer, when this is all over, that lessons were actually learned, action to prevent a similar catastrophe happening again was actually taken and we addressed some, if not all, of the social problems highlighted by the pandemic. I would also like to win the lottery, but I don’t hold out much hope for that either.

Richard Saberton

via email