I would like commend the comments of Barrie Hudson in his column ‘Rail price of train travel is far too much’ in the Adver of March 21.

I cringed when I saw the Council scrutiny committee was holding a debate about the companies that may be tendering for the extended franchise period of 15 years, as First Great Western (FGW) will also be one of these, and no pun intended, but their track record has been nothing short of appalling, with an overpriced shoddy service having been the norm.

As Barrie mentioned he was not able to attend, I also found myself in the same predicament with my particular reason being a recent family bereavement. He is so right when he mentioned that there must be something really wrong when inflated fares price people back in to their cars. It is interesting that FGW has suddenly sprung in to action by modifying some ancient buffet car stock into seated passenger coaches, which is rather strange considering that they did not bother for so many years previously, and of course it would not have anything to do with their bid now, would it?

It may well be that some other franchisee may win the bid, which may lead to it being run by a foreign company, but whatever the outcome, one thing is certain, the maximisation of profit will be king, and there will be yet more years of agony ahead for the rail user.

G A Woodward Nelson Street Swindon

Ball call, Town

I am having a really bad day today which has just been compounded when I enquired as to renewing my season ticket with Swindon Town Football Club.

As a rule I try never to phone 0870 numbers as they are without doubt the biggest legalised rip off in this country. And in fact I refuse to deal with any company that uses these numbers for follow up enquires. You are charged 10p a minute from the moment you dial, then what generally happens is some automated message informs you how wonderful the company is along with a load of other rubbish, all the time extending the call and charges to you. This is then followed by taped music while you wait in a fictitious queue. I am really surprised Swindon Town has to resort to this devious practice to raise funds.

Now I have always believed that my football club was different and it actually recognised that fans are people who support the club through an affinity with the town they live in and share a love for the sport. Therefore I was really annoyed when I was confronted with all of the above charges just to speak to an assistant in the ticket office.

I had intended to renew my season ticket over the phone, but again was further annoyed that I had to pay £2 if I wished to pay by debit card, £6 extra by credit card, and they did not accept cheque payments. Would you shop with Tesco if they introduced these charges?

For the time being you can still buy your season ticket with cash, which is really strange as it's in nobody's interest to have lots of cash in any business premises as you have to ensure you have hefty security measures in place. And the banks charge businesses something in the region of 50p per £100 to accept credits in cash.

I am of a mind to be bloody minded and withdraw the cash from my bank account and let the football club incur these extra costs. After all they give me the impression that they do not care whether or not I renew my season ticket, and if I do they should cash in rather than ensuring everything is made as simple and pain free as possible.

I do hope my day improves.

Vincent Masi The Bramptons Shaw Ridge Swindon

Free to speed

I’m pleased for the residents of Old Town to see a 20 mph speed limit imposed. However, I wonder if it will be much use, after all who is going to police it?

Here in Hodson we fought for a 30 mph limit and got it three years ago but it’s never been policed. Most drivers ignore it and blast through the hamlet like it’s a racetrack.

M Milton Hodson Swindon

Life by design?

Larry Wright claims that evolution is central to understanding all aspects of biology, but he is wrong. Whilst variation within species is a short term observable fact, radical change has not been observed and remains a theory.Gradual evolution does not explain how many complex molecular machines that operate within cells came about.

For example a bacterial flagellum spins freely, comprises of a stator, a rotor and a filament, which are in turn made of smaller pieces. The production of AMP, which is a component in DNA, requires 13 different biochemical reactions one after another. Artificial synthesis of AMP using simpler reactions involves conditions that would destroy a cell.

The theory of evolution predates advances in microscopy. Interestingly there was an experiment done recently that involved a computer synthesising a DNA chain, which was injected into an empty bacterium that then functioned. Surely that proves that intelligent design is possible!

Robin Tingey Pinehurst Swindon