Letter: Gravy train is bad business

Glenda Jackson says that "Tories and their friends are riding the gravy train first-class while the rest of us are stuck in the guard's van". If only.

As a disabled person dependent on cycling to keep fit and free of pain, I should be delighted to travel in a guard's van, with my bicycle, as one could easily do until the late 1980s. But public money for rail was cut back so much under Margaret Thatcher, that when overdue new units were eventually built, guard's vans were omitted for reasons of economy. Since then, taking a cycle on a train has become impossible on many lines. Carriage of luggage, wheelchairs and prams is also hampered.And, even if the political will were there to put parcel post back on the rails, the facilities would no longer exist.

Clara Zilahi

Downham Market, Norfolk