Letter: Railway Gestapo

Sir: Your journalists should get out a bit more, rather than following the Tory tabloid pack in their savaging of John Prescott.

In Devon, bus passenger numbers have risen by two-thirds in just 12 months, thanks to the Government's extra money for rural services. For the first time for two decades, public transport use nationally is rising.

The deputy PM has achieved what no other minister has before him - persuading the Treasury to allow hypothecation, so that money raised by congestion and business car park charging and fuel duty increases can be channelled back into transport.

He has beefed up rail regulation, saved the Channel Tunnel rail link, rescued the Jubilee Line extension from fatal overrun and has a plan for the London Underground based on what works rather than outdated dogma.

John Prescott is being pilloried because he is getting the job done, and some in the car lobby, who don't realise that doing nothing is the worst option for the motorist, don't like it.

BEN BRADSHAW MP

(Exeter, Lab)

House of Commons