Letter: Guarantees of protection for BR pension funds

Sir: John MacGregor (letter, 11 February) writes:

The other possibility is for the Government to take over responsibility for the pensions of railway pensioners on an index-linked basis . . . If the Government did that, it would make sense if it took over the assets as well.

I would like to point out (as a British Rail pensioner's wife), we have for 11 years received an index- linked pension plus additional increases because of wise investment by the Pension Fund. Mr MacGregor will have to think of another excuse to get his hands on BR assets - or is the privatisation scheme itself being used to do that? Even Robert Maxwell would not have been as ingenious as this.

Yours faithfully,

DORIS HARPER

York

11 February