AT a time when we are being urged to use public transport, why is it that there is no place to book National Express coach tickets in Leominster?

Until recently, travellers could purchase/book at the local bus station to anywhere in the UK but these days, potential users must drive to Hereford bus station to book a seat or use the internet and, time allowing, hopefully await a ticket through the post.

Not everyone is able to access the internet and many people often need to travel at short notice but parking long term at the bus station is out of the question.

Is it also worth asking if there is any good reason why a National Express bus to London should not go via Leominster bus station to Gloucester or Cheltenham, both a fixed stop on the daily route to London and back?

It really is a poor show for a town, supposedly the capital of north Herefordshire, and for those of us anxious to keep long-distance car travel in check, not to have a booking facility.

It’s bad enough having to travel by limited public transport to Hereford to shop or for entertainment but a four-way trip to buy a ticket to London is nothing short of bureaucratic and commercial madness and I feel particularly aggrieved for the many seasonal, migrant workers who come from far flung corners of the European Community to help with the fruit and other harvests.

It’s also worth noting that Leominster could benefit from a regular, direct bus to Worcester and Bromyard, another market town worth supporting, otherwise it’s a long haul via Hereford to Worcester. I well remember the days, not so long ago, (the 1980s and early 1990s) when the daily Leominster Flyer left at 8am for London calling at Heathrow and returned at 9.30pm. Perfect for shopping, business trip or airport drop-off for a mere £10.

Surely some sort of local booking office can be set up in Leominster, perhaps at the TIC or the town council office, and at the same time perhaps local and county council members and officers and the MP could devote some cerebral energy to this serious problem and do something positive to ease the problem. After all, we pay them enough in local charges including the extensive travelling allowances to and from meetings. Or they could go by bus.

JEN GREEN, Thoms Court, Green Lane, Leominster.