Sir, – On a recent visit to the B&Q store in Inverness I was confronted with no option other than to use a fully-automated checkout.
I asked the staff member watching over the checkouts if a manned till was available. I was curtly told that there wasn’t and I must use the automated service.
I asked the staff member if they could help me (there were no other customers at the checkouts), to which they refused. Consequently, I walked out of the store without making a purchase. I should add that, up until this time, I’ve always experienced great service at the store.
After contacting the store management directly, I was assured that if I didn’t want to use the automated checkout, I could use the service counter for any purchase via card or cash (any manned tills in the store at the checkout now only accept cash).
The Kingfisher Group that operates B&Q had a reported profit of £1 billion, but why pay staff when your customers will work for free?
It’s sad to see staff fast disappearing from our businesses – the banks have all but vanished and the supermarkets can’t wait to get us all acting as unpaid checkout staff.
In my youth, I fought for jobs. It saddens me greatly to witness the apathy in our younger generation towards the value of employment. There again, I guess that working on a checkout doesn’t meet the high levels of expectation and entitlement among some of our youngsters.
Steve Bernard, Migdale Road, Bonar Bridge, Sutherland.
Snow clearance by council a lifesaver
Sir, – I would like to pay tribute to Moray Council for their extremely prompt action on my behalf during the current snowy weather.
I live in Aberlour and am a haemodialysis patient in Elgin.
Due to the weather conditions, I was unable to get to Elgin on Thursday of last week for dialysis. This is extremely serious as dialysis is life-preserving treatment for me.
Once the situation was explained to the council they made every effort to keep Linn Brae clear of snow, which allowed me to attend Dr Gray’s Hospital for catch-up treatment.
George Cook, Linn Brae, Aberlour.
Prosecution must be seen to be fair
Sir, – US citizen Anne Sacoolas appeared virtually at her court case in England when she was tried for causing the death of Harry Dunn by careless driving. Her extradition was not required.
Julian Assange, currently in a UK prison, must receive the same privilege should he ever be tried in the US.
To remind the reader, journalist Assange was pivotal in the publication of film footage from 2007 which showed two US helicopters firing on Iraqi civilians and killing several of them, including two Reuters journalists. The helicopter crew then laughed at the casualties and fired on a civilian vehicle that stopped to give first aid.
I emphasise that Assange did not leak the footage, that was done by a member of the US army. Assange merely did his job as a journalist.
Geoff Moore, Braeface Park, Alness.
Keep politics away from key city issues
Sir, – In the P&J’s council election debate held at the end of April, the very first question was about the future of Union Street.
At the time, the Liberal Democrats clearly favoured a traffic-free central portion, and welcomed the fact that Labour and Conservative groups had come round to the same opinion. All agreed that any access issues would have to be mitigated. Unfortunately, the Spaces For People experiment could best be described as unmitigated, particularly regarding bus routes, but no one was proposing that was the way ahead.
From this befuddled voter’s point of view, a majority of the councillors who went on to be elected were in favour of pedestrianisation just one week before the election. I’m sure many of us cast our votes on this key issue.
It’s not really a political matter, and perhaps a local referendum would have been better, but then we saw what happened with the UTG vote. So much for local politics.
Simon Rae, Wellbrae Terrace, Aberdeen.
Asserting Scots sovereignty
Sir, – British nationalist Donald MacKenzie (December 13) is plain old wrong. Scotland is a nation – an ancient one which has its own retained and separate laws, education system, culture and, dare I say it, monarchy.
Most Scots are proud to be called such. In fact, many American tourists proudly declare their Scottish identity but I’ve never ever heard one of them saying: “My heritage is UK. I’m from UK way back.”
The main point of contention however is that of sovereignty. England maintains that sovereignty lies solely with Parliament under the monarch while in our preferable system, the people are sovereign.
Those people will have their say, Mr MacKenzie.
His bizarre views are thankfully a minority even within a now minority unionist group in Scotland. Today produced the fifth poll in a row showing a lead for Yes and no wonder when every one of the reasons for a No vote in 2014 has been demolished.
Anglo-British nationalists like Mr MacKenzie need to explain why they would have our country become just a region dominated by a bigger neighbour.
I’d like to end on a good news note though.
When we achieve our goal, folk like our Donald can be as British as they like within Scotland. What’s not to like?
Peter E. Smith, Aigas, Beauly.
We are part of the United Kingdom
Sir, – As someone with a West Indian heritage whose DNA analysis indicates both Scottish and African ancestry, two items in The P&J caught my eye. One was heartening, the other would be laughable were it not for the fact that some may take it seriously.
The first (Scots slavery marked with plaque, December 7) concerned Scotland’s most senior judge officially acknowledging the true extent of Scotland’s role in the slave trade and saying that its hands were far from clean. What Lord Carloway called “collective amnesia” with regard to slavery, is largely due to those in favour of separation from the UK actively promoting the idea that colonialism and slavery were something the English did, and that Scots were only peripherally and reluctantly involved.
This was part of their effort to present Scotland as somehow morally superior to England. However, evidence to the contrary is all around us in the form of the street names and grand buildings of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the country estates, grouse moors, and industrial heritage. It is right that the reality should be recognised.
The second item was Frances McKie’s letter (Scotland a colony not a partner) which suggests that the British constitution is used to “entrap, permanently, one of its last imperial colonies”. Anyone who lived in a colony prior to independence will know that this is nonsense. The colonies did not have MPs representing them in parliament with exactly the same rights as every other British citizen. If anything, with a devolved parliament, we have more democratic representation than people in England.
The whole letter is a blatant attempt to create grievance over injustices that do not exist in modern Scotland. We are not “ruled by” but are “part of” the UK.
Mark Openshaw, Cults, Aberdeen.
Long bus trek for blood test
Sir, – My husband and I took the 12.17pm number 10 Inverness to Aberdeen bus from Inverurie to Union Square last Wednesday.
An elderly couple were sitting in the row in front of us heading to ARI as the gentleman – who we learned was 82 years old and travelling with his wife who I assume was of a similar age – to get his bloods done as he was diabetic and they had an appointment at 2.30pm.
We were travelling along Great Northern Road when the gentleman took seriously ill and was rendered unconscious on the bus. I alerted the driver that one of her passengers had taken a turn and she’d have to stop the bus and call for an ambulance.
He was a ghastly colour and freezing cold but did come round after a minute or two. Several people, including myself and husband, came to his aid and one woman offered him a sugary drink as we were concerned for his blood sugar levels.
The lady bus driver stopped immediately and luckily there was a bus stop nearby to pull into.
She was at least 10 minutes on the phone to emergency services to be told that an ambulance would be 12-15 minutes, bearing in mind we were only around five minutes from ARI.
We waited around another 15 minutes on the bus – still no ambulance – at which point all the passengers boarded a replacement which took us to the city centre and left the gentleman and his wife, who was frantic at her husband’s continuing life-threatening condition, with the driver waiting for assistance to arrive.
I sincerely hope that they didn’t wait very much longer and that he has recovered and is now considerably better.
I know from the news that there is a long waiting time for ambulances queuing up at the hospitals to be seen and I hope once they got to ARI they then didn’t have to wait outside in a queue.
However, the point I’m trying to make is that I understand there may not be a diabetic clinic at Dr Gray’s in Elgin, I don’t know, but in order to get to ARI the couple in question must have left Elgin at least before 11am to get to their appointment at 2.30pm (the bus was due in at 1.15).
Why is it they had to endure a two-and-a-half hour journey just to get his bloods done? Surely they could be taken at Dr Gray’s or at their local medical practice? At 82 years old, this hospital appointment journey could have had a tragic ending for the couple.
I hope that all is well as I have thought about them both so much since.
FM, Inverurie.
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