'Stop messing around and compensate people!' - Your Letters: January 24

The group fighting the Post Office won a High Court case and were awarded £57.75 million. Of this about 80 per cent went to solicitors working on the case (about £46 million! The claimants would get about £20,000 each).

Since January last year a further 3,800 have been awarded £594 million. About £150,000 each.

Here is the point of those statistics I produced above:

Message for the attention of Gareth Thomas MP, Post Office Minister:

Stop messing around and compensate those people properly and quickly not the derisory low amounts offered by civil servants but decent amounts – call any award punitive damages (extras) to sort out this disgraceful situation compounded by the actions of the Horizon manufacturer and the Post Office. A year ago the then Government promised to deal with the situation quickly. Taking over a year is not quickly, especially as for half that time your political party have been in power! You are just as responsible for the inactivity of the Civil Service. Remember, the Post Office not only took people's livelihoods from them, they also took their good names, and often their homes, friends and family.

Michael Gough, Wombourne

GREEN BIN COST IS JUST RUBBISH

In April 2024 I wrote about Dudley Council and the prediction that once a charge for collecting our garden waste came in it would not be long that the then £36 would increase, but I did not know it would rise to £52 by the next April – a rise of a staggering £16.

Now let's look into this. Most households do their gardening in the spring and summer months and come late autumn into winter months the garden remains relatively untouched and left to the weather. And from late September to late April our gardens are mainly dormant and in need of very little attention and definitely our garden waste bins are tucked up nice and cosy in a corner of the garden.

But our councillors appear to live on planet Zog and in their world gardens are cut, trimmed and tended to every day and our bins are in need collecting every two weeks in the winter months. Just how did we all manage prior to the introduction of the garden tax? Dudley Council now have garden waste lorries driving around trying to find green waste bins that actually need emptying. Dudley Council now charge for something during winter months that's not needed but they will increase it by £16 because they can! Then they removed free parking and made a charge and now car parks are not used, two areas of increase and two areas where money is gained by the council but two areas very little to no maintenance is needed, in other words money for nothing, council tax is also rising, they keep taking money but we never see improvements or indeed any benefits. So, where do councillors think this money comes from, no one puts a little extra in pensions, wages or benefits to allow for councils to get the funds they say they need. It's an extra £16 this year and next year no doubt another £16 will be needed.

Roll on the local elections where we show our disgust at council mismanagement.

Pete Lowe, Brierley Hill

Send us your letters for publication to [email protected]

Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and address and will only be published anonymously in exceptional circumstances. The editor reserves the right to condense or amend letters.