I AM sorry the last Malvern Gazette & Ledbury Reporter (September 15) did not carry any suggestion of another side to the issue of fuel prices.

While not surprised by protests from certain sectors, I find the supposed 80 per cent of the general public who support their actions quite misguided.

Nobody likes high prices, but surely 20 years' tax cuts yielding 13p in the pound more disposable income more than compensate for petrol prices. This is in any case not the point; there are wider issues.

Politicians cannot afford to promote 'soft' issues like care for the elderly and mentally sick, pollution, conservation of natural resources; they have to talk about today, not tomorrow, and so, sadly, these have not been at issue in any General Election to date.

The road haulage industry maybe afraid for their livelihood, but their well-grounded fears can only be postponed, not allayed.

Times changed similarly for the railway workers, of whom huge numbers including whole communities were rendered jobless in the 50's, without even being noticed and certainly not remembered. This, interestingly, was largely due to the power of the road haulage lobby.

The children of these truckers will live to see harder times; the oil under the ground will not last interminably; one day the party will end, and on the stroke of midnight their lorries will turn back into pumpkins.

Not that it gives me any joy to read of the plight of Mr Andy Boyle and of the Herefordshire Chamber of Commerce, quoted on page 2/3 of the Ledbury Reporter, September 15. One must feel sympathy for people who face insecurity and bankruptcy, and I sincerely hope that ways will be found to give them a softer landing.

It is no use, however, dismissing the Government's moves as 'laughable' and 'nonsense'. The ultimate purpose is sound, whatever may be said about the methods.

At any rate, the ordinary public who have supported the recent direct action should reflect more deeply on an issue which is far more complex than just a matter of pennies per litre.

The truckers are no more their friends than the French truckers who of late earned such withering contumely from the press; they act for themselves alone, and do nothing to ear our gratitude.

KEN DODSWORTH, Underdown, Ledbury.