Marches duty

As a former police officer who escorted many parades between 1980 and 2000 I really fail to see what the big fuss is about now. I condemn any violence towards officers and hope that offenders are harshly dealt with. Strathclyde Police utilised officers from the city divisions as did outlying areas who would call on city resources if required, called mutual aid.

Police took robust action against offenders and had them in court on the Monday where justice would be meted out. Now we have officers brought in from places like Dunfermeline, not enough in Greater Glasgow. The organisations that march are legal and whether they like it or not the police have a duty to ensure the parades, the public and surrounding property is safe. They are like many public oufits, cash strapped, and clearly see that getting escorting parades off their plate would save them money.

Police should be seen to do their duty, not sit and tell government that its not sustainable to escort parades.

Johnny Mack, posted online

Bus service truth

The reason the X1 bus numbers are dropping (Evening Times, September 26) has been engineered by First Glasgow in the first place. The forever increasing prices. The forever dropping of parts of the route. The changing route once it hits Hamilton. First have made the service difficult to use and unreliable and they knew 100% what they were doing. What was once a very reliable and useful service has dropped to utterly pointless over the years.

First should have been hammered for the changes in the first instance.

Moonk Master, posted online

Firm’s not a charity

The service might be “packed at peak times”, but that doesn’t mean it’s viable at other times.

First Glasgow are a business, not a charity. Maybe this is another ‘vital’ service that too few people use, a bit like banks.

Scott R, posted online