I READ with interest the article about customers enjoying improved facilities at our leisure centres since Bolton Council and Serco joined together.

I would like to point out that although Cllr Martyn Cox said "the leisure centres will provide facilities which the whole community can enjoy and afford", this is not true.

Since Serco came on the scene, swimming for the under-fours now has a ratio of one adult to one child, where before it has always been one adult to two children. The new policy discriminates against one-parent families with more than one child, and parents with more than two children.

I have been a leisure card holder for years, although I now have to take my two children to Chorley where the policy is one adult to three children.

Bolton customer care policy states: "Customers are the focus of our business". Is this the way that they are going to treat their customers in the future? What is the point of giving our children swimming lessons if we can't continue to allow them to practise and gain much-needed confidence?

To most, swimming is one of life's most enjoyable pleasures and, due to the new ruling, this pleasure has been taken away from many under-eights.

We can't instill enough the importance of swimming and fitness at a young age. What is Bolton Council doing about the health of our children, except discriminating against them in a culture that breeds lethargy and obesity in this technological age?

Why has Serco brought in this policy when other boroughs see it fine for one parent to take at least two toddlers swimming?

(Name and address supplied)