ROGER Bannister of UNISON seems to think that the only way to run the railways safely is to take them into public ownership.

I cannot think that Mr Bannister reads the Bolton Evening New's On This Day column column for otherwise he would have seen an item dated October 8, 2001 which referred to the horrific three train crash at Harrow in 1952, in which 112 people were killed and almost as many seriously injured.

This happened less than five years after the railways had first been nationalised.

The cause of the Harrow crash was a SPAD, (Signal Passed at Danger).

To note much of the TV and newspaper coverage of recent rail incidents, SPADs only started after privatisation, ditto train crashes

Most crashes have no relevance to who owns the railway or the train, but to who is driving it.

Kevin Ludlow

Upper Lees Drive

Westhoughton