IN reply to the letter about taxes, from Andrew Townsend (Your Views, BEN October 18).

Yes, it is true that many countries pay for health insurance, and we do not, but, with our crumbling health service, it won't be long before we too have to. As it is, if you want attention before old age catches up, you have to go private.

Yes, it is also true that many countries pay tolls on some (not all) of their roads, and we do not, but we have to pay a road fund licence (road tax), and most other countries do not.

Also, you have to take into account that, for a UK worker earning £1000 a month, his European equivalent is earning £2-£3000 a month.

All of the above comes from personal experience. My father had to make an appointment to see a specialist and was given a time of 44 weeks. My brother's wife's father went into and then out of hospital five times before they could find a bed for a long enough period to do his operation. I also have relatives in USA, Italy and the former East Germany, so I know how things are in these countries.

All in all, we are still worse off here in the UK, being over-taxed by money-wasting politicians!

On a different note, and with regard to another article in the BEN October 18 edition on the Stamp family's problem with their wheelie bin.

I would like to say, firstly, that I think it is stupid to expect someone to pay for something they already have if no one has complained of being a bin missing in the area. What is the problem?

I also believe that, due to the large sums of money paid in Council Tax, all bins should be provided free, unless it can be proven that you have neglected your bin until it is beyond use -- in which case, you should pay for the replacement.

Secondly, if there are several people in a residence contributing Council Tax, then they should each have a bin, not just one per building.

Finally, just who is in charge of the moronic changes being made to our roads?

Stretches of road that are wide enough for two cars abreast on each side are being strangled down to one lane per side, as well as many other seemingly pointless alterations.

I am sure I have said this before, but the road planners are obviously not drivers, as they surely would not inflict these aggravating ideas on us if they were.

They cannot claim to be pedestrian-minded, or green-thinking, as all their measures seem geared towards creating queues of traffic going nowhere fast.

This has the result that the C.A.T systems don't function as they should, because they are not operating at the correct temperature. Cars use more fuel, as they are not running at the correct speed to be at their most efficient.

This means, because the exhaust systems are not working as they should and the cars are hardly moving, the fumes being spewed out (which contain toluene and benzene -- both carcinogenic and as harmful, if not more so, than lead to the pedestrians) collect in greater volumes than if the traffic was flowing.

Edward D Dicker

York Avenue

Little Lever