I HAD to write in response to Mr F Kobryn and Co (Letters Sept 13). First of all, I would like a pair of the rose-coloured spectacles he must wear if he can't see we pay tolls in the UK.

Has he ever been out of Bolton? What about the Mersey Tunnel, Dartford Tunnel, Q E Bridge, Severn Bridge, Humber Bridge?

The list is endless. All toll crossings in the UK. What about the road fund licence -- £160 per year cars, over £3,000 per year most HGVs?

The argument the hauliers etc have is that the Government is taking 48.8p per litre tax out of fuel, making it very hard for our hauliers to compete with foreign hauliers.

They come over here with fuel a lot cheaper, road tax roughly a fifth of ours, so they can come here and take the work cheaper than our hauliers.

Most of our police can't speak any foreign language so the farmers get away with running illegally and parking where they feel like doing, but, when our truckers go over to mainland Europe, they have to put up with being targeted for intimidation mainly by the gendarmes.

They have to pay through the nose to use the foreign motorways -- mainly all tolled.

All Mr Blair has to do is to give our firms a level playing field against the rest of Europe. Finally, if Messrs Kobryn, Ferguson, Gallagher, Page and Morley think the present action is political against the Labour Party -- it is Labour in power, not the Tories. Think again, Mr Blair.

Mr M J Halligan

Paderborn Court

Bolton