WE can feel nothing but sympathy for the family of a 19-year-old Bolton man who received a bill for emergency treatment while his body was still in the hospital mortuary.

The letter to David Ashton, asking him for a standard £21.30 road accident fee, was sent out even though he had been pronounced dead on arrival at Wigan Hospital.

Such incidents bring a shudder of natural revulsion, but Wigan and Leigh Health Services NHS Trust has been commendably prompt in seeking to make amends for its administrative error.

A spokesperson says they are to send a personal apology to David's mother and that they will look into the situation to make sure it never happens again.

The hospital appears to be genuinely sorry about this unfortunate incident - as well it should be - and we hope the immediate response to this mistake helps to ease the pain caused by this unseemly efficiency. OPINION: Rubbish rats 0IT is disgusting that fly-tippers are polluting the pleasant countryside around the Rivington reservoirs.

Organised gangs are apparently creating tyre mountains on various sites with no regard for the environmental consequences.

Nearly 1,000 tyres have had to be removed in recent months - creating expense and extra work for North West Water.

Their response is to organise special undercover surveillance operations to catch the offenders.

We welcome this initiative and support NWW's call for walkers and trippers to keep an eye open for suspicious -looking lorries and wagons.

The Bolton area needs all the green "lungs" it can get.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.