SIR: A wise man once told me that sarcasm alone was a very low form of wit. That came over abundantly clear in the letter from H Hennesey, (BEN, October 20).

The gypsies, like many people in many countries, get water in the best way they can.

Most of the water they use comes from the filling stations where they buy their diesel oil and petrol. Many of their caravans and mobile homes are equipped with large storage tanks, fitted showers and flush toilets. I know because I have supplied some of the fittings.

They pay VAT on fuel, vehicles, caravans and generators. It is an established fact that few travellers claim state benefit. So pound for pound they contribute as much to the economy as any average person and certainly more than the unemployed.

The claim that the travellers waste the taxpayers' money is utter rubbish and made without any substance. One block of flats in Bolton, is currently costing the taxpayers 2.4 million pounds a year in benefits. That is more than all the gypsy travellers cost from Lands End to John o' Groats.

Untaxed, uninsured vehicles without MOTs is another myth of the anti-gypsy madness.

Give our traffic police some credit. They do not allow convoys of vehicles to roam the country without the proper documentation from the DVLC. If this were the case then it would be quite pointless having a national computer at Swansea.

A Devlin

Glynne Street, Farnworth

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