30 OCTOBER 1999, Page 36

From Mr Edmund Coxhead Sir: On the subject of ludicrous

rail excuses, I have always savoured the rather surreal 'pickpockets at Sloane Square' heard on the Circle Line about 20 years ago.

More recently, on the Intercity to Euston, I thought 'red light problems between Leighton Buzzard and Tring' had a comically saucy tinge, but events in Paddington give it a darker gloss.

Edmund Coxhead

edmund.coxhead@pcblaw.co.uk