Shoddy work
Sir: It was interesting to read the account by Martin Vander Weyer (`Trains and boats and planes ... ', 28 October) of cross- Channel ferries. My own, and only, experi- ence was on the Newhaven-Dieppe route (I subsequently went by Hovercraft) and, as the crossing was a monopoly amicably divided by BR and SNCF, provided exam- ples of the British and French ways of deal- ing with the public. The outward ferry was French, and had a restaurant and a cafete- ria and a duty-free shop. The return ferry was British and had only a cafeteria. Duty- free goods were sold only at the cafeteria bar, so there was one very, very long queue whether you wanted food, or only a drink, or duty-free. The service ranged from the off-hand to the surly and hostile. 'Nice to be home,' we thought. Mr Vander Weyer notes that 'there is no provision for shop- ping facilities on the Shuttle trains'. Good to know that we have not lost our genius for being unenterprising.
Charles Fyffe 52 Holmdale Road, London NW6
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