CHIEF Superintendent Madgwick is 100 per cent right to reassure Muslims in York that racial reprisals will not be tolerated (July 14). However, this may prove to be not that easy.

Take an incident that occurred with me. I boarded the 10.30pm train from Liverpool to Leeds after watching the football. The carriage was full of football fans and revellers, pretty much the norm.

Sitting facing me was a chap with a long wispy beard, skull-cap and loose fitting robe-type clothing. Again nothing unusual in that as I see these people most weeks on the cross-Pennine service and they nearly always leave the train at Huddersfield, Dewsbury or Leeds.

He nodded at me and I nodded back and I carried on reading my programme. However, I was gripped with total fear because this chap had a large rucksack at the side of him.

I am not proud to admit it but I believed he was going to blow up the train.

Sadly, the events in London have left me with a suspicion of mistrust of anything connected to Muslims, and I would like to think that I am fairly level headed.

Thanks to the actions of a few extremists, my grip on normality has been replaced with paranoia.

PR Willey,

Burnholme Drive,

Heworth, York.

Updated: 10:25 Tuesday, July 19, 2005