COLIN HENSON implies that all the civil servants being allowed to work from home during the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be on vacation, watching TV and enjoying the Games (Letters, May 19).

This blinkered view takes no account of targets that many of the workers will have to meet or the workloads they must get through. No, I am not (and never have been) a civil servant, but I do work from home. I achieve far more working on my own, away from the chit-chat, office banter, coffee breaks and water-cooler meetings than I ever did working from an office. It is not only the civil service which is empowering staff to work from home. Many private companies in London are allowing employees to work flexi-time or work from home, freeing up the public transport for spectators and competitors.

Yes, some will take advantage but others, like me, will tune in to the sports they enjoy for an hour or so and then make up the hours at other times.

Bob Redwood, Main Street, Askham Bryan, York.