I was amazed to read the most recent letter from Dr Scott Marmion (The Press, September 26).

While appearing to discuss the state of our railway system, he comments that it is scandalous that the salaries of train drivers exceed those of some junior doctors.

Of course doctors and nurses deserve to be well rewarded for their much needed skills and dedication. This has absolutely nothing to do with what other workers earn.

Apparently he thinks train drivers are overpaid. Consider the responsibility resting on the driver of a vehicle travelling at over 100mph, with the lives of a great many people depending on him, especially when it can take up to a mile to bring the train to a halt. It is only a personal view, but I would rather have a human driver than software at the controls of any vehicle I was travelling in.

It is an old fashioned and shameful tactic which we should have outgrown, to set one group of workers against another.

The intention is if you can get folk arguing about who gets the biggest slice of the cake, they will forget how small the cake is. Consider reading The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

Pamela Brown,

Goodwood Grove, York

Our high rail fares cannot be justified

Rail fares are reasonable only if you book three months in advance and specify the trains you are going on.

Recently I got a senior citizens’ return to Durham which cost £42.20. How can the railway justify that sort of price? That was a senior citizens’ ticket: what the normal price must be I don’t know.

Robert D Greaves,

Alder Way,

New Earswick, York