ROBIN Johnston (Letters, May 14) suggests that it is time to close Prestwick Airport. I would beg to differ.

Prestwick has direct access from a rail line. Would it not be better to develop Prestwick and close Glasgow Airport?

This would avoid the problem of trying to have pods/ light rail from Paisley Gilmour Street and also ease congestion on the M8.

Prestwick also has the advantage of being fog-free and has less noise pollution to residential property, as landing and take-off would be over open countryside or water.

Gordon W Smith, Paisley.

Taxi unfair

GLASGOW City Council’s licensing committee has apparently refused an application for a taxi firm which would have only female drivers and pick up only female passengers. It would refuse to take men. The licence was denied on the basis that this would be sex discrimination (which it self-evidently is).

Margaret Taylor ("Those with power can hardly be discriminated against", The Herald, May 14) objects to this. I cannot help but wonder what her view would be if the proposed business were to have only male drivers and would pick up only men, refusing women simply because they are women. I rather suspect she would be shouting "discrimination!" at the top of her voice, thus displaying the doublethink so characteristic of feminism.

I have no doubt that there are women who might prefer a female driver, but surely it is a case of simply requesting one at the time of booking (assuming one is available, given the relatively small proportion of drivers who are female)?

All this aside, would a business which refused to accept a large number of its potential customers be commercially viable?

Alan Jenkins,

Glasgow G13.

Rail backing

MORE power to the hopes and aspirations of those campaigning for sustainable rail tourism ("Highlands want tourists to ditch the plane for new age of the train", The Herald, May 15). They should also include in this connection the car and the motor coach in its use by tourists. I rather fear the latter will increase in consequence on completion of dualling the adjacent motorway, but nevertheless electrification of the rail route should also have precedence in plans for the immediate future.

Allied to this would be doubling the long stretches of single-line rail track where practical and possible that exists between Perth and Inverness, along with associated improved infrastructure. There are intentions to extend the recently completed electrification to Stirling and Dunblane on to Perth with the foregoing being a natural and much welcome follow-on. In the meantime, the efforts of the Highland Main Line Community Rail Partnership are to be commended.

John Macnab, Falkirk.

Praising the Imp

DESPITE its well-documented foibles I for one fondly remember the early production model Hillman Imp I owned in 1964 (Letters, May 14 & 15).

Its robust construction with front swing axles and spare wheel in front of the driver enabled myself and two passengers to walk away with nothing more than seat belt bruises and a gash in my knee from the ignition key when I collided with a Vauxhall who pulled out in front of me at 30-odd miles an hour.

The much more appealing but at the time more expensive Mini would not have led to such a fortunate outcome.

Thomas Law, Sandbank, Argyll and Bute.

Plane wrong?

WITH respect to Eric Arbuckle (Letters, May 15) I think Flight Sergeant Matt Braddock flew an Avro Lancaster, not a Mosquito. I might be wrong ... corrections accepted!

Hugh Steele,

Cumbernauld.