ON October 8 the head office of my local car tyre dealers offered me a choice of 11 tyres suitable for my car, all to the European new-tyre standards; these ranged in fitted price from £44 each, probably far-Eastern made, to £109 Michelins. I opted, (at the click of a mouse), for Avon Tyre Co. at £70, which are very satisfactory.

It was not really surprising to hear on Saturday that Avon was planning to lay off 400 people, about half the workforce, at its Wiltshire factory on the grounds of cut-throat competition and difficulties and costs of sustaining product development in Western Europe.

It is to be hoped the even more serious situation at Michelin’s Dundee factory may be resolved speedily. We need the good manufacturing industry base in Scotland which sustains the service industry jobs balanced on top of it.

David Cormack,

Mountainhall Park, Dumfries.