I SHUDDER to think what the three largest Arran hotels have lost in turnover over the last four months, not to mention the rest of Arran’s losses over the same period.

The weather is beyond our control, as is the coronavirus, although we should be taking steps to mitigate both.

However, it is incompetence and woolly thinking that that has created the mess the ferry procurement is in. Can I ask the Scottish Government and Calmac to acquire ferries old or leased immediately so that when the coronavirus clears we are ready to kick-start the tourist trade and give potential tourists the feeling that if they get to Arran they have a reasonable chance of getting off.

As Boris Johnson would say (God forgive me), let's get it done.

Lindsay Keir, Brodick, Isle of Arran.

WITH the onset of the coronavirus, I would like to suggest to Glasgow City Council that it suspends parking restrictions before the pandemic becomes worse.

Allowing workers with transport to drive to work rather than take public transport, reduces the danger of infection to the driver and passengers (drivers should share where possible) and also help to reduce numbers and infections from sharing public transport.

This should be implemented without delay.

Cully Pettigrew, Glasgow G77.

I HAVE just returned home from a really enjoyable holiday in Scotland.

I’m Welsh by birth and always find Scottish people to be really friendly. So I was a tad disconcerted yesterday morning, driving from Ballater to Perth on the A93 "snow road”, to find nearly half the vehicles attempting to kill me.

I left Ballater at 6am and soon had the pleasure of the rising sun reflecting off the snow. It became noticeable by 7am that at least 50 per cent of vehicles approaching, some on the wrong side of the road, had no lights on whatsoever. It was a tad disconcerting approaching one of the many blind bends or blind summits, to find a lump of metal hurtling around lightless from the other side.

The theme continued as I travelled around Edinburgh to the A1. Drivers didn’t seem to want to switch their lights on so they could be easily seen in the spray and occasional murk.

I ask, somewhat tongue in cheek: is it a Scottish trait to be parsimonious in the use of car lighting and to switch it off at daybreak no matter what the road conditions? I’ve driven in a fair few countries and haven’t come across so many vehicles with so few lights on.

David Lewis, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk.

MANY Glasgow readers will be aware that the street lighting at the north exit from the Clyde Tunnel leading to the Clydeside Expressway is not working. They may not be aware that the high mast lights have not worked since early 2018 (Freedom of Information request). The Chinese Government is apparently able to build a hospital in nine days, yet the city council appears to be incapable of repairing a set of street lights in two years.

This is a busy main road. If an accident occurs, I hope that those involved within Glasgow City Council will be held accountable.

Scott Simpson, Glasgow G12.