It was us council tax payers who had to foot the damage caused by a previous HGV and we're the ones who have to suffer the inconvenience and hold-ups lorries cause.
As there are alternative routes, there is no reason for these vehicles to use the bridge and ignore the warning signs.

Perhaps the constabulary should use their staff to police this occasionally instead of trying to catch motorists going slightly over the limit in town centres.
Marie Stent


>> On many occasions when I have seen HGVs trying to cross the bridge in to Godmanchester I have stopped my car and helped drivers reverse back onto the ring road so that they can look for an alternative route to get out of Huntingdon. 

On one or two of those occasions, there have been police cars around and I have asked the police why the weight limit signage is at the foot of the bridge on either side, when a realistic distance should be at least 50 to 100 yards from the junction. They have said that this is something the council needs to sort out.  
Putting traffic lights up on either side of the bridge and making it single lane traffic for car users and pedestrians will not improve traffic flow. All it will do is cause more congestion around an already busy ring road and increase congestion in Godmanchester for drivers who wish to cross the bridge into Huntingdon.

Shops that receive deliveries in Huntingdon by HGVs should make it clear to their drivers that they are not permitted at any time to use the bridge as a short cut to the A14.
If the signs were 50 to 100 yards from the junction, it would give the drivers of HGV lorries time to see and react to the signage and make an alternative route decision.

It should be made clear by the signage that they should stay on the ring road until they exit using Brampton Road or Ermine Street.
If this simple strategy had been implemented by the council many years ago it would have saved the 700-year-old bridge from damage, but for some reason these simple and cost effective measures seem to have been ignored.

I fully support this campaign to prevent HGVs from crossing this lovely old structure, and to preserve it in its full glory for further generations to come.
M Fagan
Godmanchester


Is bus company being held back?
>> As a local bus user, I would be interested to hear an explanation from the Office of Fair Trading as to why they have prevented Stagecoach from improving public transport in Huntingdonshire.
As the Huntingdon and District name must be retained, buses cannot now be repainted, the business must be run as a separate entity and a separate managing director has had to be installed.

At the same time, both our district and county councils are trying to encourage co-operation between bus companies through initiatives like the "multibus" ticket, valid on all services.
Huntingdonshire has had a bad deal since 1995 when Stagecoach divested their Huntingdon operations to prevent a referral to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission when they bought Cambus.

This month we've seen services from Huntingdon to both Cambridge and St Neots increased and numerous timetable improvements across the district.
Stagecoach and the local councils want the same thing – more people travelling on more buses.

Perhaps the Office of Fair Trading could explain then why yet again Huntingdon is being deprived of the public transport it deserves – or why it is in the consumer's interest to be forced to buy a number of tickets from different companies just to make one journey?
Stagecoach know what they are doing – just look at fantastic half hourly X5 Cambridge-Oxford coach service, or the massive increase in passengers in Cambridge in the last decade.

Stagecoach have the expertise to market and manage the Guided Bus successfully – it's already had enough public money poured into it.
So let's not use more public money to pointlessly prevent experts like Stagecoach from running it.
Frustrated bus traveller
Name supplied
St Ives

Thanks Derek
>> THROUGH your letters page may I add my thanks and appreciation for the work completed over many years by a very dedicated member of Huntingdon Town Council staff, Derek Adams.
Derek Adams has for many years been Mr Medway Centre. He has done so much excellent work on the Huntingdon north and Oxmoor areas in helping to gel the diverse community.

His infectious enthusiasm was a fantastic asset in enabling him to involve so many different factions in so many worthwhile events, the most memorable of which, was The Huntingdon 800 celebrations.
He involved so many groups; the Medway Centre walls were bulging at the joints, peoples of all nationalities working to a common end, Derek doing what he does best –facilitating and guiding everything along to completion.

In my years as a Huntingdon town councillor and mayor, Derek Adams was very supportive, despite his many serious family problems he was experiencing.
As he retires from his role in Huntingdon, he will be sorely missed, but hopefully the Medway Centre will continue to build in strength from the legacy he leaves behind. He will be remembered for many years to come by everyone he helped or came into contact with.

My wife Claire and I wish him a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Cllr Jeff Dutton
vice chairman of Huntingdonshire District Council

>> St Neots town councillor Derek Giles has asked us to point out that he has never been approached regarding the state of the pavements in Honeydon Avenue, Eaton Ford, and that the Eaton Ford ward is represented at town, district and county council level by Conservative councillors only.