Tipping rules: I am writing about new tipping regulations in our area. I have a small gardening business and operate using a small van.

I am no longer allowed in any tip. Even for my own household rubbish I am required to obtain a council permit, whereas a 4x4 vehicle which can carry far more waste, is perfectly acceptable because it has rear windows.

Many of the people I work for are elderly, have small wheelie bins and are reluctant to have a black rubbish sack of grass cuttings fill their bin, while others have been told by the binman not to put garden waste in their bins, under threat of non-collection.

Surely it is up to the council to provide an alternative bin especially for garden waste as some already do.

I am willing to pay to use tipping facilities but that is not acceptable, although how a green council whose policy is recycling can refuse garden waste is beyond me,

It will and already has led to far more fly tipping, something the authority is trying to stamp out. Householders paying for any job which produces any waste are now going to be faced with crippling costs involved in hiring skips. Council policy is utter rubbish.

Graham Brooks, Consett

Lost votes

A large number of members of HM Forces, it could be as many as 90,000 will not be eligible to vote in the next election, as they are not registered.

In 2004 the Government passed a little-known Act - The Representation of the People Act. Prior to this Act members of HM Forces registered once and they remained on the roll until they were discharged.

Now they must register every year. Little or no publicity has been given to this matter. I ask any reader who has relatives, family or friends in the forces to check with them that they have registered to vote.

R Peart, Stanley

Rapid response

May I through your letters column, thank the Rapid Response Team (based at South Moor Hospital) for living up to their title when looking after my husband recently during a sudden debilitating illness.

Within a week we had the most caring, respectful and cheerful people, encouraging my husband all the time.

Thanks also to Careline for their advice and attendance.

Mary Taylor, East Stanley

Police budget

I fail to see how Chief Constable Mr Paul Garvin can justify a rise in rates to meet police expenditure, when it is a well known fact that some policemen retire in their early fifties with a good pension then take on a second job.

We ordinary pensioners have to live on a modest income and still pay our way.

R Harrison, Blackhill