PETER Sotheran is spot on that the £3.3bn bid by Virgin East Coast (VTEC) for the East Coast rail franchise was “ludicrous, unrealistic and totally unsustainable” (HAS, May 22).

But far from paying the government £1m per day (averaged over eight years), these failed franchises are all “end loaded” with the bulk of the money being promised in the last two years.

By opting out midway, these con-artists (as I would call them) pay only a tiny fraction of the huge sums they bid. After two previous failures with the East Coast franchise, it beggars belief that the government allowed VTEC to pull the same trick again while refusing to allow an “in house” bid. With four more franchises about to fail as well, the sooner all the main rail lines are returned to public ownership and control, the better. Then the whole system could be run on an integrated basis with a single ticketing system instead of the complicated and expensive one we have now.

Under public ownership for six years, 2009-2015, the East Coast line was run efficiently and made a profit. Every other line could do the same.

Chris Foote Wood, Darlington.