MY worst fears have been realised.

In place of not accepting a redundancy package Ada Burns, chief executive of Darlington Borough Council is being given £200,001 to release her pension early (Echo, Jan 25).

This being paid by us, the council tax payer.

She should be generous and reduce it by knocking off the £1 at the end.

What should happen is that the chief executive, who has been more than generously paid over the years, should hand back the amount to the public (what a lovely gesture) and a bucket collection be organised at the town hall and other places for people to contribute if they so wish to her income.

I assume the above amount is in addition to her own pension contributions.

When I left British Rail after 39 (wonderful) years of employment I took early retirement with a ten per cent reduction on my benefits and guess what? I am surviving.

I did get a redundancy lump sum but nothing like the above figure.

I suppose there is the saying “the more you have the more you want”.

My wife and I recently spent over two hours collecting three big bags of litter from around the area where we live.

It makes you wonder if it is worth it when you see employees in top positions being so well rewarded for just doing their job.

Mike Taylor, Darlington