I have for a long time held the view that coach and bus magazines should not involve themselves in politics.
In regards to last week’s Westminster Watcher [routeone/Westminster/ 2 October], to suggest that Boris hasn’t done all he could for Wrightbus is nonsense. Who gave them one of the biggest orders they ever had? Borismasters, as they became known, were conceived and ordered in their hundreds when Boris was Mayor of London.
How many buses has [current Mayor of London] Sadiq Khan ordered from Wrightbus? The same is true for the train building industry.
Boris oversaw the biggest orders of new London Underground trains in its history – costing many millions of pounds – and every one of them was built in Derby using British labour. Since Sadiq Khan took office in 2016, no new orders have gone to Bombardier in Derby, going instead to be built in Germany.
I have travelled extensively in Western Europe and it is noticeable how France and Germany in particular buy home-grown vehicles for all their municipal fleets.
What a shame that British politicians, both at national and local level, don’t follow their example. I’m surprised that the unions who claim to represent the workers don’t point this out to the Mayor of London.
Gerald Creed, Bristol
