WHILE I was reading your article on the smashed buggy shelter there was a moment when I thought it must be a joke – but alas not for long.

After the boy’s parents offered to pay the £1,100 repair costs that should have been it but not so. Cllr Franklin decided that “as chairman there are times you have to do the right thing”.

So after a “heated conversation” it was decide to accept just £500, otherwise it would have set a precedent that others may not be able to follow.

Makes you want to weep does it not?

Might one very gently suggest the Tidworth councillors seek some counselling in the hope they may eventually return from la-la land.

In the meantime who do they think should be responsible for finding the balance of the repair cost? The local council taxpayer, of course, who else?

Anthony MacVarish, Vernham Street, Vernham Dean