REGARDING your article "Mystery of missing litter bins" (LET, October 11), while it is true that I complained about the disappearance of seven litter bins from Clayton-le-Moors bus stops, your report failed to record the fact that this was directed at Tory-run Hyndburn Council and not Lancashire County Council.

I have supported the Quality Bus Initiative since its inception in 1998. It is one of the best examples of partnerships benefiting the public to come out in the last few years and is a credit to the officers, Lancashire County Council and Stagecoach staff who brought it to fruition.

It is a bit rich for the Tories to blame Lancashire County Council for the disappearance of bins that bear their logo. It is not exactly rocket science to work out where they went to.

Who employs the men who empty the bins? Did they not realise that they had gone missing in the first place? Why didn't they make contingency plans to have temporary bins until the new bus stops had been completed ?

And why is there a litter bin on nearly every lamppost in council leader Peter Britcliffe's home town of Oswaldtwistle ?

Councillor Britcliffe's attitude to litter bins is similar to his running of Hyndburn Council -- if it isn't affecting Oswaldtwistle, it doesn't matter, and if in doubt, blame the County Council.

COUN TIM O'KANE, Charles Street, Clayton-le-Moors.