RECENTLY it was stated on TV that the P and O shipping company's ferry service, Pandoro, was sacking the crews and replacing them with crews from Spain because they were cheaper.

As a former seaman, I would like to comment.

The Spanish plunder our fish stocks, give our truck drivers a lot of trouble in Spain and, now, they are taking British seamen's jobs.

What is the National Union of Seamen doing? Are they going to stand idly by and let it happen?

The British merchant fleet was once great, but now it has been decimated to the point of no existence.

The merchant fleet was Britain's lifeline during the last war and now the government has allowed it to nearly go into extinction. It is really pathetic.

J SMITH (Mr), Leeds Close, Blackburn.

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