IN your report (LET, December 27) on nurses forced out by higher rents on houses at Calderstones hospital one nurse stated that she tried to buy her home for several years but was repeatedly turned down.

It is plain that the nurses are being put under pressure to quit their homes by being charged rents that are out of this world. Even furnished accommodation is not as high as the rents being charged.

For instance, your article states that rents have risen from £117 per month in 1991 to £325 now. That is a rise of £208 in four years and makes the rent £81.25 per week. How are nurses expected to meet rents like this on their low rates of pay?

I thought that the government had rents watchdogs to check exorbitant rises. Apparently, the watchdog has no teeth.

The nurses do a marvellous job on the low pay they get. Yet certain classes of people go all out to exploit them. Play the game and give them a fair deal.

J F SMITH (Mr), Leeds Close, Blackburn.

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