Sir, – I read with interest the report appearing in the D&S on Friday, January 23, with regard to broadband being installed in Askrigg and Low Abbotside.

May I suggest that your readers obtain fuel at Catterick Village garage and pay by card. I called in last Friday and the lady assistant and myself began tapping on the counter as the ageing equipment in the Catterick telephone exchange cranked and grinded its way through various routers in order that the sale could be confirmed.

Businesses which are increasingly becoming more reliant on an ageing network need to sit up and demand evidence that a belts and braces telephone infrastructure exists and is second to none – such that it mirrors as far as is possible the communications infrastructure being provided in our larger towns.

KEN WALSH

Tunstall, Richmond.