LIKE many people in Wyre Forest I looked forward eagerly to the new NHS dental services coming to our area.

My dentist of more than 30 years opted, like many others, to go private last year.

As a parent currently supporting two university students I could not afford to pay around £800 pounds a year into the new dental plan they offered.

I figure my husband and I already pay enough in taxes. I was disgusted to find that the new service was to be introduced by the way of a lottery.

The public was forbidden access to any information about the new services prior to a specific launch date. Instead, we were expected to all apply from the same time via e-mail or a special telephone line.

Perhaps they got the idea from one of the TV quiz shows like Who wants to be a millionaire?

It was not even a fair lottery, as the service was only available between 9-30am and 4-00pm, making it impossible for working people to phone unless they had very understanding employers who were willing to let them stay on the phone all day.

This is just one more example of discrimination against the average working tax-paying family.

Needless to say the whole thing was a fiasco. Phone lines were jammed and many that did get through were connected to a message service that told them the mailbox was full. I attempted to cover all bases by sending an e-mail. In reply I have received this message:

"This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Unable to deliver message to the following recipients, due to being unable to connect successfully to the destination mail server wyreforestdental@sworcs-pct.nhs.uk"

CHRISTINE JORDAN,

Kidderminster.