DEAR EDITOR - Sir Humphrey is alive and well. Another brilliant piece of obfuscation from our very own Department of Administrative Affairs.

Emily Bridgewater reports on the wonderful arrangements the department has made to relieve pensioners of a little more of their cash, and raise the spectre of a whole new department to administer the travel arrangements of our more elderly citizens.

Does the bus driver, who has inadvertently carried an elderly Option A passenger outside the limits of the pass, declare the traveller an illegal immigrant into that area reserved for Option B passport holders and would an unhappy resident in the parish charge his or her mind (as most older people do quite a lot) when travelling on the bus, find they are unable to cross over into another area without risk of breaching the regulations set up to increase revenue for the Department.

Who is going to monitor this wayward passenger? Will there have to be an increase in the number of traffic wardens to examine each bus pass as the travellers disembark at their chosen destinations? What will the penalties be - three points first time and confiscation of the pass after twelve offences?

Will it be a sufficient defence in court to quote the lunatic rules imposed by the department?

How many copies of boundary lines and parish lines will have to be printed and distributed to all pensioners who ask for a pass?

The Department, having realised that the system they have devised may save money, which can then be spent on some other bureaucratic lunacy, but is incomprehensible to a normal citizen, provide guidance sessions in an attempt to make it comprehensible.

How much will it cost, and how long before someone else deep in the innermost caverns of the department realises that the costs involved in the administration of the scheme have eaten too deeply into the savings and the whole charade is revamped to take these unforeseen costs into account?

Peter G Towers,

Fiery Hill Road,

Barnt Green