When changing your holiday money, do not be hoodwinked by the "No commission or expenses" skulduggery.

Of course it is not free. Banks have to charge and where they do very well with most of us not knowing is on the exchange rate.

One of them, for example, offers you 1.50 for your pound when the actual rate is nearer 1.59.

That would mean a charge of about £6 for each £100 changed. My recent experience was a £42 charge on £1,000.

Earlier this year, I bought 3.5 tons of machinery from Austria.

It was collected by truck from the suppliers, put on a train for the 700-mile journey to Zeebrugge, transferred to another truck for the sea ferry trip to England and then put on another smaller truck for delivery to Brighton.

Everything included, with insurances, the Austrian transport company charged £780.

For electronically transferring £60,000 in euros from Brighton to Innsbruck, the bank charged £820 with no refund on complaining.

Now I know why Jesus turned the money-changers' tables over in the Jerusalem temple.

-V J Harman, Chalfont Drive, Hove