Oh, how I sympathise with Dave Thompson and his inability to buy a train ticket despite arriving 15 minutes before the train departed (Letters, December 12).

South Central's reply did not address the main problems with ticketing at Brighton station, namely that the ticket machines still do not accept the "new" £20 note (the old-style notes were withdrawn in January 2001) and nor do they sell Young Persons' Railcard discounted tickets.

The credit card ticket machines sell tickets only to London and Gatwick and one or two other destinations and there are never enough staff manning the ticket desks many people are forced to use, being as they are the only place to buy tickets outside the most popular destinations.

South Central's reply was the situation was exacerbated by a "shortage of staff over the past few months" - as if this is an explanation. If there aren't enough staff, perhaps more should be recruited?

-Alexi Cawson, Exeter Street, Brighton