Being without a car at the moment due to an accident caused by another motorist, I have been trying to live without replacing it as a matter of principle.

But every day I have to use public transport nibbles away at my resolve.

For example, waiting at the bottom of Elm Grove for the 81, in plain view of the bus driver, the bus shoots straight past me, almost empty.

So I carry four bags of shopping uphill on Islingword Road.

Naturally, I write to complain. I receive a perfectly polite but completely pointless letter of apology. What did I want from my letter?

I wanted what any other sensible person would want, and what I have always received: the equivalent of when complaining to a shop.

A voucher for a free journey, my postage refunded, ideally an assurance that the matter will be looked into, the driver told off and that I will be informed when this has happened. Then two days later, the same thing happens!

Now I read this is to be one of the services likely to be cut if Brighton and Hove Council will not increase the subsidy to Brighton and Hove Buses (Argus, July 6).

Is it too much to ask the council to put our money where its collective mouth is when exhorting us to use public transport? A three per cent subsidy is completely inadequate to bring the service into the 2lst Century.

I count myself fortunate in being able to afford a car when I can tolerate the situation no longer, but not everyone is as lucky.

-Val Cane, Queens Park Road, Brighton