BLACKBURN with Darwen Council has treated Mr T Singer shamefully after he has traded in Blackburn for the past 60 years (LT, February 15).

He has paid rent all this time. The problem arose after he asked the council to fix a damp patch at his shop. This could have been put right for £1,000 ten years ago.

The council failed to do it and now the cost is a lot more. The council is becoming more and more dictatorial. It is that it is paid by us and it is a public servant.

Councillors and officials should remember the old adage - be nice to people on the way up because you might just have to meet them on the way back down.

H HAMER, Lowther Place, Blackburn.