COULD this be the worst bus stop in our region?

Wetherby Bus Watch (WBW) has reported to The Press how this Boston Road stop gives information about a service that does not exist - complete with a spelling mistake.

WBW points out that there is no bus service from the stop to Kirk Deighton or Knarsborough' (or, for that matter, Knaresborough) - even though the sign says there is.

Paul Kirby, a customer service researcher, and public transport enthusiast, has resurrected WBW after a ten-year absence.

Mr Kirby said: "In general, the bus companies do a pretty good job in Wetherby, but it seems to me that Metro are letting them and passengers down with the infrastructure they provide, like bus stops.

"I carried out a survey of bus stops in north Wetherby recently. I was amazed to find that of the 15 with information on, nine were incorrect. For example, they had destinations on that no buses went to.

"When I pointed this out to Metro, they corrected all those nine signs very quickly, but none of the others in Wetherby that were wrong!

Mr Kirby is encouraging people to register their views by visiting WBW's website http://uk.geocities.com/WetherbyBusWatch/


Dentist trip is like pulling teeth

A TRIP to see the dentist still remains one of the greatest fears in many adult's lives, but one Diary reader has a few stories which extract humour from the experience.

Philip Crowder, of York Road, Haxby, writes to say that the swing many dentists have taken from the NHS to private treatment is disappointing although his own dentist balances the two nicely - Mr Crowder is an NHS patient while his wife is seen privately.

He says he was called upon to restore the Victorian railings outside the practice recently - but as his wife's appointment is coming up the practice will be recouping its money shortly.

Mr Crowder also says a dentist once gave his surgeon a bit of a shock.

A piece of metal had become lodged in Mr Crowder's retina so the surgeon, in order to locate the foreign object, stitched a silver ring to the eye-ball and then took an x-ray.

But the first image just showed a knotted wire left in by the dental surgeon who had set Mr Crowder's broken jaw following a rugby injury.

Unfortunately, the wire appeared to be in his eye rather than in his temple where it actually was.

Thinking about dentists also reminded him of a story his father, a grenadier in North Africa, told him about his experiences at the hands of an Arab dentist.

Using a treadle-operated drill clamped to the back of a truck the dentist replaced an incisor with a carved ivory tooth. For 40 years Mr Crowder's father carried this tooth in his head without problems - although the colour never quite matched.