I DON'T condone the occupation of an empty building, but find it difficult to understand why the owners of the White Swan Hotel in York's Piccadilly, above, have started proceedings against the occupants.

I am no expert in the law relating to this subject, but these people mean no harm to the building, that is plain to see by the way they have cleared out all the rubbish, painted the walls and offered to pay the electric bill!

Would the owners rather have the "stereotypical" squatter who makes rubbish, daubs the walls with obscenities and wrecks the place before moving on, leaving the owners to pick up the tab?

If the building is structurally unsafe, as is claimed, then why weren't the people of York told about it 20 years ago when it closed? It could have collapsed at any time couldn't it?

Rather than force them out, come to some sort of arrangement, legally if necessary, that allows them to be unpaid security guards on your precious property that has been empty for 20 years and, when the time comes, I'm sure they will move on peacefully.

You obviously don't give two monkeys about the blot you have created on York's landscape. Let someone look after it for you!

PR Willey,

Burnholme Drive,

Heworth, York.

...I was wondering why, at the so called "peace hotel"' in Picadilly, there are a number of Mercedes Benz badges displayed. Are these a sponsorship deal or incorrectly drawn C.N.D badges?

Chris Simpson,

Bramley Garth, York.

Updated: 11:19 Thursday, May 01, 2003