You report Brighton city traders concerned about poor trading on a miserable public holiday (The Argus, August 31).

They should lobby the city’s MPs for the abolition of bank holidays.

They would get better trading results if workers could schedule their own time off instead of having part of it scheduled for them by the Government.

The number of public holiday days should simply be incorporated into individual entitlements.

Of course, people would still want to book time off on December 25, but I very much doubt Easter would be popular.

People would look for better weather later on.

They would probably avoid the end of August in favour of the fine weather we often get in September or October.

Bank holidays are not only a washout.

They cause traffic congestion.

They disrupt public services like refuse collection and doctors’ surgeries.

If public sector workers were taking their time off in a more flexible way there would be no need for services ever to shut down.

City traders would have a less anxious existence if they did not have to rely on “boom or bust” public holidays.

They would still have to take their chances with the British weather, but they would no longer be playing for such high stakes on a handful of Government-decreed weekends.

Trevor Pateman
Western Road, Brighton