So you want a train to take you from Brighton to the Midlands and the North without changing termini in London.

The Brighton-to-Watford service, from which you could change platforms easily to reach a fast train travelling north, was withdrawn this year.

Originally, it was to terminate at Clapham Junction, which would have meant carrying luggage up and down as many as 40 steps to change platforms.

If I have read the timetable correctly, however, this service now starts from East Croydon, where the cross-platform interchange is easier, a small success for the Older People's Council (OPC)'s efforts.

However, the twice-daily service from Brighton to Reading and Manchester via Gatwick is now threatened with closure.

As there is a frequent service to Gatwick from Brighton and a planned new half-hourly service from Reading to Gatwick, this once-through service from Brighton will start at Reading and you, the passenger from Brighton, will have to change trains twice to catch it.

The OPC is supporting the city's objections to this proposal.

The underused service from Brighton to the north via Coastway West, Basingstoke and Reading will also shortly disappear because it has been removed from the newly-designed South Western franchise.

So soon it is likely there will be no trains direct from Brighton to the North. The original operators thought it made commercial sense to run these services. Who, then, is responsible for their closure?

The Government. The Department for Transport is responsible in every case.

Planners, no doubt glued to computer models, have forgotten older people, the physically handicapped and even young mothers with children and buggies all need cross country services which will get them from Brighton to their destination with a minimum of hassle.

-Bob Gunnell, vice chair Brighton & Hove Older People's Council, Wayland Avenue, Brighton