SIR — Last Monday my teenage daughter began her long trek back to university at Winchester railway station.

Like many young people she was laden down with an enormous amount of baggage — a rucksack as big as she was and an equally large wheelie case.

At the ticket machine I tried in vain to buy a platform ticket to help her onto the approaching train.

A helpful ticket collector explained that these are no longer available. Access to the platform was for bona fide travellers only!

When asked who was available to help the teenager onto the train with her burden, the hapless employee said that there was no one at all.

Although I did make it onto the platform by appealing to his fatherly instincts, I wonder what the director of Brief Encounter would have done had Network Rail and South West Trains been in charge all those years ago?

Robert Bolwell, Harestock Road, Winchester.