We were going to provide a sample letter for protestors to send to their MP's but we feel that asking you to write your own would have more impact, as it shows that you are concerned enough to take the time to write, rather than just copy a prepared letter.

Remember investing 5 minutes of time now will help stop your daily commute becoming 'two new commercial prime time advertising opportunities' for the rest of your commuting lives.

Some tips to help you get started:

* Always end your letter with the line 'I look forward to your reply' or your MP may not respond to your letter

* You have a right to know what your MP thinks about any issue. When you write to your MP make sure you ask them to tell you what they think.

* Include any facts about your journey, such as
     1. you may not get in quiet area because you join the train a long way from its start point,
     2. that you work, sleep, read on the journey and this will be interrupted.
     3. Refer to the SRA's own survey that showed that 54% of people spent time sleeping/reading/working, c2c's results were higher that the national average. Compare this with just 61 in 278 TV free seats, per 4 car train
     4. That this is another money making scheme for c2c after reducing the number of trains and inflation busting fare increases

* be forceful but be courteous

* keep the letter short and simple, no more than one page.

* Politicians are very clever at saying a lot, but not actually agreeing to anything. Often their reply will say things like 'Many people have supported this very important issue' - this means absolutely nothing, because they haven't told you what they actually think! If you receive a response such as this, you should just see it as encouragement to write back to them and ask them for their specific view point.

Send your letter to

<your MP's name> MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A 0AA

If you don't know who your MP is try looking at the parliament website or BBC news website

Updated 14/02/2005