Letter: PR disaster

Sir: Having just voted in a deserted polling station, I wondered why on earth we in Britain still hold elections on Thursdays. The rest of Europe votes at the weekend, when most people are not at work.

I spend polling day driving mostly disabled people to the polls, but there are few party activists who can take time off to get voters out to vote. If we switched to Saturdays and made use of supermarkets and large stores as polling stations (where access is also easier for the disabled than on some school premises), the parties could play a much bigger part in promoting a high turnout.

The long lines of South African voters patiently queuing to vote last month still stick in the memory. They remind us all that you really value your vote once you have been deprived of it for most of your life.

ROLAND FREEMAN

Salisbury