FOR weeks the Star and the roadside signs even on the day, were advertising Thomas the Tank Engine would arrive Saturday at 11am.

When we arrived with hundreds of other parents in good time we were told that the start time would be noon and that they had supposedly told the council that the time that 11am was always wrong.

So what would have been a steady queue throughout the day turned into over an hour's wait. I was in full admiration of the many parents with very young children who managed to cope and calm upset children as they waited and I would congratulate them for their skill and forbearance in what was a long wait. Luckily it did not rain.

When the Fat Controller finally arrived it amounted to a quick photo-shoot and out. As he is often complaining on the Thomas the Tank episodes Thomas "was causing delay and confusion". You could say that again. I hope when the Mayor arrived he did not have to queue up as long?

Bill Bradbury, Billinge