This year the confusion and disruption caused to non-cycling residents of Peebles was worse than last year. It seems that the slogan “Sport for all” should really be “Sport for some” as the cyclists were the only ones able to enjoy a day doing what they like while others were confined to their homes for the duration.

This home confinement was mostly caused by bad management and an unfortunate attitude toward anyone not involved in the event. The road closure signs all pointed to a complete no go area in and around Peebles but in actual fact it turned out that traffic was able to pass via a contraflow system operated by marshals with radios, these arrangements were not made very clear to members of the public or residents living on the south side of Peebles.

I suspect the reason the road closure signs were so unclear was to make sure not many people ventured out as the system would not have coped if the normal amount of vehicles travelled along this part of the B 7062. Most people seemed to think they had to get out of Peebles early in the morning and stay out till late afternoon or remain incarcerated in their home as I presume many opted to do.

I know there will have been a few businesses that made some sort of profit from the day but many others were left with no business whatsoever or forcibly shut down with a complete loss of income – do they not matter to the organisers?

If it’s true that the event is so successful and brings in so much to the local economy I suggest we should not be greedy and should pass the benefits along to other areas of the Borders in future years.

I’m sure the Dumfries and Galloway area have towns which would appreciate all this extra revenue as would the towns in the rest of Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale area. The name is Tour O’ the Borders so the organisers should make sure the rest of the Borders have a fair share of both the extra income and the inconvenience.

Despite this complaint, it is good to see people enjoying their particular sport but not at the expense of every other sport or leisure activity enjoyed by many more. It seems that the events are becoming more frequent and more disruptive to normal life in and around Peebles and Tweeddale and I hope in future years a little less greed would mean a few less events and a lot less disruption to non-cycling Peebles residents or, as suggested, spread the burden/blessing around.

I am, etc.

Name and address supplied Peebles