Tomlinson deserved sentence

During the so-called building workers' strike in 1972, very few Shropshire workers went on strike because they either worked for smaller builders who had their own agreements with their workers or, in the majority of cases, were self-employed tradesmen.

For reasons I am not in a position to know, bus loads of strikers were brought in, mainly from outside the area, to try to force the local workers to go on strike.

The company I worked for had a gang of men laying 225mm sewer pipes in a site just off the old A5 in Shrewsbury when hordes of these flying pickets came streaming across the site intimidating our men and the builders' men. When I arrived on site I found they had smashed the pipes we had already laid in the trench and also the pipes stacked ready to lay.

Machinery was also smashed up causing many thousands of pounds damage. In my opinion Ricky Tomlinson deserved the sentence he received and should not be trying to get himself a pardon.

While I do not dislike him as an actor, I believe he should accept that he was justly punished and leave the past in the past.

A D Parry, Shrewsbury