Sir - As a cyclist who likes to travel by train with my cycle, I have reached the point where I dread train journeys.

Having paid through the nose for the ticket, none of the station staff ever seem to know whether the cycle carriage is at the front or the back of the train before arrival. This means that I have to wait until the train arrives and then run a considerable distance, through crowds, with my bike, to the correct end. When I get there, despite having a cycle reservation, the cycle carriage is usually full of standing passengers, which makes the whole process even more torturous and inconvenient.

I am not only reducing carbon emissions by travelling by bicycle, but am boosting my health and saving the NHS-of-the-future money.

I know that Britain's railway culture is famed worldwide for its bungling inefficiency and lack of customer care, but I really think I should be encouraged, not put through this.

Daniel Emlyn-Jones, Oxford