I REFER to your report of pensioner Doug Turner, referred to Poundland by his doctor for a hay fever remedy (Pensioner told to buy drugs ‘at Poundland’, July 13).

Mr Turner’s justification for his tirade against the doctor is that he has served Queen and country, is a pensioner and has paid in - presumably he means National Insurance contributions - for 60 years.

I would merely comment, as another pensioner, that the vast majority of us born between the two world wars, served in the armed forces as a matter of course. For men born after 1940, such service was entirely voluntary. 

With regard to ‘paying in’ for 60 years, this is a gross exaggeration but even so, every working person has also ‘paid in’, though for a shorter period.

READ MORE: Pensioner advised to buy hayfever drugs 'at Poundland'

The store to which Mr Turner was referred tells us much about the likely cost of the remedy, whereas the overall costs of writing the prescription, the pharmacist filling it and the back office logging it would have cost the taxpayer far more.

The only disgrace in this matter is that Mr Turner should have felt justified in wasting his GP’s valuable time in trying to get a free prescription for a low-cost over the counter remedy; not that the doctor refused to comply with his request.

D R E IBBS
Darby Way
Bishops Lydeard