This is no longer possible if they are coming from south of London, as these tickets are no longer accepted in the morning rush hour. This is a consequence of the division of BR into 25 separate train operating companies which apply different rules on accepting cheap tickets.Secondly, Hebridean Island says that BR will no longer allow a refund of the cost of the rail travel or permit it to issue revised tickets unless, according to BR, "the reason for cancellation involves cancellation of the whole holiday package".The company's letter says that "since it becomes clear that the privatisation of BR will, at least in the short term, provide travellers with an inferior service, we can only recommend that whenever possible guests should consider the option of travel by other services."Clearly there'll be more cars on the road to Oban in future, and more people flying to Scotland.Thanks to Noel Harvey for contributing this tale.. It used to be possible for those buying Hebridean Island's all-inclusive rail packages to travel across London in time to get the 10am train from King's Cross to Glasgow. It says that, as "British Rail are rearranging their procedure in preparation for privatisation, regrettably everything we hear at this time leads us to believe that, in the short term, there is nothing on offer other than an increasing array of difficulties for travellers." Two particular problems have arisen. It has just sent out a letter to its customers warning them not to use the railway any longer. We need more beds, particularly medium secure beds, but the problem is that it doesn't have a high political priority.". HEBRIDEAN Island Cruises used to encourage its passengers to buy "all-inclusive rail packages" to reach its ship, the MV Hebridean Princess, at Oban on Scotland's West Coast No longer.

People working in that kind of environment must find it totally disheartening. The number of patients transferring from prison to the NHS doubled between 1990 and 1993."He said that the numbers awaiting admission to secure beds were now falling.Judi Clements, national director of MIND, said: "It is an appalling situation. Our position is that we have to do the best we can with those prisoners in our care. Part of this equation is there being enough secure accommodation for them to go to."A Department of Health spokesman said: "As a consequence of the great expansion of assessment and diversion schemes, both court and prison-based, the number of patients admitted under Section 37 or Section 37/41 of the Mental Health Act has increased significantly. The NHS is now estimated to be paying up to pounds 30 million to private hospitals for the use of medium secure beds.According to leading specialists, there is a need for around 1,000 additional medium secure hospital beds across Britain.A Home Office spokesman said: "Secure accommodation is provided by the Department of Health. The result is that you have people who are suicidal and violent.''The underlying problem, say psychiatrists, is that there are too few beds in secure hospitals, such as Broadmoor. There are around 800 beds in 25 NHS medium secure units and a further 350 in privately-owned hospitals.

Even when a diagnosis has been made and they are waiting for a bed, you cannot treat them if they refuse. I hurry my pace and again ignore a question asked from a young, retarded man charged with rape, `When is my mum coming to see me?' I am simply waiting for a disaster to happen."Dr Needham-Bennett said yesterday: "One of the problems is that you cannot forcibly treat a patient in a prison, only in a hospital or secure unit. "From the next, a face appears at the hatch: `Hey Doc, when are you going to get me out of here?' I avoid eye contact, knowing that all our conversations end in threatened violence."In the next cell a man in strip conditions paces, mumbling to himself and occasionally shouting at his private demons. Psychotic prisoners, some suicidal and violent, are being kept in south London's Belmarsh Prison - and other such jails - because there are no beds for them in secure hospitals, where they could be treated, says Dr Humphrey Needham-Bennett, prison psychiatrist at Belmarsh until three months ago. In a report in the British Medical Journal he says: "It is not unusual to wait three months for placement to a security unit even for an acute psychotic prisoner who is refusing treatment."With his former Belmarsh colleague, Dr Ian Cumming, Dr Needham-Bennett gives a graphic account of conditions at Belmarsh, a new maximum security prison.He says that when he was there the health centre held 40 prisoners, of whom about three-quarters were psychotic, half were awaiting suitable placement, and a quarter were refusing treatment.He describes his daily reaction to conditions in the prison hospital as "disgust, despair and nausea"."In the first cell there is a naked and contorted body lying on the floor next to a torn mattress, faeces are daubed on a wall and food lies underfoot,'' he writes. "He may have manipulated and sexually abused women in his group, but he knows how to take the anorak and trainspotter out of Young Christian." The flippant line made her friends laugh, but it got to the heart of their image problem Ignore all that tosh in the papers.

"You have to hand it to the guy," said a 19-year-old girl with braided blond hair and a nose ring. AS THEY grooved to live bands and hung out in the sun at Europe's largest Christian music festival this weekend, even the severest critics of disgraced cult priest Chris Brain were grateful to him for one thing. A lot of people probably left on Friday evening."After the heat wave of the past few weeks, record numbers were expected to make the most of the last holiday before Christmas.. As far as I am aware there has been no debate about it."In recent weeks safety worries have been increased because of a spate of leaks. Two weeks ago a Railtrack document noted two incidents, including one which could have brought about a repeat of the Clapham disaster of 1988.New extracts from the log of Railtrack's national incident room for 14 and 15 August reveal less serious problems with points at Heald Green south Junction.Last week it emerged that Quality and Safety Services, which is part of BR's safety structure, is to be sold..

IN TRUE bank holiday tradition, rain arrived over much of the country yesterday as families headed for the coast, hoping the hot spell would continue through the late summer holiday. The showers failed to have much impact on the summer drought, but a spokesman at the London Weather Centre said: "It is fair to say we have seen the back of the August heat wave. Temperatures will be average for this time of year - 22C today and down to about 20C on Monday." Parts of Northern Ireland and west Scotland had drizzle yesterday morning, and the wetter weather was expected to reach London and the South last night.While there was too little rain to have any impact on parched lawns, it was sufficient to bring added hazards to holiday travel.The long, hot spell has left a layer of dust, dirt, rubber and oil on the road surface.The AA said drizzle would turn this into a slippery film if there was not enough rain to wash it away: "It is as bad as driving on ice - stopping distances will double."AA Roadwatch said roads were "pretty normal" yesterday with no major congestion anticipated: "It has been quiet There were some hold-ups but they were due to accidents. It is clear the BR Board opposes this measure."We are looking on the Government to call a halt to privatisation and are asking the Health and Safety Executive to consider whether to have safety taken out of Railtrack to be an independent part of the Government."The Opposition highlighted a section from a report compiled by the Health and Safety Commission in 1993 which argued: "Unless considerable care is taken to set up systems to ensure that new operators are properly equipped and organised there can be no confidence that risk will be effectively controlled right from the start and that important matters do not fall between the safety arrangements of the various parties."The consequences of failing to achieve adequate systems of control will be seen in increased risk on the railway system and the likelihood of an increase in the numbers, and possibly also the severity, of accidents."Labour also believes there may be a conflict of interest arising from the position of David Rayner, who is director of Safety and Standards, and also a member of the main board of Railtrack.A spokeswoman for Railtrack said yesterday: "The Safety and Standards Directorate is part of us and has been since we existed. THE sell-off of a crucial rail safety unit has provoked a row between British Rail and Railtrack, amid Labour claims that passengers' safety could be jeopardised. The dispute involves the Safety and Standards Directorate which sets rail safety policy and standards for the entire network. The BR board has raised serious questions about the operation of the directorate when Railtrack is sold off.The unit, originally part of BR, was transferred to Railtrack when the Government began its break-up of the publicly-owned rail network.But until last year, when ministers announced that Railtrack was to be privatised, the industry had not expected the unit to be sold off in the near future.Yesterday Labour called for the directorate - described by Railtrack as "the industry's directing mind on safety" - to be an independent entity.Henry McLeish, Labour's rail spokesman, said: "The selling off of the Safety and Standards directorate would be reckless and irresponsible.