Those in Watford who complain that Epping being in Zone 6 should remember that in 1949 when the GER Ongar branch and the Fairlop loop were incorporated into London Transport Essex County Council agreed to pay towards the London Transport services in their county, an arrangement that subsists until today.

READ MORE: Mayor of Watford Dorothy Thornhill calls for Watford stations to come into zone 6

Mayor Thornhill should propose that Watford Council tax payers pay an appropriate surcharge to enable Watford station to be moved into Zone 6 in order to compare like with like.

Alternatively, and much more sensibly, the Herbert Report should be dusted down and the London Borough of Colne created; the current local arrangements for the areas between London and the M25 - certainly as far as Hertfordshire is concerned, border on the farcical.

Christopher Hornem Norfolk Road, Rickmansworth