I HOPE Kirsty Brown, who is seeking a taxi for her severely disabled mother on Christmas Day, found a good samaritan.

She tells me she needed a cab with tail lift to transport her mum just a mile from Astley to Tyldesley and had spent two weeks trying to arrange the trip, but all companies who had the facility were booked up.

She eventually found a firm in Bolton who offered to do the return trip -- for almost £80! Scandalous.

Not much Christmas spirit there then.

How can people living on benefits afford such fares? Obviously they have to pay up or stay trapped at home. Humbug.