SIR, On reading your front page article on Steve and Jill Pocock having to give up the Fountain Inn pub in Trelleck Grange due to the road to Tintern being closed again for the month, I am so horrified that the Council can be so indifferent to other people's lives and businesses. Playing God with their lives and being so calm and unbending - how can they sleep at night? The workman's hours are so short and weekends are so long with no work done. In a town, should a road become unstable, a large metal plate would be put down so that people's lives could continue to run. It is bad enough for us at our farm. I am an old lady and have had to go to the Tintern Surgery frequently recently and have to travel miles to get to Tintern now, and now the other road is closed I have to go even further. I would think that when you are responsible for closing a business you would make more effort to get the work done fast or even compensate the pub for loss of business. This has happened in my area for two years running. The pub was very badly flooded but they worked hard and were cleared up and open in a few days. The huge council tax bill I pay I would willingly give to Steve and Jill. I get very little back from that money: when I needed the police a few years ago they did not arrive as they couldn't find my house. I am nearly 80 years old and have to carry my rubbish 1/4 of a mile to the collection point... and now this fiasco with the roads being blocked off. Surely the Council could be more helpful and concerned? I was told several years ago by the Monmouthshire Footpath inspector that the Fountain Inn was very important to walkers, bikers and tourists. How can the council be so unkind to Steve and Jill who have built up the pub. The Fountain Inn is a very special meeting place for the village. Residents meet there, we all know each other and discuss local problems and happenings. If the Fountain Inn closes through thoughtless incompetency it will be a huge loss. Rose Ford Trellech Grange