Don't quote me on that

Write to: The Editor, The Lawyer, 50 Poland Street, London W1V 4AX, Fax 0171-734 0534

On the City page of The Lawyer, 17 June 1997, I am quoted as saying that I did not think the National Grid pensions case would help the National Bus Company pensions surplus case, in which we are acting for the trustee company in suing the Department of Transport for the recovery of £101m plus interest.

A couple of days later I obtained a copy of the full judgment and it was immediately clear that the judge had specifically contrasted the National Grid case with certain other cases cited to him, including National Bus. The implication was that he viewed those cases quite differently from the National Grid case.

I have accordingly formed the view that, far from being unhelpful, the National Grid judgment will be very helpful to our clients' attempt to recover funds from the Government in the National Bus case.



Christopher Belk

Taylor Joynson Garrett

London.