Many of us have appalling difficulties in our dealings with the Legal Services Commission, some of which have received space in the letters column in recent months. By contrast, here is an utterly trivial one, which is nevertheless driving me up the wall.


Callers to the commission's Newcastle office experience a call-waiting message in what seems to be a Welsh accent, saying: 'Your call is important to us... you are sixth (or whatever) in queue.'



In the name of all that is sane, why can they not just say either 'in the queue' (British) or 'in line' (American)? Or is it simply a Geordie expression I've never encountered before?



The sub-text seems to be, 'We're a lean, mean, cost-cutting machine, with a cutting-edge mid-Atlantic style. We don't use three words where two will do, and "the" is so 2006'. I do wish they'd stop it.



Ken Cohen, Moss Beachley Mullem & Coleman, London