Letter: Doing your dirty work requires proper pay for travel

SIR – I have just read the letter about cleaners being paid too much (A&T Letters, 13th January).

As an ex-cleaner, a job I took pride in, I usually did about two hours work at a time. You are under pressure to work fast and hard. After fuel, it is not worth doing for two hours!

Due to my circumstances, cleaning was a job easy to get into – no qualifications, just experience. We cleaners have expenses too and, as we drive to a job, fuel costs must be taken into account.

I have cleaned private homes, pubs, B&Bs and been left with little per week after fuel.

Benefits not topping up, as they expect you to live on minimum money, varied over the years but approx £80 per week, as an adult with a home to run.

Due to health issues or circumstances, cleaning jobs were the easiest to get to show willingness to the Department of Work and Pensions to work, no matter how difficult.

Maybe the more hours the job per visit, a lower hourly amount, but for two-hour jobs, whether private or commercial, please consider us and pay enough for our efforts to travel to you.

It caused me great stress in my last cleaning job.

And before anyone says, "Well, don't be a cleaner", with health issues, age against me, and no qualifications of significance, I do not have a great choice of jobs.

Name and address supplied