I CANNOT decide whether Graham Cribbs’s letter (January 2) “Spare a thought for Spanish pensioners” is serious, sarcastic or what.

According to him the Brits living in Spain need the Winter Fuel Payment to finance the running of their air-conditioning in the summer and to heat their swimming pools in the winter.

If Mr Cribbs has ever been to Spain he will surely know that all types of fuel (ie petrol, diesel, gas and electricity) are much cheaper in Spain than in the UK. Eating out is cheaper, and their rates/council tax is a fraction of what we pay here.

I have never heard of anyone in Spain dying from the cold in the winter, from the heat in the summer or from diving into their unheated swimming pools.

In the UK many elderly people die in the winter from the cold, because they are afraid to heat their homes for fear that they cannot pay the high gas and electricity charges.

I have been to Spain in January and came back home with a suntan. Winter Fuel Payment – you must be joking.

LEN LEWIS, Stony Lane, Burton