Sir; Federation of Wholesale Distributors director general Alan Toft is spot on in his criticism of the Daily Telegraph (The Grocer, August 11, p9). The Daily Telegraph's campaign to denigrate the work done by Customs & Excise was encouraging consumers to buy more booze and cigarettes across the Channel, taking more sales away from retailers like myself, and sending tax into the French chancellor's coffers instead of here in the UK. The campaign was a slap in the face for the newsagents. What thanks do we get for getting up at the crack of dawn every day, making sure copies of the Daily Telegraph are delivered to their readers and on sale in our shops? We get them encouraging our customers to get in their cars and, instead of buying their cigarettes and drink from us, go across the Channel and stock up in some hypermarket there. And it's not just the direct loss of sales from cigarettes and booze ­ let's face it, no one ever got rich on the margins on cigarettes ­ but it's also all the lost impulse sales from customers who no longer come into the shop. The campaign was also guaranteed to encourage smugglers and lend a veneer of respectability to a very grubby criminal enterprise. I know from bitter experience that it's not done by a few Jack the lads' looking to earn a bit of extra beer money. The thugs who came into my shop leaning on me to sell their goods were organised, hardened criminals, and that's why I am asking you not to print my name or address. Name and address supplied {{LETTERS }}