IN reply to your reader Tom Godman’s question “When is a bank holiday not a bank holiday?” (Letters, May 13), the answer is when it’s a public holiday.
In England there are only four bank holidays – they are Boxing Day, Easter Monday, the old Whit Monday and August. This has been since an act of Parliament in 1871 and was in connection with mill workers.
All other holidays are public holidays.
Over the years all holidays have been classed as bank holidays, causing confusion with people such as Mr Godman and some drivers when car parks say “free parking Sundays and bank holidays” only for drivers to find they have parking tickets issued for non payment of parking fees.
The question “How many bank holidays are there in England?” is also one of the random questions in the British citizenship exam.
ROBIN O’HARA, Sopwith Crescent, Merley
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