21/07/05

Had the full circumstances been as reported there would have been no need for the case to have gone so far.

The registered owner of the vehicle would have received notification of intended prosecution. The owner should then have given details of the driver. The driver or owner would then have the chance to make a representation and although the police authority would be most unsympathetic, could only have withdrawn the notice to prosecute had the circumstances been as reported.

In a recent case of a hire car being spotted by a camera, the hirers suggested that the car had been used by many people on that day and they were unaware of the name of the specific driver. The police authority accepted this lame excuse! - Michael Hutton, Darlington.

ROYAL FAMILY

I WOULD like to reply to letter writers a week or so ago wanting to abolish the royal family.

It's obvious they have never been in the situation that I was in when I was a small child. I am sure they would not want this to happen in this country.

I lived in Madrid, Spain, at the time of the Republic and one of the memories was standing at our flat window and seeing churches being burned down, plus my mother having to go to the shop for food in the hope she would not get shot.

After a few years, the civil war came and we managed to get to the coast where we were rescued by a British warship and taken to France.

Those memories will live with me for the rest of my life, after all those lives were lost. Yes, they now have a King and Queen.

Surely the disasters of the past weeks prove that we do not want another disaster with the forming of a republic and a dictator in this country. - Name and address supplied.

TERRORISTS

I READ with interest Peter Mullen's article (Echo, July 19) about the effects of the terrorist bombings on London.

In it, he asked people if they could to pray or at least think kindly and listen if people have been caught up in the horror of the situation.

Our church has a prayer centre, open each day. We found Peter Mullen's article helpful and we are praying each day specifically for those who have been caught up in this.

We have been greatly encouraged by the Press in general for their responsible coverage, our politicians agreeing together, and the intelligent use of resources to find the bombers and their possible factory. We are praying that much good can come from this horrific attack. - Christine Monks, Darlington.

LITTER LOUTS

HOW can the litter louts be defeated? Could the Government introduce VATE (Value Added Tax Extra or Environmental) so that all items bought in shops and thrown away when empty would have the extra charge when bought?

If the litter louts still discard them then the extra charge will pay the wages of the workers who have to clean up the mess.

Most litter louts would be inclined to take back to the shop the empty drinks cans, cigarette packets etc to claim the VATE which they have paid, but if not there will be many children etc who will collect up the litter and turn up to a shop with bags of discarded empties and pick up the money. The shop will naturally put the stuff away for recycling.

Many people still do not pay for their car tax so if anyone notices an untaxed car and reported it and they were given a monetary reward, there would certainly be far fewer untaxed and uninsured cars on the highways.

Many people like pensioners would go around car parks, report untaxed cars and both they and the Government would be financially better off. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

SIR ROY MEADOW

PROFESSOR Sir Roy Meadow has now been struck off by the GMC and will not be permitted to practise again.

Hopefully, he will never again act as an expert witness in other criminal or family courts, where he gave the same erroneous and misleading advice about cot deaths and destroyed hundreds of families.

One of the earliest occasions he used the useless phrase "one in 73 million chance of two cots deaths occurring in the same family" was at Sheffield court in April 1995.

Why did no-one ask him how he arrived at that figure? If it had been a fraud trial it would not have been allowed to pass. Had the court heard his bizarre calculation involving race horses winning the Grand National in successive years he would have been laughed out of court.

Why did the Royal Statistical Society wait so long to point out his grotesque errors?

It has been known for many years the figure is much nearer one in 200, especially where there are genetic disorders or parents' smoke. - Janet Murrell, Durham.

CANCER CHECK

PROSTATE cancer kills one man every hour in the UK and the incidence of testicular cancer has risen dramatically over the past 20 years.

Yet many men are unaware of the signs and symptoms of these cancers, and are reluctant to go to their doctors if they do find something wrong.

Research has shown that most men feel they are less informed about cancer than women and are often unaware of the symptoms of the disease. Alarmingly, a recent survey found only 19 per cent of men regularly check themselves for signs of testicular cancer. Yet if the disease is caught early, the treatment success rate is 99 per cent.

I would urge all men to visit www.check-em.com, a new website supporting the Everyman campaign to cross out male cancers.

It provides information that we hope will get more men to think more about their own health, regularly check themselves and encourage them to see their doctor immediately if they do find anything unusual. - Philip Black, Director of Fundraising, The Everyman Campaign, London.

GREAT SHOW

ANOTHER Great Yorkshire Show and annual treat for us with further record crowds, nearly 700 trade exhibitors and hundreds of country folk competing to show and display the excellence of their farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, rural and sporting activities.

We managed to cross the A1 junction from York before it became congested and enjoyed a full ten hour day, whilst still not seeing everything. An impossible task.

We shared this vast hive of activity with people from all over the British Isles and abroad.

Club members put on an entertaining, exciting and informative display of their skills, as well as the stall holders and stand advisors from various professions.

Show officials, stewards, judges and workers were in abundance and the hands-on people could easily be recognised by their mucky boots and ill-fitting, handed-down bowler hats.

No wonder we are proud to be Yorkshire. - George Appleby, York.