I NOTICE Hartlepool is always mentioned when people start talking about fluoride (Echo, Sept 7). Let me tell you a couple of tales about the local water there.

In 1985 I moved to Hartlepool from Stockton, and stayed for seven years, but mostly was unable to drink the water as it made me bilious and sick from the very beginning.

I went to my GP, and after a few tests he quizzed me about where I had lived before. He came to the conclusion it was the fluoride in Hartlepool’s water. his advice was that if my sickness continued, I should collect water from my parents in Stockton, which I did, and I felt much better within a few days.

Shortly after that I noticed a lump in my left side rib cage, close to a previous injury, and went to my doctor who suggested I needed an X-ray.

When he got the results, my doctor confirmed it was the previous break to my rib and the fluoride in the water had created a callous, which is still with me today.

I am now happy to say I live back in Stockton.

Has anyone else noticed similar things?

J Hunton, Stockton-on-Tees