Letters of the week, September 14

Squeezed middle

Ken Adkins’s response to Brian Haynes’s question about why cars are getting wider also answers the question about how to cut the UK’s obesity rate (“Big demand”, Points, last week). Manufacturers should make their cars narrower so people are forced to slim to continue to be able to drive.

Jon Tout, Timperley, Greater Manchester

Uneasy riders

Regarding the correspondence on cyclists riding up on the inside of drivers turning left (“A good turn”, Points, last week), the basic problem is that anyone can buy a bicycle from a shop with no questions asked, and no guidance or instruction offered, plus no Highway Code or insurance — in fact no anything. Is it any wonder that some proceed to ignore one-way streets, no-entry signs and red traffic lights? I rest my case.

Mike Powell, Rochester, Kent

Courtesy call

I agree wholeheartedly with Stuart Thompson in respect of an acknowledgement when giving way for another driver (“Manners maketh man”, Points, last week). I reckon that 14 out of 15 male motorists do so while about 12 out of 15 females drivers do not.

Jeremy Haworth, Aldermaston, Berkshire

Off the menu

After Jeremy Clarkson mentioned a lunchtime bowl of chicken soup and spotted dick, I tried it, and to be honest, it wasn’t very nice (“The pay freeze was bad enough, boss. This is the last straw”, August 31). May I respectfully suggest that prior to any future lunchtime menu references, he discusses them with his gourmet friend and colleague AA Gill.

Mike Jackson, Southampton

Identity crisis

The answer to the car-cloning problem is that all numberplates should be issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency with some sort of unique identifier embedded to prevent copying (“Death of the disc is music to the ears of car crooks”, August 31).

John Tofts, Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire

Slipped disc

One wonders who will be the unlucky recipient of the last notice for “failure to display” a tax disc and who the even more unlucky civil enforcement officer will be. Perhaps there should be some ceremony for both, with a ritual burning of the payment notice.

Peter Murphy, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

Wrong scooter

Tut, tut. The caption [in the paper] for the two images of Phil Daniels on scooters (“Keep me away from cliffs and we’ll scoot along just fine”, last week) identified one as a Lambretta. It was clearly a Vespa.

Peter Smith, Hawkchurch, Devon

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