Letters: Restrictions for inexperienced drivers would make British roads safer
SIR – John Skipper (Letters, January 2) draws our attention to restrictions in some European countries, where young drivers are limited to carrying passengers over the age of 21 for the first year after passing their test. How I wish that was the law in Britain.
Many years ago, my 17-year-old son was tragically killed as a result of reckless driving by his best friend of a similar age. Not only have his three brothers lived with great sadness, but the young driver has also had to bear the consequences of his actions.
When I hear of deaths in accidents involving young, inexperienced drivers, I grieve for those involved. In our case the driver of the lorry, who met the speeding car on a bend, was unable to avoid a head-on collision, and never worked again.
So many lives were affected. Please, let us put the necessary laws in place to prevent these tragedies from happening over and over again.
Ann Hooton
Saltash, Cornwall
SIR – Most older drivers (Letters, January 2) are competent, having years of experience. But sometimes their reactions are slower. A “P” driving plate alerts road users to an inexperienced driver. Could we not have a senior, “S” driving plate? Most older drivers would love cars to give them a little more space and respect.
Suki Fane
Shaftesbury, Dorset
SIR – My daughter passed her driving test at the age of 17. The only way I could afford her insurance was through an insurer who put a “black box” in her car, which monitored her driving. I paid a substantial premium up front and then, if my daughter drove perfectly, I’d get a quarterly rebate. She achieved this, so I was given the full rebate and was content.
Then my car was stolen and I had to borrow my daughter’s. Within a week I received an email implying that my daughter had started driving like a maniac, accelerating too fast and braking too hard, and that unless she desisted immediately the firm would withdraw the insurance.
Therefore, I endured long tailbacks of cars behind me, as I had to drive perfectly 35 years after passing my driving test. It was exhausting.
Jonathan Yardley
Wolverhampton
SIR – A nonagenarian relative had his first road accident last year – a minor collision – after 70 years of driving. His car insurance premium with Axa was set to increase from £496 to more than £3,000 as a consequence. Thank goodness for comparison websites and a more affordable premium.
Penelope Upton
Lighthorne, Warwickshire
SIR – I’m 87 and rely on my car. I would happily take a driving test, but, given the delays for new drivers, I might easily be 90 before I get one.
Richard Statham
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Asylum claims
SIR – The Government claims to have cleared the asylum backlog through increased efficiency. This raises a few questions – and I suspect many more eyebrows.
Were all applications fully investigated, or just waved through? How many applicants have simply disappeared from the system? And if the Home Office can improve efficiency to the extent of processing more decisions in a four-week period in 2023 than those processed in the whole of 2021, what on earth were all these civil servants doing in 2021? Presumably they were at home but certainly not working there.
Rob Mason
Nailsea, Somerset
SIR – It is iniquitous that the judgments of immigration judges to allow appeals by convicted offenders should facilitate the abuse of the Human Rights Act (“Albanian crime boss avoids deportation after human rights claim”, report, January 1).
It is high time the Human Rights Act was tailored to support the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators.
Elizabeth Edmunds
Hassocks, West Sussex
Setting doctors’ pay
SIR – As a recently retired doctor, I am increasingly concerned about the Government’s role in perpetuating strikes (report, January 2). A key part of the Government’s approach to these is that it says it is acting reasonably in accepting recommendations by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) in setting doctors’ pay.
The DDRB was set up following a Royal Commission in 1960 which recognised it was undesirable for doctors and dentists to strike in support of pay claims. It stated that the new pay review body should ensure that pay was kept in line with the “cost of living, the movement of earnings in other professions and the quality and quantity of recruitment in all professions”. It also noted that doctors’ and dentists’ pay should not be used as a regulator of the national economy.
The government subsequently introduced the concept of “affordability” as a factor that the DDRB must take into account. Affordability is determined by a government’s own political and financial choices, and its introduction prevents the DDRB from achieving its original aims – and specifically ignores the commission’s argument.
A consequence of this is a serious shortage of doctors, with many moving to countries where doctors are better paid, or leaving the profession. Understaffing has been highlighted as a significant contributor by many inquiries into poor healthcare outcomes in the NHS.
The NHS needs to show doctors that it values them by returning to the DDRB’s original purpose, allowing a one-off reset of doctors’ pay and then fully accepting its subsequent recommendations. That would put an end to strikes.
Dr Phil Taylor
Kilmington, Devon
Return the Red Lady
SIR – The skull of a colossal sea monster that was unearthed at the Jurassic Coast is going on display. The public can see the fossilised 150-million-year-old marine reptile at the village museum at Kimmeridge in Dorset, close to where it was found. Kimmeridge is a parish village of just 110 people.
That being so, why cannot the bones of the Red Lady of Paviland be returned to one of the two fine museums in Swansea (population 240,000), close to the Gower coastal cave where they were found?
I have written about this to five local Senedd members, to the MP for Gower and to leading Swansea councillors, but did not get any acknowledgements. I presume they are too busy thinking of how to spend £2.6 billion of Welsh public money on deluded environmental projects in the next financial year.
Ioan Richard
Swansea
The Church invests – but not in steeple repairs
SIR – St Mary’s Church in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, is trying to raise £30,000 to pay for repairs to its steeple (report, December 28).
You indicate that the money must come from Lottery funds, a few specialist charities and the ingenious energy of parishioners. You rightly don’t include the Church of England’s Church Commissioners, who are sitting on an endowment fund of more than £10 billion – which delivers a return of about 10 per cent every year. St Mary’s won’t see a penny of that.
Martin Smith
Brimpsfield, Gloucestershire
SIR – As well as those listed in your Leading Article (December 28), Long Sutton’s parochial church council has another potential source of funds for repairing its steeple. An amendment to the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill, championed by the Bishop of Bristol, means local authorities can award grants to church buildings for repairs and improvements.
Such a notable local feature as St Mary’s spire would appear to be a prime candidate to benefit from this important change.
Richard Cowdell
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Politicians have lost the art of communication
SIR– Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, rightly warns against disinformation (Comment, January 2). However, we might have more trust in our political leaders if their responses were not “spin”.
Anyone who gets a letter from a government department will understand exactly what I am talking about. An example is the Department for Transport’s response to your car charger story (report, January 2). It is fatuous. Good communication is of paramount importance. Yet our politicians prefer tweeting on social media to ensuring competent and thoughtful communication in responses to public and media inquiry.
Linda Hughes
Newton Abbot, Devon
SIR – Each day over many months I have received messages from the Donald Trump election campaign explaining his policies and trashing his opponents.
By comparison, the promotion of policies by British political parties is characterised by deafening silence. Failures and excuses vie for headlines with the latest scandals and reports of corruption, but there is no sustained delivery of policy promotion. As so many are becoming inclined to vote for “none of the above”, the situation is becoming serious.
How can voters make sensible decisions when politicians have lost their voices?
John Pritchard
Ingatestone, Essex
New year, new me
SIR – To mark the new year I am resisting social media and chocolate, and look forward to meeting a calmer and slimmer me.
Tricia Barnes
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
Special brew
SIR – When my parents lived in Manchester in the 1950s they had to call in workmen to replace the garage roof.
When my mother inquired if they would like a cup of tea (Letters, January 2), they asked for mugs and a kettle of boiling water. They then unwrapped a package of newspaper, which contained a piece of greaseproof paper containing a dollop of condensed milk mixed with tea-leaves, and proceeded to brew their own tea.
Grace Dursley
Southampton
SIR – Many years ago we had a local shipwright working on our gaff ketch in St Katharine Docks in London.
Soon after starting work on his first day he said: “What’s that funny noise I can hear?” I replied that I couldn’t hear anything. “Ah,” he said, “it’s the kettle shivering.” I was also instructed to “leave the mouse in”.
Meriel Thurstan
Martock, Somerset
All abroad
SIR – Reference to the smallness of the world (Letters, December 30) brought to mind unexpected meetings abroad. The most notable was 20 years ago, when for several weeks a friend and I toured lesser known archaeological sites in Iran (this was when independent travellers were welcome).
We were conscious of the novelty of spending so much time abroad without once encountering another British traveller. Our reverie came to an abrupt end, however, when one evening, in a bar, I met my next-door neighbour from South Kensington. We chatted about the weather before going our separate ways.
David Edwards
London SW7
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