SIR – Almost every time I visit the Co-op in Bingley I see ladies in Bradford Council Home Care tunics with lists in their hands doing shopping for their house-bound clients.

How, I wonder, does David Rhodes (Letters, April 27) imagine that they get those bags of groceries home? Do they walk, take a bus, ride a bike or hire a taxi?

The best and most efficient method is, of course, to use their own cars, but if Mr Rhodes and the Tax Payers Alliance had their way, such a solution would not be available because it is ‘not fair’.

What would really not be fair would be for dedicated public servants looking after some of the most vulnerable members of our community to be forced to use their cars without reasonable recompense.

This, of course, is not just for their petrol, but the employers contribution to the cost of ownership which for a modest vehicle costing under £12,000 is, according to the AA, 68.62p per mile and which is roughly what the Council currently pays.

Bearing in mind the meagre wages paid for such essential work, paying less than the going rate would be a greater injustice.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley