Why can't drivers read the signs?

Sir - On TV the other morning it was reported that cameras are going to be installed on bus lanes.

If Bradford gets them, a lot of local motorists will be upset. I was a bus driver for 30 years and saw a lot of motorists happily driving down bus lanes.

I was coming into the city along Manningham Lane one teatime and noticed no fewer than 20 cars in the outward bus lane, with three buses stuck behind them all. I never saw the police book one motorist.

Market Street is supposed to be buses only. The Cheapside-end traffic sign has a supplementary notice that reads 'for access only' but some motorists think this means they can drive the full length to the lights at the City Hall end.

Shipley Market Square has white letters across the road saying 'buses only'. At the top end is a one-way street and I have seen motorists ignore the no entry sign and turn into the car park.

On the one-way street the words 'right only' are written plus there is a traffic sign with an arrow pointing right. A newspaper delivery van comes down every evening and turns left here. Maybe, unknown to me, as he is delivering newspapers he is allowed to break the law.

M Hampson, Elwyn Grove, Bradford.

Quit the contest

SIR - It is obvious that the vast majority of citizens of the UK are now heartily sick of the humiliating dominance exercised over our once-proud nation by the rest of Europe.

So I think that the time has come for us to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest altogether.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

Deliver your vote

SIR - I read the letter from Mrs Bannon 'Why I won't vote' (T&A, May 17) with great concern.

It is quite unacceptable to me that anyone should feel that after a lifetime of voting they cannot take part this time because they do not trust the all-postal vote system.

I have concerns about the ability of the Postal Service to do this job so I have written to offer her a lift into Bradford to deliver her vote to the designated Assistance and Delivery Point at the Tourist Information Centre.

There she will be able to fill in her ballot paper in private and put it in a ballot box.

I would encourage anyone who feels strongly about the possibility of abuse and fraud in an all-postal ballot to vote in person at one of the Assistance and Delivery points.

These are the Tourist Office in Bradford, the Information Centre in Shipley and the Information Centre in Keighley. They will be open from Monday to Saturday, 8.30am to 5.30pm and 7am to 10pm on June 10.

I would also make a similar offer to other people who feel as Mrs Bannon does. If people would like to contact me on 587526, arrangements will be made to take them to the Assistance Point.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, City Hall, Bradford.

Fighting for City

SIR - Thank you, T&A, for at last seeing sense to give maximum publicity to the plight of Bradford City Football Club, and also for the heartwarming donation of £10,000.

Thanks also to Mark Boocock and the City Supporters Trust for all their efforts.

As a supporter and season ticket holder for more than 37 years, I am surprised and disgusted at the apathy of our local council, and hope that this does not rub off on our local business community.

I am enclosing a cheque and hopefully it will assist in raising the money we require. We cannot allow the club to go under!

Many thanks also to the tireless efforts of Julian Rhodes, which I hope will be rewarded with the support of many others to raise the amount required - less than a fiver each (a packet of cigarettes) would do it!

Mrs B Gumbley, Grovelands, Bradford.

So discourteous

SIR - I am somewhat perturbed by the ungallant tone of Peter Wilson's letter (T&A, May 6) berating Mrs Dorothy Greenwood for her open espousal of faith, patriotism and royalist sentiments.

Especially in that he quotes as his authority the irresolute, sexist Hamlet. The response to "the lady doth protest too much, methinks," is "Do you? Oh diddums!"

His patriotic low profile brings to mind - "Breathes there a man with soul so dead..." but as he is an atheist he has probably handed his back anyway!

However, his peevish discourtesy to the head of state in referring to her as "Elizabeth Windsor" is inexcusable. Can't we show honour and civility to all women?

In quoting the Bible to us, he shoots himself in the foot as "think on these things", in Philippians 4:8, refers to "whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy."

Mr Wilson's letter contains none of these attributes!

Walter Metcalfe, Central Avenue, Shipley.

Great hospital

SIR - I recently spent five weeks in the Bradford Royal Infirmary and via your newspaper would like to thank the staff for my care and recovery.

At the beginning of my illness I was in the Intensive Care Unit for a week and I know that this saved my life.

Afterwards, I spent four weeks on Ward I and was impressed daily with the professionalism, gentleness and skill of the nurses and doctors. Indeed my team of doctors was wonderful and because of this I am going to make a complete recovery.

The Bradford Royal Infirmary deserves to be proud of the way all its patients are treated and the respect shown to everyone.

I am full of praise for the hospital and the NHS.

June Robinson, Nab Wood Drive, Shipley.

No choking, John!

SIR - May I offer my abject apologies to John Hall (T&A Letters, May 12) regarding my youthful naivet in cherishing the belief we live in a representative democracy.

So sorry to hear it made him choke - something I personally think should, like bloodsports, be made illegal especially for fellow T&A letter writers with a neat turn of phrase.

While appreciating the advantages of proportional representation, I do recall being told in a lecture in my salad days (just before I dozed off) that the problem was that the system had a tendency to produce frequently short-lived, fragmented governments or, even worse, could lead to unpleasant results.

The example given was the constitution of Weimar Germany which was wonderful in theory but in 1933 threw up a Charlie Chaplin dead ringer who wasn't nearly so funny.

So, John, no more choking. Poor old misguided fuddy-duddies like me just aren't worth it!

Sid Brown, Glenhurst Road, Shipley.