SIR - Your article: "Watch out for stone thieves" was timely, although its closing advice, regrettably, seems quite futile in practice.

Last Saturday morning at 9am, thieves were seen removing paving stones from my elderly mother's house and this was immediately reported to the police by a neighbour, complete with descriptions and car registration number. After two further phone calls, a PC finally appeared on the scene, four-and-a-half hours later, with the trail now cold.

Having made my views of this dismal performance quite clear to the unfortunate constable, I was later phoned by an inspector with the explanation, among other things, that staff were out on loan elsewhere and Bradford City were playing at home. The City match was still six hours away when the theft occurred; the villains could (and should) have been locked up by then!

This merely highlights the different perceptions of priorities we continue to suffer from our self-proclaimed protectors. Victimless misdemeanours, such as minor traffic violations and possessing the odd spliff of cannabis, fill an almost daily Court File column in the T&A, yet offences which cause real damage, disturbance and distress seem either too difficult or too little fun to pursue when compared to the simple delights of marshalling commercial entertainment such as football.

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon.

l Chief Supt Hyde, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "This is not the service we want to deliver and we apologise for the delay in getting to this incident.

"An incident reported to us where a crime is being committed, particularly when the victim is elderly, warrants a quick response and this type of call would fit within the 96 per cent of incidents that we should attend within 20 minutes.

"In this instance we have recorded the incident as having occurred prior to the call being made and as such it was given a lower priority and an officer was despatched as soon as higher priority calls had been dealt with.

"Staffing levels on that day were lower than normal because staff had been sent to help in the search for the missing teenager Leanne Tiernan in Bramley. That investigation is a high priority for the Force and one that has caused major public concern across the county.

"Further officers were also deployed to the Bradford City match to ensure the safety of people attending the match and to prevent disorder.

"A detective has been assigned to investigate this crime and we are still looking for the vehicle involved."

SIR - Once again the village idiots of Wyke (or surrounding areas) have been venting their particular type of spleen on the village. The telephone booths in Towngate were wrecked last weekend. Surely, SOMEONE must have heard something judging by the amount of damage.

Mind you, hopefully they will not be replaced and then it won't happen again.

Now just a question to the Council, who made such a fuss over the DIY shop's shutters. Do you now see why shutters (never mind the design) are essential in such wonderful, peaceful areas as Wyke?

You can go back to sleep now, Council.

P. Boase, Elizabeth Street, Wyke.

SIR - I feel that I must answer Dr Mohammed Ali (T&A, December 11). Everyone who lives in this country is treated the same, and we do not single out the Pakistani or Bangladeshi people to receive anything different.

You cannot blame anyone for conditions and standards that prevail among any community as these things are entirely up to the individuals to alter and make better.

Education is free to all and people in every walk of life can use it and put it to their advantage.

Stress is within us all, but we have to overcome what we haven't got and use what we have got more wisely.

Mrs B J Rudd, Roger Court, Undercliffe, Bradford.

SIR - On November 24 our mum died on Ward F6, St Luke's Hospital. She was 85, disabled and had pneumonia.

After all the bad publicity the NHS has had regarding the treatment and care of our elderly people, I would just like to say on behalf of my sister and our families, thank you to the wonderful staff, from the tea ladies up to the doctors, for the care they gave to our mum and to us, the family.

Nothing was ever too much trouble for them. They did everything they could to make a distressing time a bit easier.

Mrs J Burnell, Norwood Avenue, Shipley.