Drivers dealt with too leniently

SIR - There is no doubt that the worst crime a driver can commit is to cause an innocent person's death by driving dangerously or without due care.

Yet those drivers who do exactly that are dealt with so leniently by the courts that it is unbelievable!

Two such cases were highlighted in the T&A (September 3). In the first a young driver caused the death of an elderly lady who was crossing the road on a zebra crossing, ie a designated, supposedly safe place, to cross the road.

The judge in this case was said to have commented that the only thing the driver had done wrong was to drive too fast (45mph in a 30mph limit).

Surely this is not the case - the driver was also guilty of driving dangerously and without care. Should I ever have the misfortune to appear in court for a similar motoring offence, I hope I get the same judge!

In the second case a driver lost control of his car. No reason was put forward for this loss of control which leaves only driver error.

A passenger was killed yet, apparently, this driver will not be facing any criminal charges - why on earth not?

Earlier this year I read that some MPs were looking into fatal road collisions and the almost flip way they were dealt with by the courts. The penalties are already there. Why are such cases dealt with so lightly?

Brian Pickford, Summerbridge Crescent, Eccleshill.

It's decision time

SIR - Eddie Bennett raises an interesting point (T&A, August 24). He asks if the land at the junction of Thornton Road and Listerhills Road would be suitable for creating a wetland feature, as the Alsop plan suggests?

Surely this is the responsibility of the local authority? If it is suitable then the authority may, or may not, carry out the task. If they believe that the land should become a junction of a ring road, then it's up to them to do that or not.

From my understanding the entire plan was in response to a request by the local authority. I do not think Will Alsop is my electoral representative.

I do think that his ideas were so enthusiastically received by those who should know that it might possibly work. It's not up to Will Alsop to decide.

Let's get it straight Eddie, the Council should decide, and after two years it's time they did.

Or the whizz-kid developers will do it for us, and it will be the West End and 1960s shambles again.

Jack Mawson, Grove House Road, Bradford 2.

A suitable case?

SIR - Year after year, school-leavers are getting brainier. Making booze available 24 hours a day will stop binge drinking. Segregating children in faith schools will be good for community relations. The London bombings had absolutely nothing to do with the Iraq war. So the Government believes.

Now I believe that if I step on the cracks in the pavement, my trousers will fall down. The only difference 'twixt the Government and myself is that I am receiving treatment.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

Misplaced pride

SIR - May I reply to two of your August 30 correspondents?

Firstly to Mr Thomson. If, as many experts say, wind, sun and tide cannot possibly supply enough energy sufficiently to reduce our CO2 emissions, then instead of "green taxes" being applied, we shall have to reconsider carefully controlled nuclear power. I repeat if we ceased to produce CO2 emissions altogether, the fact that we only have one per cent of the population is irrelevant.

I am not proud of our record Mr Thomson, I am proud of nothing. I prefer to say that I am not ashamed of things, which is quite different. There is too much misplaced pride in the world.

Secondly to Mr Suchi. It is simple because of flimsy records over vast aeons of time, that we do not know if the natural cycle of things will itself without our help show a speeding up and then a subsequent slowing down of change. However, Mr Suchi, in my first letter on the subject, admitting I was a sceptic, I did say that I thought it in the best interests of all to cut down on greenhouse gases but we shouldn't go tilting at windmills.

P E Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley.

Pool fees puzzle

SIR - During school holiday time why did it cost me £8 to take my child swimming at the Richard Dunn Centre when it only costs me £4.45 at other times?

Surely swimming with mums should not be penalised by the Council just because it is the six-week holidays - it's Scrooge-like. You need to encourage parent-friendly swimming, not discourage it.

Is it also right that my half-price pass is only valid in this area (West Yorkshire) and not at Skipton Baths?

S Walker, Little Horton Lane, Bradford

l A Bradford Council spokesman said: "There has been a swim and slide package for under-16s for£2.25 at the Richard Dunn Centre as part of our summer offers. Before the offer started it would be £8 for one adult and one child at peak times - although £5.40 with a passport to leisure. We pride ourselves on offering value for money at all times at our swimming pools across the district, particularly during school holidays when we regularly offer discounted swims for under-16s for 50p. Bradford Council's Passport to Leisure scheme offers reductions at our pools and leisure centres to everyone who lives in the district. Nearby, Calderdale is the only other Council accepting the Bradford Passport to Leisure and we have a reciprocal arrangement with them. Skipton Pool is run by Craven District Council."

Odeon campaign

SIR - We wholly endorse the most excellent letter by Kenneth Webster, in reply to Maud Marshall's item of August 22. There was also a nice letter from Tom Johnstone, August 30, suggesting that David Hockney might get involved with saving the Odeon building.

We have tried to contact Mr Hockney and many others. A reply from a relation of Mr Hockney's was that he has so many requests from other projects that he was not able to help at this time but wishes Bradford Odeon Rescue Group good luck.

The new application for 'Listing' giving important extra advice, plus more signatures of support collected on the day when we had the Big Screen TV in Centenary Square, is still being processed as confirmed recently by English Heritage.

If anyone wishes to make representations to save the Odeon building please write to: Ms Sue Evans-Turner, English Heritage, 23 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ET.

Julie and Norman Littlewood, Huddersfield Road, Wyke, Bradford.

Blinkered views

SIR - David Rhodes states that nothing was achieved by the IRA's violence. Sorry to contradict him but it did. They tied down the armed forces for years and in the end forced the British Government to the negotiating table. They also managed to get people elected to the House of Commons, a thing that would have never happened without the violence.

As to disarming, this will never happen because nobody actually knows what weapons they had in the first place. He is only taking their word as to what they held.

As to the money to Third World countries, this ended up in Swiss bank accounts operated by corrupt leaders of the Third World states. That is why they are in the state the are now. I suggest he takes his blinkers off and lives in the real world!

David Wilde, BFPO 553