SIR - John Dettmar s (Comet letters) suggestion that one day we will look upon the car as only for short journeys is, I am afraid, only a pipe dream and ignores the necessity as to why so many people need their car. It is for the very reason that many peo

SIR - John Dettmar's (Comet letters) suggestion that one day we will look upon the car as only for short journeys is, I am afraid, only a pipe dream and ignores the necessity as to why so many people need their car.

It is for the very reason that many people would otherwise be unable to access their place of work. The days of the majority able to get to work walking, cycling or catching one of many buses laid on at peak times to take them to the local or adjacent towns, industrial or business areas are far gone.

People often work in distant, diverse places not always in a town. There is greater movement due to loss or change of jobs with the financial need for them finding comparable jobs of the same or better wages, without the trauma of moving each time they change job.

With lengthy delays at peak times from south Stevenage on the A1(M) it is obvious that there is an urgent need for the bottleneck of the two lanes becoming the same as the three they join. Given the tax and VAT on all aspects of having a vehicle, and particularly the disgraceful tax and VAT that make up at least two thirds of all vehicle fuel cost, then the money spent on road improvement is a disgrace. Those carrying the 'green flag' must remember that cars and other vehicles are not going away, and the more they are held up the longer time their journeys take and the more pollution they make.

IVAN MARTIN

The Limes

Hitchin