Letter: Safer motoring

Sir: Like J. W. R. Sarkies (Letters, 28 February), I, too, used to hire a car in the Thirties for occasional weekend jaunts. But I'm sure our local police force, Liverpool in fact, would not have approved of my carrying a defensive weapon or of locking myself and passengers in the car, even if locking had been possible with the cars of those days.

Nor did we close the driver's window, as it was obligatory to give hand signals. In all my pre- war motoring I never heard of Colonel Sarkies' precautions nor of the crimes they were supposed to prevent. Maybe we were more civilised in the north.

Yours sincerely,

R. A. S. MUSKER

Headcorn, Kent

28 February