Letter: Samaritans at large

Sir: Although some Britons may have 'lost faith in their instincts, or abandoned them' (Letters, 27 November), I can think of a number of instances I have witnessed in the last year which indicate that this is not true of all Britons.

l. On a crowded bus an elderly woman, already seated, told a young teenager that she should give up her seat to another elderly woman who was standing. The teenager promptly complied.

2. I observed two teenage girls in school uniform physically fighting with one another. Before I could cross the busy road in order to intervene, two young men in their early twenties stopped their car, pulled the girls apart, lectured them, then went on their way. The girls did not resume their fight.

3. From my front window, I saw a child of between two and three running along the pavement, crying loudly. By the time I had come out of my house, a woman passerby had him by the hand and said that he had run on to the road, from where she had retrieved him. Luckily, we soon met his anxious relative searching for him.

I do not believe that all Britons pass by on the other side.

Yours sincerely,

ELEANOR PHIPPS

London, N5