Letter: The bad old days

Sir: In the article about a recent 'carjacking' (report, 24 February) it is suggested that the current crime is a recent import from the US. I can assure you that a similar crime was fairly common in Britain in the mid-Thirties, though not under the same name.

As a young house surgeon in 1937, I could occasionally afford to hire a car during my monthly weekend off. Following police advice I, and I'm sure many other drivers, always drove with the doors of the car locked, windows shut, and in the pocket of the car door on the driver's side a small truncheon, or knuckle-duster.

Perhaps 'carjacking' was learnt by the Americans from us in the first place and has recently been reimported here.

Yours faithfully,

J. W. R. SARKIES

Hilton, Cambridgeshire