November 11: Speeding zero tolerance plan is foolish

JAYNE Dowle’s report that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedford plans to introduce a zero tolerance on the 70mph speed limit causes alarm and astonishment (The Yorkshire Post, November 9).

Even one mile per hour over the limit would invoke a £100 fine, licence points and potential insurance premium hikes.

Only recently I heard a driver claim in a radio interview that he was driving with the understanding of a 10 per cent tolerance plus 2mph on speed limits to allow for the fact that car speed indicators vary in their level of accuracy.

Personally I think that it would be unwise to drive at up to 82mph as the so-called level of tolerance is not enshrined in law.

When on the motorway, if conditions allow, I set my cruise control to 70mph, but note that my GPS system says I am only driving at 68mph.

If two modern devices cannot agree on the speed registered by the car there is little hope for the poor motorist slipping the odd mile over the limit.

One can only hope that the Commissioner is unsuccessful in introducing his draconian order.

Fears over care homes

From: Mike Padgham, St Cecilia’s Care Services, Eastfield, Scarborough.

AS a care provider for more than 25 years, I am seriously concerned about the future care of our oldest and most vulnerable residents.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is warning that four out of 10 care homes are not reaching the required standard.

The same body says that a third of homecare providers are not achieving proper standards of care either.

Some £4.6bn has been cut from social care budgets in recent years – no surprise that standards are falling.

The biggest provider of care homes, Four Seasons, is facing uncertainty and there are dire warnings that up to 9,000 care homes could close, tipped over the edge by the added costs of next year’s National Living Wage.

On top of all of this the CQC is proposing a huge hike in the fees care providers have to pay, adding another cost burden.

The Government says it has plans to deal with a major provider failure. I would love to know what they are.

The Government can avert this doomsday scenario and, for the first time in living memory, properly address the funding of social care in this month’s autumn spending review.

If it doesn’t, I hardly dare think of the consequences for anyone growing older in 21st century Britain.

Airport alternative

From: D Haley, Church Fenton.

TOM Richmond (The Yorkshire Post, November 7) repeats the opinion that he airs whenever there are cancelled or delayed flights and adverse weather at Leeds Bradford Airport.

This being that Leeds City Council should have considered Church Fenton as a new airport, particularly with the new HS2 station being at York.

Why does Tom not plug the already established Robin Hood International Airport, which is on low land and has one of the longest runways in Europe? It is next to the M18 motorway and Doncaster Station is close by.

We do not need another large international airport in the region.

Rule should apply to Anne

From: Brian Sturdy, Honley, Holmfirth.

NOW that the first born child to a Royal heir is female and takes precedence over a male, why does Princess Anne not take precedence above her younger brothers Andrew and Edward in instances such as the service at the Cenotaph or other Royal occasions? She carries out far more duties than them and I suspect she is held in higher regard by the public.

Secret of prosperity

From: June Warner, Kirk Deighton.

THE independent Legatum Institute has just released its annual “Prosperity Index”.

Interestingly, Norway came top in the survey but the UK could not even make the top 10. Switzerland was in second place.

Surely it can be no coincidence that both of these happy nations are not members of the European Union?

Competitors Down Under

From David Walls, Menston.

WhilE appreciating the distress in the steel towns caused by Chinese “dumping”, I must report that our New Zealand cousins are at it too.

Asda in Warrington are selling New Zealand onions. Milk, steel and now onions. What next?

Suits you

From: Trevor Stones, Rawcliffe, East Yorkshire.

DID anybody notice if Canadian High Commissioner Gordon Campbell was wearing brown boots to complement the slate blue suit he wore to the Cenotaph service on Remembrance Sunday?