Road users should respect each other

From: David Whiter, Wetherby.

IN response to Mr R Dobson (Yorkshire Post, March 19), may I point out that cycling two abreast is permitted under the Highway Code.

Further, cycling and horse riding are the only modes of transport permitted to use the public roads by right, motorists being required to obtain a licence.

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Our roads are a shared resource and this requires mutual consideration and respect for other users.

However, motorists often seem to consider their “right” to travel at high speed without impedance somehow overrides the legitimate rights of other users, as exemplified by Mr Dobson.

From: AE Carter, Portland Avenue, Pontefract.

I FEEL that I cannot let Mr Dobson’s letter about cyclists pass without comment.

First of all, let me remind him that cyclists were around long before motorists and that most cyclists drive cars and pay road tax. Motorists do not have a monopoly on road use.

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When I am in my car and catch up with club cyclists, I am always impressed by the speed at which they travel and I am envious of their youth and vigour. My only regret is that when I am on my bike I am too old to keep up with them.

Most cycling clubs turn out on Sunday mornings for the simple reason that the roads are quieter. Your contributor should learn to live and let live, or better still, buy a bike and join them. The exercise would do him good and, amongst other things, he would learn patience.

What lies beneath

From: John Bolton, Gregory Springs Mount, Mirfield.

IT is more than 30 years since I left the mining industry, yet Ian McMillan’s article (Yorkshire Post, March 22) was a vivid reminder of how my thoughts have often led in very similar directions.

I had a seven year spell in mining from shortly after leaving school then, after 15 years, another eight years.

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The latter colliery I worked at was close to the South Yorkshire boundary. The southern limit was below the M1 near Bretton, actually under the sculpture park.

The workings were close to those of Park Mill colliery at Clayton West and Bullcliffe Wood drift, near Bretton on the Denby Dale road. They were eventually linked to Wooley pit I, believe along, with Caphouse perhaps, (now the Mining Museum) after I left. But before that we often heard shot-firing taking place from one or the other. So the area is well and truly riddled at various depths.

Ever since those days when I went to the sculpture park with a retired miner who encouraged me to appreciate nature’s sculpting of the magnificent trees, and how their equally great roots were reaching towards our former workplace, I have often enjoyed describing this to family and friends alike.

I can only come to the conclusion that Mr McMillan has undergone similar experiences.

Crossed lines at hospital

From: GC Wilson, Forest Crescent, Harrogate.

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I AM afraid your correspondent who refers to the automated telephone equipment installed at Harrogate Hospital is not correct in his assertion that this has been installed as a result of the recent cuts (Yorkshire Post, March 22). Members of my family came across this diabolical system about 18 months ago.

I suspect that this was just another example of the casual way in which the public sector spends taxpayers’ money on unproven technology and persists in its use after becoming well aware of its shortcomings.

On encountering this system, you are asked to speak the name of the department on the basis that you will be put through to it. However, the pronunciation of medical titles of some of these are subject to a range of variations with the Harrogate district.

If on top you add say Glaswegians, Geordies, Brummies, Liverpudlians, Cockneys, Bristolians, Irish, etc and the many ethnic communities all of whom may need to contact Harrogate Hospital, you can get some idea of the task facing a system in picking out the correct department.

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What really needs to be answered is who sold and supplied the equipment and on what basis, what was paid for it, who within the PCT authorised its purchase, installation and use and who is intended to benefit from this equipment.

Someone within the PCT can supply these answers, though I doubt whether we will get any.

The telephonist to whom you ultimately speak, by which time you are at the end of your tether, must be worth every penny of her salary.