Readers' letters - April 25

Roads were built long before cars became popular resulting in a modern day problem says a correspondent

I am writing about people complaining about cars and vans parked on the pavement.

I am a retired HGV driver and there were many times I had deliveries for estates but couldn’t get through because of cars parked on the road.

I then had to get out and knock on doors to get people to move their car.

The roads we’ve got in this country were built long ago when there weren’t a lot of cars.

You might get, twice a week, the rag-and-bone men and the greengrocers with their horse and carts.

Now some families have two and three cars, so parking is difficult.

The best thing these people can do so they don’t get fined is to park on the road and see which services complain first– dustbin lorries, fire brigade and ambulance service.

When you’ve got roads that were built 60 years ago and are not wide enough, what do you expect people to do?

Mr D Matthews

via email

We’re cracking down on scams

Scam mail involves fraudsters sending letters that are designed to trick people out of money or other valuables.

Last November, Royal Mail launched an industry-wide code of practice in conjunction with National Trading Standards, to crack down on scam mail.

Since then, Royal Mail has successfully stopped more than 700,000 scam items from reaching its customers.

Royal Mail has also started to contact households it believes are receiving high volumes of scam mail. The latest initiative will initially focus on the most-impacted customers. Under the scheme, Royal Mail will block and impound suspected scam mail at its major distribution centres before it reaches the customer’s letterbox. Legitimate business and personal mail will continue to be delivered to customers as normal.

Impacted customers will be able to contact a helpline at 0800 085 8003. They can also arrange a home visit from Royal Mail staff.

We are also relying on local communities to play a role in defeating the scammers. We are supporting Friends Against Scams, a National Trading Standards (NTS) Scams Team initiative, which aims to protect people by empowering communities to take a stand. If readers have any concerns about neighbours, friends or family, visit www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/.

Rob Jenson

Royal Mail operations director

Hawking wrong about Corbyn

In regard to the upcoming General Election, I would like to put forward my own opinion that clashes with the renowned physicist Prof Stephen Hawking, no less.

Hawking went on record recently to describe Jeremy Corbyn as a “disaster” for the Labour Party. The long-time Labour supporter said of Corbyn: “Many of his policies are sound, but he has allowed himself to be portrayed as a left-wing extremist.”

Does he not see Corbyn has not “allowed” himself to be portrayed this way? He is fighting an impossible battle against media moguls and politicians who relentlessly portray him as the next Michael Foot. Corbyn has not been a disaster for Labour, his policies will be carried forward by the party’s next leader, whoever that may be.

And it will be those policies that bring the party back to power in 2022.

Harry Francis

via email