Sir, - I would like to draw your readers' attention to some effects of the National Car Test. I speak now of a retired couple I know personally. A car can last them as long as 20 years and still run well.
One said to me: "This little car means more to me than son or daughter, sister, brother or close friend. It takes me to Mass and to do my shopping. I cannot walk very far and am grounded without my little car. Now I cannot pay for a new car and it would cost me £600, which I have not got, to satisfy the ridiculous requirements. If I have to be grounded I can see no future except to go into a home. I cannot pay for a private one so the State will have to take care of me."
This person, I believe, represents thousands of retired people in this country. We would do well to remember that it is the drivers who cause the accidents, not the vehicles. Dare one ask if this is not yet just another racket to sell new cars, out of which the Government gets its whack? - Yours, etc.,
Deirdre Manifold, Dalysfort Road, Galway.