DURING the present resurfacing of Wakefield Road there seems to be a complete disregard for the safety of pedestrians.

In fact, it seems as if none of the people involved in the planning of this venture are aware of the existence of pedestrians.

All of the islands in the middle of the road have been removed from Moldgreen to Waterloo. Tape has been put up either side of the road with signs pointing to non-existent pedestrian crossing points.

One would think that having walked a quarter of a mile to the traffic lights at Moldgreen it would be safe to cross the road.

Not so, I’m afraid, as it would appear that drivers who have been stuck in the slow moving traffic think it’s OK to ignore the green man.

On three occasions when I have pointed to the clearly seen green man the traffic has trundled on as if I wasn’t there.

One lorry driver even gave my wife and I the English archers salute and a mouthful of foul language.

A suggestion to the local police. If you stand at the bottom of Birkhouse lane and observe the traffic during these trying times I am sure you will fill your quota of driving without due care and attention charges in a very short time.

More grumpy than usual pensioner

Dalton

UK’s booming population

A HUGE increase in Britain’s population, soon to reach a figure of 70 million, will cause untold demands on all our services and will they be able to cope or go under?

Our island is tiny and for the politicians to subject us all to mass over crowding is a travesty. It is a fact that seven out of 10 born today are to parents not born here – so much for our generous immigration policy and our generous benefit system.

Through lack of foresight by respective governments, the pot of money is ebbing away to leave the country in a sorry state.

China with its vast population and having to find ways to feed so many have had the foresight to limit families to one child only.

Could this happen here? Well, our over-crowded island is struggling to survive so tough measures must be taken.

R HARPER

Honley

We’ve lost the war

I KNOW it’s hard to swallow your pride when over 420 British servicemen and women have sacrificed their lives for the sake of I’m not sure what, but when is the government going to realise that the Taliban will never ever be beaten.

Not only do they outnumber the British and American troops, they have also infiltrated the Afghan security forces.

We are not fighting fools, we are fighting an invisible well organised outfit that saw off the Russians.

We have lost the war. Bring the troops home tomorrow.

I know Examiner readers will be angry reading this and saying “what about all those who have given their lives, was it all in vain?”

The answer is “yes”, they were cannon fodder. Politicians will try and bamboozle you with fancy words to try and dress up the truth but the truth is we have lost.

JAMES MOUNT

Mount

Great Colne Valley pupils

I LIVE near Colne Valley Specialist Arts College and there are two incidents regarding the students on their way home I would like to share with you.

A bunch of boys were passing as an elderly friend who was trying to get out of my car but couldn’t manage to keep the door open to allow her to get out.

Two of the boys (probably first and second year students) stepped forward and said: “Do you need any help?”

My elderly friend said: “Yes please, can you hold the door open and hold my stick?”

However, the boys did more than that, they helped her out of the car as well.

In the second incident I was trying to drive out into the road but couldn’t see oncoming traffic for parked vehicles.

There were two or three Colne Valley boys – older than the previous boys – and one of them, seeing my predicament, immediately stepped into the road and looked and waved me out when safe.

Two kind, helpful, spontaneous gestures from our young people. Thank you.

A LINTHWAITE CAUSEWAY SIDER

Colne Valley

Holmfirth traffic lights

IF the highways engineers at Kirklees think the traffic system installed in Holmfirth a while ago is an improvement I would suggest that is certainly not the case.

The phasing of the traffic lights and the ridiculous positioning of the zebra crossings combine to create utter mayhem at certain times of the day.

If the zebra crossings were replaced with pelican crossings which in turn were phased with the traffic lights it might ease the problem, but when I suggested this to the Highways Department some time ago I was told that this was not a good idea as it may lead some pedestrians to take a chance when the lights were against them.

When I’m driving, if I took a chance by going against the lights at the top of Victoria Street I’d most likely receive a £60 fine and 3 points on my licence.

Tim Radcliffe

Holmfirth

Thanks for honesty

MAY I use your letters page to say a big thank you to the staff and customers of the Aldi store in Milnsbridge for their honesty and integrity in the safe return of my wallet, inadvertently left there on the morning of Wednesday, October 3.

Phillip Bowker

Golcar

Helping families

THE Paralympics got everyone thinking about disability in a positive way but many readers may not realise that families with disabled children face huge challenges in everyday life.

Many families have to fight long and complicated battles just to find an appropriate school or therapy for their disabled child and often the support can only be found far away from their home.

The impact on family life cannot be underestimated. Families can’t spend quality time together and may even miss occasions such as birthdays.

At Scope, we believe all families with disabled children should get the support they need through local services.

We are launching a campaign called Keep Us Close to put pressure on the Government and make the changes that will stop families having to fight or travel long distances, but we need your help.

We’re asking the residents of Huddersfield to come into the Scope shop between October 1 and 21 to sign our petition cards to help families with disabled children get the support they need.

And while you’re in the shop, you never know, you may be able to pick up a bargain at the same time.

Mandy Gibson

Manager of Scope Charity Shop, Huddersfield