YET again I find that I am to be targeted by the police, why? Because I am a burglar, a mugger? No, solely because of the mode of transport that I choose to employ.

Whereas I agree that in any group of people there is a hooligan element, it seems to me that just because I am a motorcyclist, I am fair game.

Adverse publicity from newspapers such as yours only goes to fuel the concept with the public that all motorcyclists are Hell's Angels and therefore should be exterminated.

I wonder what would happen if one day the police were to target all drivers of Cortinas.

It would be ludicrous, but to attack motorcyclists is deemed to be acceptable.

On the question of noise, what about certain car drivers that have more power in their stereo systems than they have in their engines?

They are much more annoying and much more common than noisy motorcyclists. Do the police ever stop them? No! That may upset the green welly brigade who seem to be pulling their strings over this persecution.

Nobody can justify high speeds through villages but are those on two wheels more guilty than those on four? I doubt it.

Further, what constitutes a large group? My girlfriend and I out for a ride in the countryside, 10, or 20? It seems that you don't even have to be moving if High Beech is on the agenda.

A final point that has annoyed me is the scaremongering that 20 per cent of road deaths in Essex were motorcyclists. It is therefore logical to state that 80 per cent were not. Therefore motorcyclists are much safer than other forms of transport.

You should also note that 80 per cent of all motorcycle accidents are the fault of car drivers. Educate them, and leave us alone but there again, Joe Public would not find that acceptable, would he?

E CLARK, (retired forensic examiner),

Seymores, Harlow.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.