Tips to help keep elderly on road

A RECENT survey by Independent Age, the older people’s charity, revealed that just over two in five (41 per cent) of drivers aged 70 and over in Yorkshire and the Humber say they would feel like they’d lost part of their identity if they were not able to drive. For more than nine in 10 (91 per cent) of older drivers it would mean a loss of independence.

The survey was commissioned to promote our new, free advice guide, Behind the Wheel: Tips for safe and confident driving in later life.

The guide is full of tips to help support older drivers, and provides information on alternatives if they decide to stop driving.

It is accompanied by online information for the families of older drivers around how to start difficult conversations about driving.

The survey showed that, for many older people in Yorkshire and the Humber, being able to drive means so much more than just being able to get out-and-about.

Whether it’s keeping in touch with family and friends or continuing to do their shopping, driving can help maintain a sense of independence, and identity too. Behind the Wheel is completely free to order and download from www.

independentage.org/drivingguide or can be ordered by calling 0800 319 6789.

To make a donation or find out more about how you can support the work of Independent Age and help older people stay independent, please visit www.independentage.org.

Lucy Harmer, Director of Services, Independent Age, London

Don’t shoot me but Brexit can’t happen

YET another letter on Brexit (“oh no not more” I hear people scream). This one however is simply an observation.

James Chapman (a former aide of George Osborne and David Davies) speaking in an interview at the Lib Dem conference made the following observation.

Under Article 127, the Government may have to secure a victory in Parliament before the UK can leave the European Economic Area (EEA). This could prove problematic for the Government since it does not have an overall majority in the House of Commons.

“In my view, Brexit is already dead, and that’s because the Government has not triggered, nor yet taken a power to trigger, article 127 of the EEA Treaty,” Chapman said.

“Article 127 runs on a 12 month trigger so it has to be done by March next year.

The Government is trying to claim that this is just about a tidying up exercise and that effectively we must leave the single market when we leave the EU. That is not the case in my view.

“I think it is very clear that they need parliamentary approval separately to do that, and I don’t believe there is a majority in the House of Commons, let alone the House of Lords, for leaving the customs union and the single market, so Brexit is not going to happen.”

Don’t shoot me - I am just the messenger!

Tony Taylor, Grassholme, Woodthorpe, York

Common sense is all set to prevail

TO THOSE who publicly purport to accept the nation’s decision to leave the EU while harbouring an opposite view in private I pose the following question.

How remaining in the single market, staying in the Customs Union, being controlled by the European Court of Justice, accepting freedom of movement, being restricted as to the trade deals we can make with other nations, having to pay an inflated divorce bill, and being expected to contribute to Brussels after 2019 can be described as an “Exit” from the shackles of the European Union defies total logic.

Come 2019 we are leaving “lock, stock and barrel” – 600 days to go.

As each day passes these “Leavers/Remainers are being exposed for what they are, weak unprincipled charlatans.

In years to come, history will show the population, irrespective of their normal political allegiances, knew better than the Establishment.

Within 50 years the EU will have returned to its original concept, a Common Market between friendly nations.

Layer upon layer of unelected bureaucracy will have been shredded. Common sense will have prevailed.

Peter Rickaby, West Park, Selby.