I READ about a driverless tractor which was towing a seed-drill.

Once the crop of corn has grown and is to be harvested this will be done by a driverless combine.

Could these driverless seed-drilling/combining combos lead to driverless tractor ploughing?

Ploughing may, on the face of it, seem a boring job but ploughing is a highly-skilled job which farmers are proud to do.

It dawned on me that more and more jobs are being automated with less and less people being needed to actually work.

I well remember when I worked at Armstrong’s as a charge hand going down to Ford in Dagenham to see where our shock absorbers finished up.

The workforce at Ford then was around 40,000 people, as building cars was very labour intensive.

Doubtless at Ford now, with robots building the cars, the actual human input will be a fraction of that huge number.

Will more and more automation be what lies ahead for our young men and women, with little prospect of employment?

School leavers are actively encouraged to go to university and gain a degree which should enhance their chances of getting a job.

These vast numbers of students are out of the job loop, and for several years, so unemployment figures don’t look too alarming.

Just where will all those young people get work?

I left school on a Friday in 1951, started my apprenticeship the following Monday and was in continuous employment until retirement in 2001.

How many today will be able to look forward to a similar period of employment?

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge