DIANA Wallis, MEP, is soliciting opinions on ID cards (November 22). I found, when in France, they were an excellent idea, having to be shown for all money transactions, paying in or withdrawing at your bank, or paying any retailer by cheque or credit card.

They also eliminated the need for a passport when travelling within the EU and were shown to make a purchase in airport shops.

My wife had dual nationality, she had a French ID card but renewed her British passport after our marriage to avoid being stopped and her luggage searched each time at Leeds/Bradford airport.

As she said "One can have too much of a good thing".

Her sense of humour wasn't to last and she died in July last year, in her beloved France, but the production of her ID card lubricated the machine that is French officialdom and made what could have been a difficult and harrowing experience into only a harrowing one. The sooner they are introduced in Britain, the better.

Stella Rimmington claims it will do nothing to prevent terrorism. Of course it won't, that's not the object. Any document can be forged, any terrorist bent on mass murder would carry impeccable papers, undetectable to any other than a specialist with the right equipment.

ID cards would, as with chip and pin, be an added protection against financial theft.

Mick Snowden,

Manor Farm Bungalow,

Amotherby, Malton.

Updated: 10:18 Friday, December 02, 2005