ADMIRING the picture of the horse bus in Low Ousegate, York, circa 1900 (January 19), it makes one think how precarious some passengers on top must have felt travelling in style on uneven roads laced with tram lines.

One can imagine in this day and age how the Health & Safety executives would have reacted. They would have a field day, never mind the horse droppings.

Having experienced riding on trams and trolleybuses in the Sheffield and Manchester areas as a boy, where gravity is defied on steep hills, sitting on a swaying howdah between heaven and earth in your Sunday best must be better than riding on Blackpool's big dipper for excitement.

I wonder if there are any statistics available of accidents attributed to such a mode of travel, not forgetting the knacker's yard.

Kenneth Bowker,

Vesper Walk,

Huntington, York.

Updated: 10:28 Friday, January 27, 2006