I WAS amazed to read the Highways Agency response to my suggestion that the A64 Copmanthorpe roadworks should be carried out 24 hours a day seven days a week.

As far as disturbance to local residents is concerned, there are very few houses close to the works and, with efficient management, 24-hour working would lead to few problems.

Such concerns must be considered in the context of the chaos which is adversely affecting thousands of people every day.

Health and safety is not an issue. Many factories and roadworks contractors work at night and presumably coal miners work in the dark at all times.

With good planning and good management, 24-hour working could be carried out safely and effectively.

Maybe the real problem is that the bureaucrats at the Highways Agency do not want to work nights and weekends?

Clearly, they would need additional risk assessments such as how to use a solar-powered calculator at night or how to drink cups of tea in the dark.

If this is the real problem I am sure the thousands of motorists caught in the traffic jams will be only too pleased to advise them.

Malcolm Bradley,

Lumby,

South Milford, Leeds.

...WHAT a bunch of hypocrites you are at the Evening Press! First you whine for the Copmanthorpe crossing to be closed then you whine about the chaos you have brought about.

I must admit, though, the obvious, simple solution would have been a flyover from the high point on Top Lane. The foundations could have been completed within a few nights and the bridgework would have been prefabricated off site and installed in a few nights.

JC Potter (Letters, October 26) is just as bad with his tirade against the Access Only sign at Catterton Lane end (which is totally ignored every weekend).

I can only assume that when he drives down the lane he does so without due care and attention - otherwise he would know that this lane is not "kept up from the public purse" or any other purse. It is a permanent disgrace!

The lane is not wide enough for two cars to pass without one leaving the road and guess which group of motorists won't pull over.

Last weekend it was 40-tonne trucks and coaches as well as the constant stream of cars. Farm work came to a standstill because tractors could not get on the road. Not everyone works weekdays-only.

We have to put up with more than our share of disruption. Every time some idiotic or dangerous driver causes an accident on the A64 it makes a quick trip to the local shops impractical.

K Barnes,

North View,

Catterton.

...I READ reports in the Press about ideas to get York moving again with great interest.

It is certain something has to be done because otherwise the city shops will miss out over the lucrative Christmas shopping period.

I live in Malton but work in York and, after spending five days a week fighting to get home, I have had enough of the traffic. With that in mind I will probably be doing my Christmas shopping in Scarborough this year. Sorry York, but it really is beyond a joke.

Caroline Foster,

Colling Wood Gardens,

Malton.

Updated: 10:47 Tuesday, October 30, 2001