REGARDING armlets on police uniforms (Why uniforms are so informative, Readers' Letters, June 23), when Sir Robert Peel masterminded the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the armlet was integral to the uniform of the then "new police".

Constables were on duty 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with two days off a month, earning one guinea a week. Mill workers earned three to four shillings.

The armlet was blue and white with horizontal stripes and buckle fastener, to indicate whether a policeman was on or off duty.

Because of concerns about the one square mile which encompassed the City of London, a separate police force was introduced and excluded from the expanding Metropolitan area, and the constables wore red and white armlets.

Armlets were abandoned in the 1960s. Removal of the armlet prior to this time was a disciplinary offence when on duty.

They did have their uses in my day, as substitute, temporary handcuffs. These were not issued to the Metropolitan Police beat constable until the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Kenneth Bowker, Retired ex-York and London Met Police, Vesper Lane, Huntington, York.