While I am certainly not in the anti-cycling lobby, I would take issue with Jude Wilkinson’s claim (Letters, 14 December) that the use of cars has led to the “immiseration” of elderly people. As an active 70-year-old, I play table tennis and bowls, as well as having less active hobbies such as bridge. I am also a volunteer for a local hospice, providing at-home listening support for patients, carers and bereaved people across the local area – usually in small villages. I don’t live in a city but, like my clients, in a small village with limited public transport, and even that is only at limited times to very specific places in local towns.
If I did not have a car I simply could not access any of the above activities, which would lead to considerable immiseration, both for me and my hospice clients, and would also lead to the closure of most small village bowls clubs, which are often located in hard-to-access places.
Those who claim a life without cars is easy and healthier are almost all urban dwellers, and don’t realise how few transport options are available to those of us in rural areas.
Jill Wallis
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
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