‘What is the long-term future of the private motor car in our inner metropolis? Zilch…’

• SQUABBLES about low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are great fun. Congratulations on the Tribune’s entertaining coverage.

As an elderly cripple living in Barnsbury near the busy Thornhill Road, I am, of course, biased in favour of heavy restrictions.

They should in my view be made even more draconian. So that in what time remains to me I can hobble out, breathing less polluted air and free from the fear of being run over.

And the children at the nearby school can similarly feel much safer. But what is the long-term future of the private motor car in our (or indeed any) inner metropolis?

The answer, happily, is zilch. Especially so in deprived Islington, where household car ownership is already one of the United Kingdom’s lowest.

The small minority of petit bourgeois superannuates in N1 and N5, driving their often risibly grandiose machines, can squeal as much as they want.

They may add to our general enjoyment. Their carefree car driving days are, however, numbered. To the legs! To the bicycles!

NEIL KERR
Barnsbury Street, N1