MICHAEL ROWLEY, of Lower Fairview Road, Dartmouth, writes:

Following the vociferous response on these pages to the cancellation of double deck buses in Victoria Road I must add my support to this excellent action.

The quality of the environment for people living in and near Victoria Road has improved dramatically since these leviathans have ceased to roar their way up and lurch their way down.

The noise levels have significantly reduced as has the vibrations.

There must be concerns for safety of pedestrians and other road users when these large vehicles are descending.

At 30 mph these large vehicles take a considerable amount of stopping and their sheer size makes avoiding action extremely difficult if not impossible at pinch points.

Anyone who has observed the frequent breakdowns of these, mostly elderly vehicles around the area, needs only to consider the potential consequences of a brake failure on the steepest and narrowest section.

A further consideration is the structural damage these large vehicles cause over time.

The axle loading of double deck buses may not be double that of single deckers but it is significantly higher.

A descending vehicle having to apply the brakes firmly increases that axle loading by up to a power of 3.

This places considerable loading on the road with the potential to damage the road surface prematurely but also transmit heavy and damaging forces to the under-road utilities such as water and gas mains.

In addition these forces act upon the structures of the properties that are closest to the road.

Add to that the frequency of these vehicle's transits and you have a major potential problem that may not be immediately apparent but is doing significant damage non-the-less.

There is no denying the social problem of elderly and infirm residents needing transport.

I would suggest the answer is not to reinstate the double deck buses but to make the single deck buses feeders to the super stores and a common pick-up and drop-off hub at the top of the town.

In this way the double deck buses need not come into the town at all, people wanting to shop at the superstores can do so conveniently and people wanting to connect with buses going further afield can equally conveniently do so.