IN the Drive insert in Friday's Evening Advertiser were the headlines 'They'll catch you' followed by the statement 'Mobile speed cameras have been deployed in Swindon and so far, in just nine hours, 248 Swindon motorists have been caught, 744 points have gone on licences and £14,880 dished out in fines.'

These 248 motorists may be sadder but wiser, and the police will be able to produce some very favourable statistics re prosecution for motoring offences, but the truth is that the motorist is the soft option, the easy target, as the success of the new speed cameras shows all too clearly.

Interestingly pages one and two of the same Evening Advertiser highlighted the 'Plague' of vandalism, and I wondered how many of those who commit these mindless acts of vandalism are caught by the police?

Recent statistics show that in Swindon, only one in five burglaries are ever solved and the criminals convicted whilst mugging is on the increase.

I do no wish to condone speeding or dangerous driving but let us not be fooled by the flattering statistics re-motoring offences when so much real crime goes unsolved.

Unlike most other criminals, the erring motorist is a sitting duck, an easy course of successful prosecutions and fines. The sad fact is however, that in many parts of Swindon (and other towns too) a bobby on the beat is a rare sight and attendance at all but major crime scenes is often pathetically slow.

DR C O LISTER

Abbey Meads Ward Councillor

Rodbourne Cheney