I AGREE with councillor Brian Lucas (November 27) about cyclists on footpaths; but we've no chance if our area is anything to go by.

It's not unusual to see two part-time coppers strolling around, chatting to one another, oblivious to teenagers using the paths as race tracks, but events last week prove we have got to grin and bear it At 2.20pm, in school time two coppers parked on the pavement outside my house, got out and were marching down the road.

Tearing up behind them came this little brat of about 11 or 12 years old, and our two law-enforcement officers very politely moved out of his way and let him hare down the path, bisecting two elderly ladies who nearly had heart attacks.

Why did the coppers not stop this young lout and at least give him a lecture, and ask why he was not at school?

If coppers can't be bothered, we have no chance.

D VAUGHAN, Southampton.