‘I will give up my car when… ‘

• TO David Reed (Reasons the car must go, August 10) I say this.

I will give up my car when you, and everyone else who is trying to eliminate motor transport, comes with me to my allotment in Mill Hill every time I want to go, so you can help carry kitchen waste, compost, netting, six-foot canes, seedlings grown at home or bought and anything else I need to my plot (which may involve stopping along the way at the garden centre) and my crops, which can be quite heavy in harvest season, home.

Oh, and come with me to the Waitrose near the allotment on the way home to carry my shopping for me, because I am limited as to the amount I can lift.

When it’s hot and I’m dirty and smelly, you may have to suffer the stares and discomfort of fellow passengers who try to avoid sitting anywhere near me.

The journey takes around 45 minutes by public transport – Thameslink and a bus or two buses – so I might also need help doing the chores I would have done in the extra hour I save by using the car for the return trip.

And I might be prepared to listen to rantings about the evils of car ownership along the way if all the people who keep saying we need to get rid of cars use everything they have until it stops working or falls apart; only have one electronic device, a PC, Apple, laptop, or tablet; do not spend all day on their mobile phones, as even wifi uses electricity; do not leave computers, TVs, etc on standby; and do not take lots of holidays, whatever transport methods they use to reach their destination.

MARCIA MacLEOD, NW6