• I WAS interested to see John Hartley’s reply (Just sell your car, May 25) to my letter about the problems for older and poorer people with “non-compliant” cars in the planned expanded ULEZ, ultra low emission zone, which they keep for essential purposes.

On the face of it his suggestion that they should sell their cars and use public transport or car clubs seems very sensible.

However I am sure that in many cases they have a Freedom Pass for the bus and tube and already use it to save fuel, or walk, wherever they can, and whenever they are fit enough, which is another factor.

But this touches on another overlooked, but vital, element of the situation, which is that the people I am thinking about are not exactly sprightly young urban techies. They live in the distant suburbs far from Camden where there isn’t actually a car club vehicle on every corner, and the taxi drivers all live miles away.

They presently have old cars that they are used to, with mechanical handbrakes and ignition systems where you use a key to open the doors and start the engine, believe it or not. Not only that but they don’t have to master a smartphone app to book the taxi or car club or even open the doors.

Perhaps when our esteemed London mayor gets a little older and wiser, he will be able to see their point of view.

By the way, I rented a “modern” car abroad a few years ago, and I couldn’t find the light controls for quite a while because they weren’t on a steering wheel stalk as I was used to. And don’t even get me started on the electric handbrake…

Can Mr Hartley kindly suggest a ubiquitous car club whose vehicles have the same kind of simple controls that pensioners are used to? But I wonder whether those vehicles would be new enough to be ULEZ-compliant!

NIGEL SHINDLER
Shirlock Road, NW3