Years ago when I was a young copper walking the beat in Oxford (yes, it’s hard to believe but policemen used to walk on patrols once and even speak to people), there was a man at the highways department who lived in, and knew, the area.

Invariably the local authority had its own highways repairs department with its own lorries and road rollers.

This gent would have a book in which was recorded all the planned repairs for the local roads were recorded. Without the use of a computer he would work out when any road would have been closed.

In this way, despite the traffic jams of old, Oxford’s traffic was kept moving, albeit slowly until Donnington Bridge was built. Today we have computers capable of massive calculations in seconds and contractors with equipment that could probably build a channel tunnel in days.

So please can someone tell me why Buckingham Road, London Road, Launton Road and Bure Road, in Bicester, are all having work carried out on them necessitating single file traffic with attendant traffic lights or road closure all at the same time?

What planning! Of course, the contractors can move a group of workers into the area to do all the work, instead of finishing one job and then starting another.

It is cheaper and quicker for them to do them all at once, thereby causing the most inconvenience to residents and motorists.

Even the buses are diverted in a large detour.

To avoid a long walk, residents have to use the ring road (itself partially under road works), drive to somewhere nearby, catch a bus and get dropped in town. Now, if there is a Victor Meldrew in Kidlington maybe he will be writing to you as a result of the vehicles suddenly being parked on roads near bus stops in the village, as people try to reach Bicester.

Chris Payne, Turnpike Road, Bicester