READING the letter by Chaka Artwell (standing as an Independent parliamentary candidate for Oxford East) brought back into mind the utter stupidity of the law that I face as a mobility scooter driver.

I am not allowed to use the cycle tracks.

I can use the footpaths.

I am not allowed on the dual carriageway, unless I fit an amber revolving beacon light to my scooter. I would then be permitted to legally join the fast moving traffic while travelling at 8mph.

In the past I have sent emails hoping to get the law changed so that I can use designated cycle tracks so that I can get to the Oxford hospitals that I visit on appointments on a regular basis.

I emailed then Prime Minister David Cameron, the Minister of Transport, the British Health Trades Association’s Highway Code for Mobility Scooters, my constituency MP John Howell, the then Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith. I also spoke to the police and had the story of my dilemma in the Oxford Mail in the past. All of the above was to no avail. I will never use the dual carriageway. That is, in my view, assisted suicide. Although I have no fear of death, I don’t want to end my life under the wheels of a heavy goods vehicle.

I have told the police this. I do use the cycle tracks footpaths from Wheatley to Headington, from Horspath to Cowley, and alongside the ring road, at eight miles per hour.

It really annoys me that for my safety, and for the benefit of other road users, as illustrated by Mr Artwell, I have to break the law, and have done so for the past six or seven years.

I could, if I wanted, legally hold all the traffic on the dual carriageway to eight miles per hour.

Where will I put my tick in the coming election, for more of the same, or change?

GEOFF CHERRY

Cullum Road

Wheatley