Madam, - I read with interest Eileen Battersby's description of driving through Dublin's streets at 4am (An Irishwoman's Diary, November 12th).
It is something which I used to do regularly as a part-time taxi-driver until one night last year when an ugly incident with a drunken passenger prompted me to stop working at nights, and left me with a permanent bite scar on my arm.
Taxi-drivers who choose to work at such hours face this kind of behaviour routinely. May I recommend, from personal experience, to any of your readers who find that they have to drive through such mayhem:
1. Always drive with the car doors locked and the windows closed.
2. Never get out of the car to confront a drunk.
Ms Battersby was extremely lucky to have escaped uninjured from this incident. I commend her bravery and her obvious athleticism, but not her foolhardiness.
I hope she recovers from this experience, and I thank her for her eloquent observation of what for many taxi-drivers are, unfortunately, normal working conditions. - Yours, etc,
FERGUS JOHNSTON, Composer, Usher's Quay, Dublin 8.
Madam, - I take it from Eileen Battersby's two pieces in Monday's Irish Timesthat you meet a better class of brawler on page 10 of your paper than on page 15. - Yours, etc,
BILL TINLEY, Newtown Court, Maynooth, Co Kildare.