Sir, - 10.30 a.m. on December 19th. A lorry with flashing lights unloads barrels outside the Bachelors Inn on Bachelors Walk. It is parked in a bus lane.
10.50 a.m.: A van is delivering supplies to a convenience store on the Malahide Road. It is also parked in a bus lane and is flashing its lights.
10.55 a.m.: Further out the Malahide Road. A dairy lorry is parked across a cycle path and abuts on to a bus lane. Again the lights are flashing.
An overseas visitor might come to one of the following conclusions:
1. Delivery vehicles are immune from bus lane regulations.
2. Flashing lights on a vehicle parked illegally while carrying out deliveries confer immunity from the law.
3. The police are not enforcing the law.
4. Commercial companies care so little for the convenience of the general public that they make arrangements for deliveries which will contribute to city centre and suburban traffic chaos and at the same time connive at their employees or agents breaking the law. - Yours, etc.,
Brian Maurer, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4.