SIR - Totally remarkable!John Phillpott says he saw a "lunatic driver burning rubber in New Road, Worcester" (Seven Days, March 31).

Only a few pages later, under Nostalgia, it states: "150 years ago, in 1857, Frederick Lloyd was charged with furiously driving his Mazeppa stagecoach along New Road, so as to endanger the lives of the passengers and the safety of the public.

"Nearing Worcester Bridge (it must have been two-way then) he was in collision with a truck, overturned, and threw off four of his passengers with considerable violence to the ground. He was fined £2/12/ - or 21 days in prison."

From Mazeppa to Mazda - apart from the horsepower, nothing much changes, does it?

Stanley D Parr, Pershore.