SIR - Your front page and editorial on Friday, October 27, constituted an unjustified bashing of the BBC. If cameras are so important in preventing crime, isn't three days, let alone three weeks, too long for them to be inactive?

But we need more light than heat on this subject. What are the cameras for? How much crime is detected by cameras? What evidence is there that cameras reduce fear of crime? Each time I leave home on foot, on my bike, or in the car, I fear death or injury as a result of bad driving, much more than I fear crime. What resources are being applied to detect and restrain bad drivers?

I would like our public servants to provide answers to these questions, not indulge in angry outbursts when their attempts at censorship are unsuccessful. It is they who should apologise to the public they serve, not the BBC.

COLIN ARCHER, Worcester