Sir, I hope that I am not the only one who is becoming increasingly irritated with the current phonoholic culture. I refer, of course, to those people who advance along the pavement engaged in personally important electronic communication and are completely oblivious to the presence of other pedestrians. I am old enough to have been brought up to give way to ladies and the elderly, but now that I am one of the elderly, I find myself continually stepping off the pavement to give way to persons less than half my age who are in an electronic world of their own and are completely ignorant of my existence. Could the council consider enacting a by-law creating the offence of 'Careless Walking', that is walking without paying due care and attention for other walkers, similar to that of careless driving. On a related subject, surely people careering around the streets on mobility scooters whilst engaged in electronic communication commit an offence akin to driving a car whilst using a mobile phone.

Grumpy Old Man (Name and address supplied)