WAS that not very bad reporting? Tuesday, January 5, page two, had the depressing headline " Shock rise in town's drink drive Christmas offenders." Then on page 10 (Opinion) we read "A police spokesman has explained that this year less than three pc of drivers stopped in Bolton were over the limit, compared with more than five pc last year."

So the reader is nonplussed and irritated. So he refers back to page two and finds that the only reason there was the rise claimed was that so many more were stopped and checked, 1,235 this year in comparison to 538 last year. In that case why the alarmist and misleading headline on page two?

Raymond Dean

Wilmslow Avenue, Sharples

Editor's note: Point noted. The headline was factually correct but in the context of the article could have been more positively worded.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.