SIR: Once again there have been more deaths due to stolen cars being chased by police, as reported in BEN June 12.

The do-gooders would probably say, is it worth it just for a car, and that the police shouldn't chase them.

I say, maybe there should be adverts on TV (as in tampering with electric meter adverts) stating that stealing cars may result in more than prosecution and could carry the penalty of death, followed by pictures of crashed, stolen cars and how many were killed.

If it results in just one person refraining from car theft, then it would be worth it, by not only preventing their possible death, it could save on insurance claims, also valuable NHS care.

The pictures were shown on TV of children killed in car accidents, not just due to stolen cars, so why not pictures of crashed, stolen cars?

I don't think the genuine owners of cars that were stolen would mind. I speak as somebody who had their car stolen over 12 months ago. All it cost me was £100 excess; it was recovered damaged, the distress was unexpected though at discovering my car missing. I'd always thought of a car as just a piece of tin. Well, other things are made of metal. In the wrong hands, a car is as lethal as a gun. These car thieves should realise they're playing Russian roulette.

(name and address supplied)

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