SIR: I refer your article: Police probing back door recovery firms. We are one of the 27 firms referred to operating in the Bolton area.

We chose not to apply for this police-authorised recovery service as many aspects of the scheme were considered by our trade organisation to be illegal, (some of the objections have already been justified in a recent High Court hearing and the remainder to be dealt with by an appeal in the High Court in late 1997). We also consider the terms of this contract to be unethical and prejudicial to the public good.

Many of the local recovery firms not on this particular police scheme are highly reputable companies of more than 25 years standing. They have excellent equipment and expertise and also possess the necessary storage space to park their own vehicles off the road.

Mrs P Shaw, Century Motors (Farnworth) Ltd

George Street, Farnworth

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