It is high time that Oxford City Council used its enforcement powers to stop pollution from idling engines (Oxford Mail, April 18).

Every motorist who leaves his engine running is contributing to the city's ill health.

Exhaust fumes have been irrefutably proven to cause inflammation of the blood vessels as well as heart disease.

A recent experiment showed that one hour exposure to exhaust emissions dramatically increased the risk of a heart attack.

Those freezing cabbies who leave their engines running for half an hour just to keep warm, are hastening their own demise.

Could the taxi drivers possibly try wearing several layers of thermals in the winter?

I do sympathise with their chilly plight, but no-one should keep their engines running as a source of warmth, or while making a mobile phone call. This is selfish behaviour.

The benzene from car exhausts has been statistically linked to childhood leukaemia.

Children's lungs are immature and still growing, which makes them more vulnerable to damage. The diesel particulates cause a lot of nasty problems, including gender changes in male breast tissue.

I know of a man who developed this problem from working in Oxford's bus-filled Queen Street.

Do we want to live in a smoggy, pea-souper city?

All motorists in any part of Oxford should switch their engines off when the vehicle is idle.

Maybe the city council could also do something about some of the buses which are not running cleanly and are emitting harmful particulates.

SUSAN THOMAS Magdalen Road Oxford