We read of a shopper handling bananas being bitten by a spider.

Stores go out of their way to try to control this, but having been a crew member on a banana ship in the 1950s and 1960s on the West Indies run, I realise how crafty these spiders, scorpions and the odd snake can be.

I advise shoppers to be observant and look carefully when buying bananas.

I speak from experience. After handling tons of them, I was never bitten once. But be careful.

RAYMOND MURPHY

Wills Road, Didcot