I refer to Bill Sykes's letter, Don't always blame the police (Oxford Mail, April 6).

I don't always blame the police, but I do blame them for being petty as they were in the decision to prosecute my friend for a minor speeding infringement.

This pettiness causes a rift between a great raft of the motoring public and the police.

Daily, millions of people run the gauntlet of fixed cameras, cameras in the backs of vans, cameras on motorway bridges and so on.

You could lose your licence in a day by being caught for four minor excesses.

There is also a postcode lottery involved.

North Wales has a Chief of Police who wants to implement zero tolerance prosecute for one mile an hour over the limit.

On the other hand, there is a Chief of Police in the north of England who will not have cameras on his patch because he considers they are not effective in reducing accidents.

The rest of us wallow somewhere in between.

Are we to believe that police personnel never exceed the speed limit in their private lives? No, of course not.

Therefore, the police should show more discretion in the way they deal with minor speeding excesses.

Instead of this, they are overzealous and ostracise themselves from a great many decent people.

It is a public relations disaster.

Patrick Power Mortehoe Devon