Retiring magistrates

SIR – Dominic Raab (Comment, August 4) writes of the modernisation of the judiciary.

There is one improvement to the courts system that would not cost a penny: do not force lay magistrates to retire as soon as they reach 70.

As a JP, I was compulsorily retired. I continued as a caseworker at the SSAFA (the Armed Forces charity) until the age of 82. Derrick G Smith

Bexhill-on-sea, East Sussex