Inconvenience

SIR – The problem of dirty lavatory door handles (Letters, October 13) is far worse than readers have reported.

In place of crutches, I was given a wheelchair by the NHS. On approaching what was indicated to be an “accessible toilet”, I found the door to be out of reach from the chair. Pushing at it with a walking stick was ineffective, as was reversing into it.

Being in a user-powered wheelchair makes hand-washing seem pointless, as dirt from the floor comes close to the hands with every revolution of the wheels. Far better to use the hand sanitiser dispenser located outside the lavatory area. Sue Doughty

Reading, Berkshire

SIR – The worry about lavatory door handles seems rather obsessive.

I was brought up in South Wales during the polio outbreaks, and it was noticed that those children who played in the gutter did not go down with the disease. Am I right to think that their immune systems were strengthened by their exposure to germs? Diana Crook

Seaford, East Sussex