Barnet formula

sir – I had failed my driving test (Letters, January 16) several times in the early 1970s when my mother came up with the idea of pinning up my shoulder-length hair and hiding it under one of my father’s old hats.

I passed. Nick Bell Andover, Hampshire sir – When I finally passed my driving test – having had a provisional licence for 18 years – my instructor said the only reason the examiner had passed me was because the woman taking her test before me had been so dreadful that when the examiner had told her that at the next roundabout she should go straight over, she did. Over the kerb and grass.

“After her,” he said, “even you seemed quite good.”

Maggie Hughes

Gnosall, Staffordshire

sir – In 1978 I anxiously pointed out to my driving instructor that there was a car bobbing and buzzing just behind me, obviously highly impatient for an opportunity to overtake. “If he’s in that much of a hurry,” smiled the instructor, “he should have got out of bed earlier.”

To this day, I find recalling this comment very effective in coping calmly with a tailgater six inches from my back bumper.

Rachel Palmer

Rhayader, Radnorshire