Hostility of motorists driven by pandemic?

SIR, – This week, I was in conversation with a man who had travelled from his native Dundee with his wife and teenage grandson in his camper van to Skye to be greeted by local residents with hostility and obscene gestures.

The only cause he could think of was that the hostility was due to his vehicle and that he had failed to use a campsite, as they are not open.

They were woken by the tooting of passing vehicles, although they were well off the road.

From what he told me, his vehicle is self-contained, had not been used for months and the tanks were not needing to be emptied.

I wonder what made the other drivers so hostile? The two worst fears might be that the visitors were bringing the virus, or that they might be emptying their tanks illegally.

They can’t have been worried about them fly-tipping. For quantity and quality, locals have shown they can do that fine themselves.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when I last looked, Scotland was a welcoming and confident country, where all Jock

Tamson’s bairns are treated with respect, even if you harboured doubts about them. Or is that idea a casualty of the pandemic?

Are we all so angry now that we want a society that is xenophobic and conformist, that those we deem unacceptable should be abused? It helps if we can identify them easily by their motor vehicle, skin colour or accent, but: Help! Where are we going?

What would bring this behaviour to a halt? When are the obscene gestures, angry flashes and toots going to stop, and what damage will be done before then?

My chance acquaintance was fairly robust (he must have been), but his wife didn’t want to stay and, just as likely, wouldn’t go back.

I wonder if it would take a government announcement and then all will be smiles again?

Or the campsites opening (but not everyone will use them all the time)? Or just an outbreak of self-restraint?

I would love to be a fly on the wall when a gesticulating motorist is pulled over to explain themselves to plain-clothes police officers in an unmarked camper van.

Nic Bullivant, Erbusaig, Kyle of Lochalsh