IT never fails to amaze me how some offences are dealt with lightly, yet other less-serious wrongdoings are rewarded with seemingly harsher penalties.

Some time ago, I was guilty of exceeding the speed limit (on a long, straight road, with no nearby houses or pedestrians) by a few miles per hour in a perfectly safe and roadworthy vehicle.

For this brief lapse of concentration, I was fined £40 and given three points on my driving licence.

It came as no surprise, therefore, when I read (LET, March 16), of a person driving a vehicle with a bald tyre -- not just worn, but bald -- and with no driving licence or insurance or MoT certificate, for which the driver received a £50 fine and six months disqualification.

How can you take away someone's licence when they have not got one in the first place?

Which of the two cases was more serious? Were the punishments handed out fair?

I'll let you, the jury, decide.

COLIN CLAYTON, Haworth Street, Rishton.