WITH reference to your article in the July 19 issue, regarding the scrambler bike incident at Merton Bank, just to refresh the memories of both St Helens MBC and the police, this is not the first incident and it is only through luck there haven't been more.

The problems are not just restricted to the Merton Bank play area; the 'Burgies' are also used by the mindless few as a scrambler bike circuit.

To date we have had, if my memory is correct, one five-year-old child killed by another bike incident (about 10 or 11 years ago); one person allegedly murdered on the footpath that links College Street and Merton Bank; and now this latest incident. And the local council and police have been aware of the problems since the first incident.

These bikers often come from the Islands Brow estate and the estate off Chain Lane, riding on the pavements and road with, I guess, no tax, no insurance, possibly no licence and certainly no helmets and often with two on a bike. I have complained on numerous occasions to the police but to no avail.

This doesn't surprise me, as it seems to be the norm for bikers to ride on the pavements and cars to park on them. So let's have the traffic police doing their job and put a stop to this practice of using parks and footpaths as a racetrack.

Also, the council need to do something positive and not just put up a sign saying'No Bikes'.

Further, how do Pilkington stand on this issue? They are content to continue to boast of increased profits while paying scant regard to the residents' plight or the condition they leave the area in. They dumped the waste there, perhaps this council should seek legal advice with regard to Pilkington removing it.

Of course, the wild life lobby would protest and I am sure the wild life is delighted with the noise from the scrambler bikes caused by this 'pond life.

CONCERNED (name and address supplied).