ON Monday, November 8, my husband and I were driving home from work, along Spring Lane in Blackburn towards the traffic lights at the bottom of Buncer Lane.

A motorcycle policeman was heading in the opposite direction. He made a U-turn in what we considered a dangerous place - on a sharp bend and at a road junction.

We presumed he must have had an emergency call. He followed along behind us and when we were almost in the queue at the traffic lights, he waved us over to one side.

We thought to ourselves that he must be stopping us to let us know that the police have apprehended the motorists who hit our car three years ago. The driver had no licence or insurance and nobody has seen him since, in spite of the fact that we have provided an address for him and there is an outstanding warrant out for him.

I have spent three years living with constant pain and nothing can be done to improve the condition that I now suffer and will for the rest of my life.

We also thought that perhaps the officer was stopping us to let us know who broke into our car two years ago when it was parked on Preston New Road. It proved quite costly - about £300.

Or perhaps he was going to tell us the police caught the ones who broke into our subsequent car on Richmond Terrace, earlier this year. This proved more expensive - costing about £800 to replace the stolen stereo, personal items and repair the damage. Or maybe he was stopping us to let us know that they have caught the perverts who were in the bushes in Billinge Woods committing disgusting acts which we reported to them last year - only to be told: "Ramblers do funny things, you know."

He might have been stopping us to tell us that they have apprehended the youths we have reported carrying out numerous drug deals in Billinge Woods - registration numbers provided - of the youths who accosted my husband one evening when walking in he woods - again, registration number provided.

But no, alas, he was stopping us to tell us that our registration plate was incorrectly spaced.

I must add that his attitude was extremely upsetting, very condescending and most offensive. This has since been reported.

Our car is taxed, insured and maintained to a very high standard. The registration numbers were standard issue - the correct size, but apparently incorrectly spaced.

I trust we would be considered by others to be law-abiding, respectable people.

Through our business, we have dealt with the local and national police forces on numerous occasions and have never had no question before now, the amount of respect we felt that they deserved from the public.

It is a sad situation that as taxpayers, we are paying for these officers to spend their working days in trivial matters which are apparently a major priority to them.

Name and address received

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.