TRAVELLING on a bus last week some teenagers, playing around with a mobile phone, distracted the driver so much that they were asked to turn the phone off.

Being partially sighted, I find my mobile phone a valuable aid.

I frequently attend hospital where there is a ban on the use of mobile phones - as many other places will have as more people become connected and a minority like those teenagers cannot operate a code of behaviour that does not, as in the case of the bus driver, distract other employees doing their jobs without accidents or incidents resulting.

I also carry a 'pager' which vibrates when it receives my caller's message. If am not in a convenient place to use my mobile phone, I read the message and then phone later.

Some public places are operating a call-barring device which prevents a mobile phone receiving or sending calls.

If someone required urgent medical assistance at the same time that a fault developed on the 'landline' phone system - albeit a chance in a million - the person wanting assistance could die.

ALAN LEWIS, Laxey Road, Blackburn.

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