The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not appear to check addresses of car owners even when it has them on record (Rise of the ‘ghost owner’: 18,000 UK vehicles in use without proper records, 23 April). Where I live, two vehicles are registered that are not mine, and the ultra-low emission zone fines, parking charges and bailiffs’ letters for motoring infractions are piling up. Surely there should be checks before a V5C logbook is issued?
Graeme Thorn
Arnos Grove, London
• The increase in ghost owners of vehicles will not be stemmed by controlling who sells cloned plates. For a young person, the cost of insurance could be £1,500 a year. If they get caught, the fine is £400 and points on their licence. That will be seen as a no-brainer. They might think again if the penalty was £5,000, loss of licence and the vehicle being scrapped.
Simon Allen
Wendover, Buckhinghamshire
• If the increase in cancer diagnoses is “largely due to a growing and ageing population” (Report, 23 April), why does the NHS stop routine bowel and breast cancer testing after the early 70s?
Jane Ghosh
Bristol
• The full version of the “wazzock” insult, as used by Tony Capstick in the early 80s (Letters, 22 April), was “you great useless, spawny-eyed, parrot-faced wazzock”.
Robert Graham
Sandweiler, Luxembourg
• I am disturbed that someone thought it necessary to clone extra monarch butterflies into a photo (Corrections and clarifications, 23 April). Are we down to the last two?
Eric Sharp
Newcastle upon Tyne
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