The year was 1942, the day was Boxing Day and I was trying out my first second-hand bicycle when, lo and behold, a policeman told me not to ride on the pavement.

So the teenage boys who were fined for being disobedient and for riding on the pavement in the year 2001 must not be surprised by the treatment they received.

What made me laugh was the boys said it was safer to ride on the pavement than on the road.

As a pedestrian, what with roller skates, roller blades, skateboards, scooters and bicycles, sometimes ridden by adults along the pavements, I find it safer to walk in the road.

-Roy Hilliard, Old Shoreham Road, Portslade