After reading your article on motorcyclists (The Argus, April 5), I would like to make a plea for the new, young rider on the road with the story of Alex.

In his last year of school and riding a well-lit bicycle and trailer on an early morning paper round, he was knocked down by a man in a van who "didn't see him." Result: Alex taken unconscious to hospital, new bike and trailer wrecked.

Starting college in September, he paid £2,000 part-time earnings for his first lower-powered motorbike. Sitting astride this, stationary, in a line of traffic, he was hit violently from behind by, you guessed it, a man who didn't see him. Result: Alex spreadeagled and badly bruised on the main road and the new bike a write-off.

Two months later, on a replacement bike and travelling up the private drive to his college, he was hit from the side by a retired man driving out from a golf course. Result: Another bike written off and Alex lucky to escape with minor injuries. All this in the last six months.

I know it is not easy to see pedal cycles or the smaller motorbikes when driving but neither of these modes of transport can move at any speed for an avoidance manoeuvre to get them out of danger.

Drivers must look out for these young people and give them space and allow for their vulnerability. Alex and all the others need your vigilance and road consideration if they are to survive.

-June Broomer, Peacehaven