Gate is small price to pay

IN reply to those people who wrote to The Hunts Post (August 2 and 9), in 2001 three flats in Cow and Hare Passage, St Ives, were torched at 2am with the residents asleep inside. Thankfully no-one died and all were rescued by the fire brigades from Huntin

IN reply to those people who wrote to The Hunts Post (August 2 and 9), in 2001 three flats in Cow and Hare Passage, St Ives, were torched at 2am with the residents asleep inside. Thankfully no-one died and all were rescued by the fire brigades from Huntingdon and St Ives, via upstairs windows.

Drunks, vandals, criminals, druggies, vomiters and toilet seekers etc made our lives hell on earth. So we locked the gate and at a stroke the quality of life returned. The police approved our action, and still do 100 per cent, and for over four years the incidents of crime were almost zero.

I have two sons in their 20s who live in the passage. I used to have three sons: Christopher died in his 30s, and I could not bear to lose another. The fear of death by fire is a very real one, as history proves. To suggest I'm doing this to make money is an evil slur under the tragic circumstances.

Ninety-nine per cent of all decent people who wish to use the passage do so with our blessing. We only lock the gate 10pm-6am. There are alternative passages only a small distance away. Locking our gate will not set a precedent, as hundreds of alley gating projects are passed annually due to the decline in respect and decency, together with the massive increase in binge drinking.

Compared with the very slight inconvenience this locked gate causes in the dead of night it is surely only a small price to pay to save even just one life.

TONY WEBSTER

Main Street

Hartford