THE Highways Agency is in the process of resurfacing the A19 south of Easingwold with stone chips.

There are signs warning motorists to slow down but, as far as I know, they are not in the Highway Code. The normal 20 mph warning signs were changed with a yellow sticker stating 10mph.

But what is the point of a speed restriction such as this when there is no way of enforcing it?

I was travelling slowly in a convoy, sedately chipping away at my underseal, when a white van driver decided he would create a bow wave of rocks and a wake of expletives by overtaking the line of traffic at about 60mph.

I was lucky in that I suffered very little damage.

Not so my partner who travelled later. She met either him or his mate going back at the same speed and her car's windscreen was broken.

Although her insurance will pay most of the cost, the £50 excess makes it an expensive and annoying trip home from work.

When I drove along this major trunk road the next day, I noticed that in places the new surface is already rutted and pitted - even before the white lining has started.

Doug Allwright,

Moorfields,

West Moor Lane,

Raskelf,

Easingwold.

Updated: 10:02 Tuesday, June 15, 2004