WHATEVER has happened to my beloved York? It is my home city - of which I've always been very proud - for its history, its beauty, its tranquillity and its strong sense of community.

My husband and I visited last week. We booked into what used to be a charming old hotel and then we were kept awake all night by young men and women shouting and screaming - mainly obscenities - who were drinking at a new pub opposite and carried on long after the supposed closing time.

The next afternoon we walked down Coney Street and in one of the side streets a gang of girls were loudly encouraging a youth who was urinating against a wall.

We went into a shop owned by two South Africans. They had come to York because conditions in South Africa had deteriorated, and they had so much liked York after a visit a few years ago.

He remarked chillingly that if the behaviour of young people continued to spiral downwards and if the drink and drugs problems were not taken in hand quickly - then a few years on he feared that things could become as bad as they are in South Africa.

He also mentioned what he considered to be the ineffectiveness of the police.

The experiences I have described are in no way comparable to what we have to contend with in London. I wasn't wary, or felt the constant menace that I do here. As far as I know stabbings, vicious muggings and car-jackings or gun warfare do not occur in York - as they do routinely within two miles of where I live.

But wake up York - get a grip now, or that chap from South African's fears may come to pass.

Carole Tucker,

Hillside Gardens,

Highgate, London.

Updated: 11:07 Friday, April 12, 2002