Returning home after a week's holiday I was greeted by the usual pile of mail, more than 60 per cent of which was unsolicited junk mail.

As most of this literature ends up in the bin in the majority of households it should be collected in a huge disposal unit at the end of each street.

Surely the city could make money out of this? Various sources say there is no 100 per cent way of stopping it all being delivered.

I have also discovered there is no way of stopping unwanted night and weekend telephone sales calls - even by going ex-directory.

This is more serious, especially for the elderly and infirm who struggle to answer the phone and get upset in the consequence.

What is the answer? Some form of firm legislation?

Gordon Ross,

Huntington Road,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.