The road constriction due to the Hastings bus lanes on Bexhill Road is going to cause an accident - and it was nearly mine

I would be rather more persuaded by Derrick Coffee’s defence of the A259 bus lanes had I not had to swerve into one of them to avoid a rapidly approaching HGV encroaching well into my path from the opposite side of the road whilst it was pulling out to overtake a parked truck.

Presumably I could face a potential fine for invading Mr Coffee’s hallowed space as I attempted to avoid a head on crash. As others have pointed out the newly-restricted width of road space at several parts of this route is an accident waiting to happen.

The extended delays at the junction with Harley Shute Road are a further imposition – replacing a largely steady flow of vehicles with a crawling static row of cars, vans and lorries excluded from what is 99 per cent of the time a free and open road. How anyone can possibly claim this brings environmental benefits beggars belief.

As to Mr Coffee’s faith in bus and rail transport, I was taking green garden waste to the tip at the time – not easily achieved by bus, train or bicycle – and we are not permitted a green waste collection in our part of Hastings. Similarly any comparison with the public transport services in Brighton is simply laughable.

On the past two occasions I have relied on the local Hastings buses to take me to Bexhill and Rye respectively, both services had extensive gaps in service with unplanned delays of around 45 minutes each time as Stagecoach vehicles had reportedly broken down en route and been withdrawn from service.

I also discovered that the last bus from Hastings Station to the Old Town leaves at 5.40pm on a Sunday! There is a reason for car dependency.