Careless reporting

Sir,

In your account of the V.S.C.C. Driving Tests at Silverstone on December 5th, you state “Tim and Margery Carson, whose idea it all is, sheltered in their Volvo and Tony Bird drove about in the Club’s Peugeot.”

This statement is grossly inaccurate and, in my opinion, almost libellous.

While it is true that I spent the day in the car (I was suffering from shingles at the time), Tim did not set foot in the Volvo, or any other car, from the time he arrived at Silverstone until the finish of the meeting. Nor can I believe that anyone could mistake the 5ft. 3 in. of Mrs. Footit (who did sit in the Volvo with me) for Tim. Nor, once the tests were laid out, did Tony Bird use the Peugeot.

If you had seen them at the end of the meeting, both wet to the skin, you would not have made such wildly inaccurate remarks.

I trust that you will publish this letter in your next issue so that members who were not present, or who do not know Tim personally (no-one who does know him is likely to believe such a story), will know that Tim would never just sit watching other people work in the rain. He has never done so yet. (Copies to J. W. Rowley and J. E. Stanford.)

Margery Carson – Kingsclere.

[Why anyone should suggest that I would wish to accuse Tim Carson and Tony Bird of shirking their duties, or to libel them, I cannot imagine, nor can I see why it was necessary to emphasise my casual reporting to the Club President and the Editor of the V.S.C.C. Bulletin. Nevertheless, I apologise unreservedly to Mr. Carson and Mr. Bird, for whom I have always had the highest regard, and especially to Mrs. Footit for mistaking her silhouette for that of Tim’s on this very wet day. It is apparent that any friends a journalist may make when he is full of praise are apt to desert him when he makes a foolish mistake, even in what was intended to be a lighthearted account!—Ed.]