postbag -ac I JUST wanted to say thank you publicly to the van driver on the A38 from Taunton to Exeter who made me feel so safe and secure. I particularly enjoyed being tailgated so badly on the single carriageway/no overtaking part of the road that I hit the verge at one point.

I felt less threatened in Birmingham earlier yesterday, which is not renowned for its good road design or patient inhabitants, and driving through thick blanketed fog on the M5 in Gloucestershire.

If there had been anywhere for me to pull over safely and let him past I would have done. When he did get past, I then watched him behave in exactly the same way with the vehicle in front. I just hope the extra seconds of his life he saved by driving in this way were worth it. His life is obviously so much more important than that of anyone else who dares to need to use the same road as him.

I really do hope that kind, considerate, thoughtful driver is never in the same position, driving on an unfamiliar dark road at night with the driver behind in his boot. I especially hope his wife, girlfriend, sister, daughter, niece or other female relatives are never in the same position.

The only reason I was even on the A38 was because of the fatal multiple crash on the M5 which closed the road for several hours. With drivers like this around, it's amazing there aren't more fatal accidents on South West roads.

PAULA YOUNGER Polsloe Road, Exeter