May I add to the debate about the possible A303 tunnel.

In almost 60 years of driving in the UK and overseas I have never seen a lorry on fire, either alone or involved in an accident.

Furthermore, there is rarely any report of such incidents.

Previous correspondents have mentioned catastrophic fires in the Chunnel and the Alpine tunnels, but in terms of the number of lorries on the roads, the incidence of serious lorry fires either in tunnels or on the surface must be small. So we have to consider the probability of a lorry catching fire whilst in the proposed A303 tunnel. I presume the proposed tunnel will be relatively short; no longer than the Mersey or Dartford tunnels and comparable with the tunnels on the M25 and M4. So I suggest we have the low probability of a lorry catching fire and the low probability of this happening whilst in the tunnel.

I think the odds of these two events happening at the same time make the National Lottery a sound financial proposition.

Yes, there will be accidents and there may be self-igniting lorries, but with modern design and adequate hard shoulders there is no reason why the proposed tunnel would be any more dangerous than the many tunnels, long and short, already in use.

As an aside, if either the tunnel or the surface dual-carriageway is adopted will we have the eyesore of a clover-leaf junction or fly-over at the A303 - A380 Longbarrow junction?

Alan Shaw

Pitton