In these days of excessive health and safety legislation it was bewildering to observe the lack of provision made for the release of the crowd from the Hackney Empire, which consisted of a high proportion of young children.

 I was there to collect my son from the evening performance of Aladdin which he attended as part of his school's end of term party.

 The junction of Morning Lane and Mare Street is currently undergoing improvements and the traffic is reduced to a single flow using a manually controlled signal. Why anyone would choose the lane nearest to the Empire to feed the traffic into (using a chicane which forces the buses to overhang the curb of an overcrowded pavement) when the two outer lanes of that stretch of road are not being worked on defies any human reason. A special mention is due to the bus drivers I saw swinging into the pavement and braking at the last minute to make their presence felt, some of whom were considerate enough to blow their horns to thank those straying into the road for their attention.

 I am left wondering who should be doing more to prevent an accident that is just waiting to happen. The Empire's management who should be aware of the dangers to its customers? Or Hackney Council who should be doing a better job to ensure the safety of its pedestrians? The road construction company, of course, bears no responsibility to anyone and it would be more than my job's worth to suggest otherwise.

Chris Peters