SIR – All the fuss about Jeremy Clarkson has missed the real benefit of his absence from the television screen.

He may well be a rude, self opinionated, arrogant, badly dressed middle aged adolescent nationalist from Chipping Norton with an eye on self promotion, but his real impact has been in moulding the attitude to the use of motor vehicles. Quite simply his programme uncritically encourages the production of CO2.

Top Gear’s emphasis on speed, acceleration and power, all producers of excessive and unnecessary CO2, has certainly influenced the behaviour on the road, the demand for large vehicles, and the future development programme.

The only atmosphere we have deserves a more responsible role model than the one that glorifies Jeremy Clarkson.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford