SIR – I am deeply concerned about the apparently light sentences given to people found guilty of serious offences, something voiced in your columns not for the first time.

A 20-year-old man drove while disqualified with false number plates, drove away from a petrol station without paying, drove dangerously and had no insurance (T&A, August 17). He got 27 weeks' detention, of which he will serve only nine weeks and which he will laugh off as part of his life-style.

He will probably reoffend on release. A much stiffer sentence may just teach him a lesson.

Rudi Leavor, Heaton Park Drive, Bradford