WHILE enjoying a fast four-and-a-half-mile walk locally, I approached a narrowing of the pavement with the sight of a teenager cycling towards me.

When he realised I wasn’t going to give way to his illegal act, he stopped and, as I walked past, shouted: ‘’Weren’t ya goin’ a let me pass then?’’ I told him ‘’No, it’s against the law to ride on the pavement” and he replied: ‘’So ******* what’’, followed by more expletives.

His slovenly speech was presumably caused by being dragged up rather than brought up by parents as ignorant as him – a point seconded by an elderly lady walking past, who told him off in no uncertain manner.

Sadly, it appears that those like him are multiplying. Is it any surprise so many of his ilk are unable, or unwilling, to converse in a logical manner when they are allowed by parents and schools, alike, to act in a feral manner without correction?

MICK HEAVEY Oxford Road Old Marston Oxford