I was dismayed by Dale Marland's letter (January 19) in which he complains about the different colours of tactile paving used at road crossings.

Tactile paving is used by people who are blind and those with impaired vision. The former will use the blisters on the paving to detect a road crossing and will wait for assistance to cross the road.

People with impaired vision are likely to be able to detect both the texture and the colour of the paving - buff is light-coloured, red is dark - and this will give information on whether the crossing has a control which will stop the traffic.

This system is in use throughout Britain and has been devised in conjunction with organisations of visually-impaired people.

It is inappropriate to publish a letter which seeks to poke fun at a nationally-recognised system for disabled people.

-Barry North, Brighton