Reader's dives

Stanley Kubrick could have set his film Full Metal Jacket in Stoke Newington's Albion Road rather than Docklands, judging by the derelict vehicles lining the street. Locals have to pick their way through the wrecked vans and crushed cars dumped there and risk mutilation on the jagged shells and broken glass littering the pavements.

The location: This site has been nominated by Albion Road resident Adrianne LeMan, who has been trying since August 1993 to get Hackney council to remove these vehicles.

Independent London has copies of her correspondence with the council, which only last week bothered to reply. They advised she contact the police - they denied responsibility for the problem and suggested she contacted the council. 'It's a nightmare. No one wants to deal with the situation. Some day a child will be injured playing in or around these wrecks,' says LeMan.

The reply: Mick Gosling, press officer for Hackney council, says: 'We can't trace Ms LeMan's previous letters. We've put notices on the vehicles warning that they will be removed within 10 days. If someone moves them from that spot - even a few feet - before the deadline, the notice is invalid. And if someone claims to own a vehicle and we remove it, we could be sued.'

Inspector David Christie of Stoke Newington police says: 'It's a grey area and our powers are limited. It's a game of cat and mouse. The vehicle owners are flaunting the law but we would have to catch someone actually driving. I want to see the law changed so that all abandoned vehicles need tax discs.'

Hackney council (081-986 3132); Stoke Newington Police (071-488 7182).

(Photograph omitted)