As a 90-year-old with over 70 years driving vehicles, including bren gun carriers, articulated lorries and motorcycles, I consider myself a competent driver, even though I gave up my licence last year.

However, this did not prepare me for the hazards of driving a mobility scooter along pavements in Devizes with its uneven and broken flagstones, badly repaired utility covers and metal water channels and unmarked dropped pavements at crossing points.

A couple of months ago I had a morning appointment at Devizes Hospital and as I approached the roundabout near the hospital, the rising sun was in my eyes as I searched for the crossing in vain. I suddenly found I was near the edge of the high pavement and turned away.

Too late, first one rear wheel dropped onto the road, quickly followed by the front wheel and the scooter and I gracefully toppled over and from that position I could see I was three feet from the crossing point. Fortunately, two knights in shining armour, mounted on bicycles, stopped and extricated me from my embarrassing position and lifted the scooter onto the pavement. Nothing hurt but my dignity but had the crossing been marked, it would not have happened.

Other hazards await the unwary scooter driver – the young person with a telephone stuck to her ear, gazing fixedly down and unaware of your approach, the person of all ages who steps from a shop doorway without looking and the cars parked close to the kerbs with their oversized mirrors sticking out over the pavement.

I noticed today splashes of paint at the edge of pavements to stop motorists parking. I suggest that the same artists be employed to mark the pedestrian crossing.

Wilf Davison, Sheep Street, Devizes.