I’M not sure I can agree with Jennifer Moore (HAS, May 12) who compares ordinary life with what has been perpetrated by MPs in their abuse-ridden expenses system.

I’ve never made a false or inflated insurance claim – it’s a criminal offence. John and Anne Darwin, Seaton Carew’s canoe couple, currently guests of HM Prison service, will attest to this.

I don’t walk out of work with £24,000-worth of paper clips and Biros on an annual basis.

I haven’t claimed £24,000 in fictitious mileage claims or cost my employer the same in telephone calls.

I haven’t fiddled my timesheet by claiming to be at work when I wasn’t. To do so would mean that in my case, based on an MP’s second home allowance, I haven’t been at work for the past 18 months.

Sorry, Jennifer, the comparison doesn’t work for me.

Ian Sadler, Darlington.