I’D just finished reading J Keith Banks’ letter about the often lacking correlation between intelligence and common sense (HAS, Oct 2) when my wife rang for a lift.

I arranged to meet her at the bottom of South Street, Durham.

As I approached, I saw there two cars, laden to the gunwales and obviously belonging to students at the start of term drop-off, pulled up in front of the student houses ready to unload.

The occupants, I assume from experience, had gone inside to make sure that their new lodgings for the year were in acceptable state. Unbeknown to them, however, a dastardly traffic warden was outside putting a ticket on the cars for being on double yellow lines.

Now, while he was doing a good job for a jobsworthy, he seemed to be lacking in common sense (and possibly intelligence).

How are students supposed to be able to unload their belongings when the frontage of their accommodation is covered in yellow slime trails and what kind of welcome is this to, what has become, the lifeblood of Durham?

The letter I had just read made the point that there is no test for common sense. I think that traffic wardens (or at least this one) must take one – and fail.

Dave Brothers, Durham