WITH reference to recent correspondence to HAS by Alison Watson about mobile phone signals (HAS, June 20), I cannot see why, unless you are a VIP or a member of the emergency services, it should be essential to be contactable at all times.

Society functioned perfectly well before the use of these appliances. They are useful in an emergency but their indiscriminate and sometimes unnecessary use can be hazardous and a general nuisance to those within earshot.

Consequently, there are users on buses hollering “sorry I’m on the bus”. People wander around under ladders and in front of cars while texting.

Recently, I saw a man take two guests to a pub lunch where, throughout the entire meal, he wore an earpiece, which had a flashing blue light.

Besides looking like an extra from Star Trek what could be so important that it couldn’t wait for an hour? It was also extremely pompous behaviour – and rude to his lunch guests.

I think that there is a strong case for eating establishments to temporarily confiscate mobile phones in these circumstances, much as saloons did with guns in the Wild West.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland