Re: ‘Tourist madness on highways just keeps rolling on and on', 'The Weekend Sun, January 9). Any chance you can point out to K Morland of Katikati that they should stop banging on about the kayak on the roof story.

Two letters have appeared in as many weeks regarding this story that was incorrectly run by nationwide media.

The guy was not driving with the kayak like that, the front roof rack came loose causing the load to shift, he pulled over to rectify this and then the Police saw him on the hard shoulder and pulled over to offer assistance, subsequently the Police were called away to a job.

What does K Morland suppose the ticket should be issued for? Being on the hard shoulder, being stopped, not moving, identifying a deficiency, rectifying a deficiency? So now a guy is going to self propel 3000km on roller skis and you want to chastise him? What have you ever done to push the boundaries of human endurance? Would it be acceptable if they were just running? Should we ban bicycle and wheelchair from public roads? How about motorbikes while we are at it?

Or is your real issue because they are not New Zealanders? Would you mind if it was a local person fundraising for charity?

Perhaps we should ban cars, then the road toll could be zero. Oh and while we're at it we could ban tourists too, then you couldn't blame them for everything.

J Cantlon, Papamoa.

Editor's note: Media reports suggest the kayak-carrying driver's version of events is different to the police officer.