I have recently purchased an 09 C-Max (with then 15+K on the clock) mainly because of my wife. Not that she nagged me but because she is recovering from having had both hip joints and one knee joint replaced all in the last eighteen months.

Because it is higher than the Focus we had previously, it allows much easier access to both the driving and passenger's seats. This I feel, is a real advantage and I would strongly recommend the car for anyone in our or similar circumstances circumstances.

I have absolutely no complaints about the vehicle other than the carpets in the both front footwells are begining to part company with the plastic mouldings around the edges.

Also, and this is not the car's fault, my wife is completely deaf and so driving a manual change is hard for her as she cannot hear the sound of the engine so we have to have an automatic.

I feel it is a bit harsh that we have to pay £240 in road fund tax as a consequence of this and penalising a disability in this manner is, to say the least, unfair. The Department of Transport do not seem interested in her plight. I wondered what your views would be.

One other point, if I may, on the subject of R.F.T.; It beats me how the current can be considered fair. Two identical cars in the same tax band pay the same amount of tax because, supposedly of their emissiions. One does 6000 miles a year, the other 12000. So the second pollutes twice as much as the first.

Why can't the tax be paid either via fuel or retrospectively when distance travelled at the end of a year can be calculated, via MOT certiification etc.

Commercial users would be eligible for a pro rata rebate. And why should some vehicles be exempt altogether when they cause just as much wear and tear to the roads as conventionally powered vehicles? Sorry to rant, but am I alone in thinking this?