IN reply to Howard Davies of Highcliffe (Have Your Say, September, 20) not all single parents are able to “get on their bikes and better themselves”.

I for one lost the ability to ride a bike (and even walk properly) after falling victim to a devastating incurable illness at the age of 33. Despite terrible pain I continue to work for as long as possible while bringing up my child.

My days are now spent battling to stay out of a wheelchair, an enormous effort which leaves me constantly exhausted.

One in five youngsters have no jobs, including university graduates, yet this government has scrapped the compulsory age of retirement.

I am surrounded in Christchurch by many retired people who are fit and healthy.

Many of them ended working at 55 to 60.

If they miscalculated the amount they needed to retire, they could indeed shelf stack at Tesco as Mr Davies suggests.

OAPs are only stuck on fixed incomes if they choose to be.

It is the sick and disabled (parents included) and the young who have been most cruelly betrayed by this coalition government.

T DAVIES, address supplied, Christchurch