Your paper loves to relay tales of evil traffic wardens so I thought it would be good to add some balance with a tale of two good Samaritans. On Saturday as I was leaving my home in Belsize Park, I notice a distressed looking man fishing down a manhole i

Your paper loves to relay tales of evil traffic wardens so I thought it would be good to add some balance with a tale of two good Samaritans.

On Saturday as I was leaving my home in Belsize Park, I notice a distressed looking man fishing down a manhole in search of lost keys with a coat hanger, with a traffic warden standing next to him and his car parked only half in a resident's bay.

We decided to see if we could help; it turned out the man was unable to communicate well following an operation and was unable to use the telephone.

The traffic warden soon called one of her colleagues who arrived on a scooter, and together we all tried to call help, including the man's car scheme for disabled people, the fire brigade, the RAC (of which his scheme purported to be a member) but to no avail; despite the man's disabled status none were prepared to help.

So there was no option but for the traffic warden and my husband, with great difficulty, to lift off the concreted-in manhole cover using two spades and brute force and fish in the disgusting muddy mess.

Sadly we never found the keys, but the two traffic wardens stayed with us throughout, helped by using their own phones to call, and rolled their sleeves up. They only left when it was obvious there was no more to be done - and not a ticket in sight!

Vicky Unwin

Parkhill Road, NW3