Stop blaming older drivers, says Bill star

SIR KEIR Starmer has been urged to “stop blaming older people” by The Bill star Graham Cole, after the government threatened to ban drivers aged over 70 from the road unless they pass an eyesight test.

- BY JONATHAN WALKER

The actor, who received specialist police driver training for his role as PC Tony Stamp in the long-running ITV drama, called the idea “ludicrous”.

Graham, 73, said of his training: “I wanted the show and my part to be as authentic as possible, and it opened my eyes to the dangers on the roads and what our boys in blue have to deal with in the aftermath of an accident.

“These ludicrous proposals smack of an unfair approach to older drivers.

“Everybody wants safer roads but this looks suspiciously like an unfair attempt to heap the blame for accidents on older people when we all know it’s younger drivers that are most at risk of being in or causing an accident.”

Graham appeared in 1,202 episodes of The Bill, which ended in 2010.