SIR, We waited a very long time to have a cinema in Bicester.

But now that there is one, many of us are unable to get down the steep flight of steps within the cinemas. There are no hand rails. I am not disabled. I walk every day, yet am unable to descend the steps without assistance.

On each occasion I have been there, and talking to friends, they have also witnessed near falls. Is someone falling down and maybe breaking a limb or worse, becoming paralysed, less dangerous than the unlikely event of a fire?

One friend recently said that she could go to the cinema but her husband was unable to go with her due to the lack of handrails. I cannot see why a pole/rail at the end of each row is a fire hazard.

I wrote to Vue headquarters in London and got a reply that the cinema had passed health and safety, and that if they were to install a handrail, there would be a danger of evacuation in case of a fire.

I find it sad and frustrating that after so many years wait that older people find it so difficult and dangerous to go to the cinema.

Diana Broun, Rectory Close, Wendlebury