Since reform of the law in 2003, outdoor sex is unlikely to break the law if there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. The piece failed to mention this, and instead asserted that the law had been broken – despite the alleged sexual activity occurring in a remote place, at night, in the bushes.

Moreover, it is very dubious and certainly not a fact that any sexual activity was witnessed at all, let alone an 'orgy'. No member of the fire service or the public complained to the police that they had witnessed sexual activity that night. During their disciplinary, the firemen did not claim to have witnessed any illegal act or sexual activity.

Nor was it 'one of the gays' as you put it who complained about the firemen's behaviour. The sexuality of the anonymous man who reported the fire engine's presence on the Downs, and that of any other men who may or may not have been seen there is as unknown as their identity.

Mark Simpson, Richmond, North Yorks