Get a life, Nigel!

It's a comment that I have heard increasingly the older I have become. Is it just me, or has the world just become a more irritating place to live in?

I am sure that there is a secret department out there devoted to doing things that get my goat.

The latest example:

I came home late last night from a long day at work, and though I was hallucinating. There is a huge, soon to be illuminated, sign blocking the pavement where the phone box used to be on St Margarets Road, near Westbourne Close.

Not only is it very close to a bike rack, which will make getting a buggy past very difficult, it is vile.

I assume that someone at Richmond Council must have known about this, as I suppose you can't go digging up large parts of pavement without telling someone.

I have asked for clarification, but if you notice a large paper bag over it one day, it is probably me...

Small world

These parking tickets are getting everywhere.

I went to a show yesterday, and met someone who lives in St Margarets who, guess what, just got a parking ticket through the post! Doesn't that make me popular...

Anyway, I just got the following e-mail from one of our ever helpful councillors (and unusually for me, I say that without even a trace of irony. God forbid, I am thinking that I might end up voting Liberal next time round...)

"
Nigel

The signs were placed at the following locations prior to start of enforcement but we take your point and Cllr Geoff Acton has requested another sign be put near Tesco

Regards

Cllr Ben Khosa

445 The Barons
446 St Margarets Road
447 Crown Road
448 St Margarets Road
449 Bridge Road
450 Amyand Park Road
"

I have written back, asking that they be big signs, not those silly little CYA signs they usually put up about CCTV!

When good ideas go bad

The council recently applied for permission to use CCTV images to issues parking tickets to people misusing the loading bay, bus stop and double yellow lines outside Tesco. This is a move that I have been advocating for some time, if only to show the true scale of the problem.

Sadly, it has been implemented in rather an unfortunate way.

Ideally, a notice would have gone up warning people that CCTV was being used for parking control, as the ideal number of parking tickets would have been zero, as people moved on to park or load legally.

Instead, a large number of tickets seem to have been issued, in some cases, several to the same car as a batch of images has been analysed.

Sadly, this makes the whole exercise look like a cynical revenue raising scheme, rather than a positive way of reducing the traffic issues in St Margarets.

The Council needs to erect prominent signs along that stretch of road so that people are aware that CCTV is and has been used to issue parking tickets, to deter people before they get a ticket, not after.

Not everyone is aware of the restrictions, and some people assume that because everyone seems to park there with impunity, the restrictions do not really apply, which is the Council's fault in the first place!

Oh well, you try...

The Price of Protest

About 75p a day at the moment.

Using my specially purchased laminator, I produced some rather fetching posters to hang around the offending crossings to solicit local opinion (actually, to get fellow protesters involved, which when you think about it is a whole different thing)

It took me a little while to master how to tie them around the poles at the crossing (It's a real science. Unless very well secured, they spin in the wind)

Anyhow, I was pleased with the results, and a number of people stopped to read, and to comment about how they too felt the crossing was dangerous (and one suggested it depended on whether you pushed the button or not. Thanks for that mature consideration, mate).

So, I strolled off to the station this morning, and guess what. In a fit of unusual efficiency, the rubbish guys have taken them down. Can I get the Council to pick up my rubbish once a week without spilling it all over the road? No. But a legitimate piece of local protest literature. Whipped away as if it had never been there. Now I understand why people paste posters on now (which is genuinely messy and hideously illegal).

So, it looks like 75p and 10 minutes a day out of my life for the next few weeks, and I do battle with that most unlikely enemy of democracy, the road sweeper...

Cross about the Crossing

My battles against bureaucracy in St Margarets are not limited to Tesco, although you could be forgiven for thinking so.

My latest fight is again Transport for London (TfL) . There is a pedestrian crossing just near our house, just north of the A316. In theory, my son is of the age that he can walk to school by himself, which is not much use as he has a younger sister at the same school who needs an adult. But it would be useful for coming home after late school activities

To do this, he has to cross a footbridge, and this one pedestrian crossing.

In theory, you press the button, the traffic light turns red, the green man goes green, and then you cross, saf in the knowledge that the cars have stopped. That has been my experience of pedestrian crossings up until I met this one.

It is in a funny location, just north of a major arterial road, but on a sharp corner. And you often can't see people waiting to use the crossing.

But even that in itself is not the biggest problem.

The way the lights are phased, the pedestrian crossing turns red, as the lights on the A316 go green. So lots of impatient motorists, pull away on the green light, and only by the time it is too late to they realise that they are now on a red going north.

I have seen a large number of vehicles go through, some never realising, some screeching to a halt half way across the crossing. Exactly 10 feet too late to save the life of whoever they have just run over.

Some time ago, I took the matter up with TfL. The first analysis of the situation showed that the crossing was not active for long enough in any event. It is supposed to be red for 13 seconds (the things you find out), and it was only red for 10. So they changed it, somehow missing my point that they needed to re-phase the lights to ensure there was no traffic passing through, not just extend the time they left pedestrians waiting to get knocked over.

So I tried again.

This time they sent a man out for an hour in a bright yellow jacket to see if anyone jumped the lights. Well, hardly surprising no-one did as he looked for all the world like a traffic policemen, and was probably visible from space!

I popped out there for 10 minutes today until I saw someone jump the lights, and then retired, smug. (Yes you white van LC52 NVG)

It's not just me, as a number of other local people have seen the same thing. I am just trying to rally the troops to get something done.

The answer? Another Jiglu space! Yes http://crossing.jiglu.com will be the focus of the latest campaign. I am turning into Victor Meldrew, so help me God. It's when I fight the council to take the apostrophe out of the road sign round the corner (Not St Margaret's, chaps) that you will really have to take pity on my wife...

Corporate Responsibility

The question, I suppose, is who is ultimately responsible for keeping the streets free of traffic outside the local Tesco.

In the old Olivers days, there was never the constant presence of cars there is today. The shop was very local, and almost everyone who used it walked to it.

Today, the demographic is quite different.

You see commuters in cars and vans stopping for cash and other items. What was once a local store is now a magnet for people passing through St Margarets.

So, who should sort out the mess it has caused? Should we have the Tesco chairman camped outside thanking people for their custom, but asking them to be more considerate to the local community. Or should the polluter not pay?

I think that it is a joint problem. Tesco should encourage people to use the parking that is available, or should rent some space over the road. The council should continue its heavy enforcement presence to remind people that they are affecting an entire community with their thoughtless actions.

I am not anti-Tesco, and can be seen there on a regular basis. But I continue to advocate a policy of St Margarets first. Perhaps it's time to watch "Passport to Pimlico" again to see if I can pick up a few tips...

Not quite the Last Post

Not everyone has found their way over to the blog at Jiglu.com. So an update on the current situation.

The good news is that Tesco really do seem to be sticking to the loading hours, and trying to minimise the number of lorries.

The bad news is that the parking situation is becoming farcical.

The restrictions are pretty clear, and a fairly long strip has double yellow lines. None of this deters people from parking pretty much anywhere along that part of St Margarets Road, including in the bus stop, while they stop for cash.

Things are getting so bad that the overspill sees people parking over the edge of some local roads, making passing near impossible (I saw this last night on the close opposite Bridge Road)

Our new local councillors have been good about pushing the issue of the lorries. Allegedly, the council now has the power to issue Parking Tickets just using the CCTV. I have yet to enquire if they have done so. Get in touch, and tell them how you feel. The details are here

Last ever post!

Ohmygod! You beat Tesco?

No, I just found a better place to do my campaigning - I've moved to Jiglu, the first Blogger to do so, but not the last - Jiglu gives me blogging ability (and by e-mail!), a wiki, a feed reader, the ability to let other people post easily, and it generates automatic tags, straight from the content, linking my blog, dicussion, wiki and feeds together - It's the new wave of e-mail.

Come see us at http://spasm.jiglu.com

Jobs to be sued over podRage incident?

It seems that finally someone has snapped over that tinny noise you hear from those iPod headphones. It would be nice if Apple spent a little more on headphones that didn't upset passers-by

read more | digg story

So are Tesco playing by the rules?

Saturday, about 9.45, just on the way to football.

Two Tesco lorries, one in the loading bay, and one waiting outside Oddbins!

Small yellow Mini on the double yellow line, and to complete the picture, a white van swooping round the corner - Totally safe for all those children on their way to Saturday activities!

It's not over - By a long shot

According to one Richmond Council official, all is well in Tesco-land. Parking enforcement is at the correct level and Tesco are playing by the rules.

I don't get into St Margarets as much as I used to during the day, but here are some shots from today, one at 8.30 this morning (when the Loading Bay is supposed to be totally clear), and one at about 2pm - that lorry you notice parked on the corner (notice the absence of driver) is a Tesco delivery. I'm sure he would argue it's not his fault because of the people parked in the Loading Bay.

I have a small amount of sympathy, but if Tesco know a delivery is scheduled, they could easily have a few people waiting by the loading bay, to wave away errant drivers

Instead, I almost got knocked over by someone swinging round the front of the lorry.

Gone, but not forgotten

A few months have passed.

Has the situation got any better? No, not really.

The promised review of the loading bay by the Council has failed to materialise, so it seems we are stuck with near permanent congestion outside the Tesco store in St Margarets.

This means we have juggernauts, vans and private cars parking in the extended loading bay, the bus stop, and on the double yellow lines. This happens throughout the day, and into the evening, causing traffic congestion, and constituting a major hazard to pedestrians crossing nearby roads.

Leaving aside the major quality of life concerns, there is the issue raised before about what it means in pure environmental terms to have these lorries coming into the centre of our village. Tesco is committed to putting more food onto its lorry fleet - ie it wants to deliver the most food with the minimum amount of drivers.

What this means is that the lorries we have will get bigger, not smaller - Transport 2000 says that a juggernaut has 10,000 times more impact on the road infrastructure than an average car. Infrastructure that will then have to be dug up, at local taxpayers expense, and replaced.

As the country's biggest retailer, Tesco is in a position to use "green" diesel in its lorry and van fleet, and to sell "green" diesel at its petrol stations. This diesel (known also as bio-diesel) is made from vegetable oil (Rudolph Diesel designed the diesel engine to run on peanut oil), so it is entirely carbon neutral. At the moment, most waste vegetable oil is mixed with animal feed. As well as the environmental benefits, it is also much cheaper than regular diesel, as the tax is only 20p per litre. Any diesel car, van or lorry can run bio-diesel, without harm or adjustment.

Obviously, the solution for areas where Tesco is placing its smaller stores is for Tesco to employ more drivers, driving smaller vans, all running bio-diesel - One side effect is that this will create more employment. It will not increase congestion, as the amount of road space will be roughly the same -

Tesco pays lip-service to the use of bio-diesel and other bio-fuels (http://www.tescocorporate.com/biofuels.htm), but it has the corporate clout to switch its own fleet to bio-diesel, and allow the rest of the country to do so.

Reaching the boil

Thanks for all the texts - Very useful in collating information.

Here's this week's email to the council:

Dear Mr Potter

I, like you, have better things to be getting on with

So far this week, I have been past Tesco only three times between 8.40,
and 9.30 -

On each day, there has been some sort of delivery - I have left you two
voice mails, and we spoke once.

Today, for example, there was a delivery at 8.40 that I saw (I have a
text saying it started at 8.25), and then at 9.05, another lorry turned
up, and because someone was parked in the loading bay, parked in the bus
stop - So a bus had to unload on the crossing!

At 9.15, the person in the loading bay moved up to the double yellow
line.

The lorry moved up, and filled the whole loading bay (as all these
lorries do) - Which meant that the Tecso personnel started unloading in
the bus stop.

So, three days out of three Tesco has loaded when they shouldn't, parked
in the bus stop, and then unloaded into the bus stop. An impressive
average.

One of those lorries (out of the 5 I have seen) got a ticket (Wednesday,
I think) - It still hung a round, though, from 9.00 to past 10.00, when
another Tesco lorry came and parked behind it in the bus stop (this is
not one of the 5 previously mentioned, of course)

I phoned Sureway today - The person assured me that at 8.40, Tesco could
unload, as the Council had "waived the restriction". I found it hard to
convince him otherwise.

One of the few rights I seem to have in this is to ask for information,
and I feel complelled to do that right now, as nothing is happening.

So, could you please let me know:

1. What steps have been taken in the last 4 weeks to communicate the
loading restrictions to Tesco?

2. What has their response been?

3. Have any further communications taken place to complain about the
continuing infractions?

4. If so, what was their response? If not, why has no such
communication taken place?

5. Aside from the three month review as to the operation of the loading
bay, if Tesco continue to flout the loading bay and bus stop
restrictions, at what point will the Council take more draconian action?
Does it intend to allow three months of infractions to take first?

6. What will those measures be?

There's probably a lot more I could ask, but you are busy, and I'd
rather you spent your time sorting Tesco out.

You can imagine, though, that when everything I said would happen with
the new loading bay has actually happened, I'm a bit frustrated to see
little positive action taking place to really enforce the restrictions -
One parking ticket doesnt quite cut it.

Perhaps you an Councillor Kreling would like to join me when I finallydo
lie down in the loading bay?

Many thanks

Nigel Cannings

No Goods at all

9.08 this morning - Not only in the restricted window, but so big that it had to be unloaded in the bus stop

There is such a thing as too long...

Interesting loading bay discovery

The loading bay is the exact size of Tesco's largest lorry. If a lorry parks totally in the loading bay, the unloading has to take place in the bus stop!

To get round this, Tesco is parking almost to the corner of Broadway Avenue to give them room to unload in the loading bay - But in doing so, 5 or 6 feet of the lorry is outside the loading bay, and totally obscuring the view crossing the road

Well done Richmond Council!

Children under threat

Dear spasm

Hilary may well have made this point but as a walker of the walking bus to
St Stephens and Orleans Infant School on Fri am, the presence of anything
more than pedestrians on the pavement is a nightmare in keeping safety on
the bus. There was a delivery this morning. Ideally there should be either
early morning ie 7am or mid day.

John Cranna

REMEMBER - EMAIL m,potter@richmond.gov.uk

Email Mr Potter!

I'm delighted to see a number of emails to the Council coming through m.potter@richmond.gov.uk

Cllr Kreling said on Tuesday night it would be THREE MONTHS until a review took place.

Guess what, every morning, there's a lorry there when there shouldn't be - During the day, people park in the loading bay illegally, and when Tesco turn up, they use the bus stop!

A small sample below:

Dear Mr Potter



My understanding was that Tesco would limit deliveries between 9 am and 3 pm. Why then yesterday and today at 8.47 am they had deliveries. This is at the peak of school drop off time.

Surely, it is time for the council to admit that all policies, monitoring of this issue has not worked, and that you are insulting the intelligence of the residents of St Margarets. Yet again there were no enforcement officers to hand, unlike on other days and times when normal folk are in the vicinity.

When Tesco have deliveries, the carts block the pavements and people have to walk into the road to get past.



I like everyone else, am at a loss to understand how you gave approval for this to happen. No doubt if it was a smaller retailer, you would have declined.



Richmond Council - Don?t upset the very hands that feed you unless ofcourse Tesco?s hands are bigger!





Del Randhawa

So much for the new regulations

Yesterday, I saw a Tesco lorry parked in the bus stop from 9.10 to 9.30

Today, I got this email:

Today Friday 11 November:

8.30am 2 large lorries unloading into Tesco, road obstructions, backed up both ways beyond the roundabout, usual pavement obstructions with empty "trolleys", now further exacerbated by two unloadings going on. All this joined at 8.45am by third equally large Superdrug lorry to unload.... so much for "new regulations from 31 October".

OT, but incredible

Just had the most amazing technology demonstrated to me.

An email system that learns the information in your email as it comes in, creates a database of the interesting stuff, sends you digests, automatically organises it, puts hyperlinks in your email to link it to other emails, and which manages information for one user, a group, or a whole organisation.

Imagine being a sales director, and having all of the information from your sales people extracted, and accessible. Or a CEO who can get information about what the company is doing. All automatically.

It was like magic - I'd love someone to automatically sort and organise my mail, and extract the useful stuff as it came in. It's like the holy grail of email management.

http://www.kinomi.com

Text in this am

This morning the tesco lorry is parked on the brow of the hill on white zig zag lines and the bus stop. Dangerous. Inhibits the use of public transport and causing tail backs. This should be stopped.