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Level crossing stupidity...


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1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Cars were lighter then.

Jonathan

 

1 hour ago, Wickham Green said:

.... even though they were made of proper metal !

 

And a lot less technical;

Manual windows and handbrakes

And no;

Double locking and

Steering wheel locks

 

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4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Back in the early '50s when cars were a lot less common it was just regarded as 'unfortunate' if one got in the way according to one of my former staff who was a Shunter at Weymouth back then.  They always gave plenty of warning but cars were sometimes in the way and they were usually moved if possible by railway staff but if there was any damage to railway rolling stock a bill would be sent to the car owner if they could be traced.

Fond memories of the holidays in Dorset.

Mike Wiltshire

weymouthjuly79boattrain14lr.jpg.19612f854fd585ed46d2cced4e5aefb3.jpg

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On 03/12/2019 at 14:47, kevinlms said:

Some of our roads here are 'Tow Away' zones at peak hour.

Come 10 minutes before time, parking inspectors & tilt bed tow trucks are lined up waiting for the clock to tick over.

On time the ticket gets typed & photo taken, while the tow driver is tilting his tray & pulling out the chains.

Doesn't take long at all, until your vehicle is GONE. No messing about moving it!

 

Expensive to get back.

 

https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/parking-and-transport/parking/parking-rules/Pages/towed-impounded-vehicles.aspx

 

I'm sure they could be easily be convinced to pick up a mere car blocking a fire engine! Money for jam.

 

Cambridge tried - successfully - a tow-away scheme in the 80s, with pretty rigid control. They had "proper" traffic wardens then who were based at the city police station, and under police control. Any car found illegally parked was towed away, with a "human" discretion taken. The previous regime of just ticketing was not working & causing tremendous traffic problems. Sadly due to pressure from the ME fraternity who regarded it as an infringement of their rights, it was the tow-away scheme was later abandoned.

When I moved from working with the police, to working on the Underground, I saw the modern answer that London has. The traffic wardens are now parking officers, employed by the council (or their contractor). There is no discretion (though to be frank I have no sympathy with the parking offenders); every vehicle has to be correctly parked and there is intense policing (not Policing) of thge streets. It amused me every morning, as I popped out to the local Greggs in Lower Marsh (same street as the Ian Allan Bookshop). There is an Iceland store on the corner of the crossroads, with a warehouse entrance at the side in Launcelot St., a short cul-de-sac which forms a gated exit from under Waterloo station. Every morning an artic, same driver, backed into here to deliver; the parking officer was waiting, camera & ticket book in hand. The driver accepted the ticket & tossed it into the cab then unloaded. No "human" discretion, the lorry admittedly wasn't legally parked, but it was taking a number of car bays (short term parking, no obstruction to traffic). Generally, everyone in London is afraid to park, you have to be so pedantic how you park - they even have measurements from the kerb!

 

Stewart

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31 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

 

Generally, everyone in London is afraid to park, you have to be so pedantic how you park - they even have measurements from the kerb!

 

Stewart

On one of the "caught on camera" type shows there was an incident where a driver did the recommended manouvre to park his car, in a bay off the main carriageway.

He drove past the parking spot, then reversed in, just as I would have done.

Wrong, he got booked for stopping on a red lane, so that he could reverse into the spot!

Total Madness.

Edited by melmerby
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On 02/12/2019 at 23:07, newbryford said:

If anyone parks only allowing a small gap and they happen to be within earshot, the phrase:

"If a fire engine can't get through that gap, I hope it's their house on fire" usually works.......

a conversation i regulaly used to have whillst doing white goods deliverys around the terraced strrets of mersyside in a 7.5tonner after being told i "shunt bi daaarn ere wi dat "

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I delivered to shops in Oxford for many years and it was a case of outdistance the warden every day  one of these people went round on a moped handing out tickets.One morning I saw his moped dumped in a skip everyone cheered he was most rude about delivery drivers!

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1 hour ago, peanuts said:

a conversation i regulaly used to have whillst doing white goods deliverys around the terraced strrets of mersyside in a 7.5tonner after being told i "shunt bi daaarn ere wi dat "

In a similar vein:

Nottingham Residents 'infuriated' as bus drivers bang on doors asking them to move cars

 

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/residents-infuriated-bus-drivers-bang-3601687.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true

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33 minutes ago, Ramblin Rich said:

 

New build estate near Salisbury, had residents abandoning their cars on both sides of the winding 'through' roads.  They had absolutely no thought for the rest of the world, left to negotiate their way through, and even less for the bus drivers.  I boarded the bus one day and commented about the parking situation to the driver of the bus.  He smiled and informed me that it had been much improved, as they could drive through with care, but their insurance would eventually pay for any damage they caused on the way, but the parked car owners would get all the inconvenience of the claims and justifying claims that they were not the cause of an obstruction of the highway.

 

Apparently there had been many less cars parked so the passage of the busses passage was blocked.

 

Regards

Julian

 

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14 hours ago, Hobby said:

So much for saving the planet eh! Put on more buses then they wouldn't need the cars... 

Doesn't work

They will still use their cars whatever, even if they were free.

Most are just too bone idle to get off their fat *rses and walk a few yards to a bus stop.

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14 hours ago, jcredfer said:

Fowey, many years back, the King of Prussia [K of P] had 4 disabled parking slots by the stone stairs to the front door.  We arrived well after the crowds had returned to their diners and chose one of the 4 empty slots, well aware that they would not be required overnight and we would be out of there after dinner, anyway.  [I know, theoretically wrong - more of this later]

 

During dinner, my Bro-in-Law said we should overnight on his boat and shift the car early in the morning, before breakfast [back in the K of P], sounded like a reasonable plan and shouldn't do any harm to anyone - done.

 

Next morning, up sharp, to ensure we weren't going to obstruct any disabled persons, who might be going to get breakfast in the K of P, or nearby.  In the dingy, 07.30 and across the square, to the car, to be confronted by a parking ticket stuck on the windscreen, timed at 06.15.  Ok, shouldn't have left it there, but 06.15 did seem a tad early.  I moved the car as planned the previous night and went for breakfast, to be informed, by the owner of the K of P, that the traffic warden used to walk his dog in the morning and take his ticket book with him - all round the town!

 

Given my part in the events, I wrote a cheque for the amount shown on the ticket and posted it on the next day.  The cheque was stapled to a letter, outlining the circumstances [above] and making mention of the time the ticket was written.

 

Two weeks later, I sailed into Fowey, moored up and took the Water Taxi to the K of P for dinner.  I was chatting to the host, who we knew quite well and he said he had been waiting for us to come in again, as he had some news.  Apparently the traffic warden was no longer wandering the streets with his dog and ticket book.  It would seem that someone else had written to complain about the hour they had been ticketed and the warden had been given a formal warning about it.  My letter had resulted in him having his employment terminated, as the second time there had been a complaint that he had written tickets outside his working hours.

 

I had a very enjoyable breakfast that morning in the knowledge that, for the cost of a parking fine, reason was not a totally lost commodity.

 

Regards

Julian

 

 

Good grief. Are really pleased that you got away with parking somewhere where you shouldn't and got someone sacked?

 

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15 hours ago, jcredfer said:

I had a very enjoyable breakfast that morning in the knowledge that, for the cost of a parking fine, reason was not a totally lost commodity.

 

Regards

Julian

 

 

I doubt the person who lost their job as a result of your actions (parking illegally in a disabled space and then complaining about it when you quite rightly received a parking ticket) enjoyed their breakfast as much as you.

 

 

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I’m glad it’s not just me who read jcredfer’s tale and thought it to be in poor taste!

 

Regard disabilities, one of my trainees a few years back is registered disabled as he had a bad hip from birth, it doesn’t effect work at all, in fact he has had it replaced now and he’s quicker than me! Anyway we were on a lodge turn in Blackpool and as he was from down south and had never experienced The joys of the ‘Vegas of the north’ before so we decided to go to the tower on our rest day, we stood by the disabled access door (fewer steps to the ring) waiting to go into the circus and the old boy in front who didn’t See my mate hobble in turned to us and proper started  having a go at us both at the top of his voice so everyone could hear that the entrance was for disabled persons only and that we should leave and join the able body queue, I didn’t know what to say but my mate who obviously had to deal with this on a daily basis (as he didn’t physically look disabled when stood still) soon put the bloke back in his place and he couldn’t apologise enough to him afterwards! 

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So he is classed as disabled but can pass a railway medical?

He cant be THAT disabled then can he, surely the fact the hip has been replaced and he can now walk a mile and a quarter on ballast means he is fixed!

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5 minutes ago, royaloak said:

So he is classed as disabled but can pass a railway medical?

He cant be THAT disabled then can he, surely the fact the hip has been replaced and he can now walk a mile and a quarter on ballast means he is fixed!

It depends on whether or not he is a Registered Disabled Person. (and when that registration was last reviewed of course).

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25 minutes ago, royaloak said:

So he is classed as disabled but can pass a railway medical?

He cant be THAT disabled then can he, surely the fact the hip has been replaced and he can now walk a mile and a quarter on ballast means he is fixed!


as far as I know he had to have an enhanced medical Before getting a drivers job including extra walking and flexibility tasks, whatever it was he passed ok before the operation to replace his hip (he’s only in his 20s!)  at the time in Blackpool he hadn’t had it replaced so hobbled along (as he has done since he could walk) just a bit slower than most but more than able to perform all the tasks required of a driver (probably better than most if I’m being honest)
 

after he had it done and had completed his physio etc he then saw the railway doctor again for another enhanced medical which he flew through, as for blue badge eligibility now, I really don’t know, not my area of knowledge but I certainly have a lot of respect for him for following his dream of being a driver m, getting his hip sorted and having to put up with comments like ‘he can’t be THAT disabled’ 

 

 

Edited by big jim
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27 minutes ago, big jim said:

 getting his hip sorted and having to put up with comments like ‘he can’t be THAT disabled’ 

 

 

Well to any sane person once the thing which makes you disabled is fixed you are no longer disabled and it should be declared so it can be reviewed.

 

Signed somebody with a disabled Son (mental health issues) and has a blue badge but only uses it when absolutely necessary rather than all the time 'because I can'*!

 

Edit-

* obviously only when my Son is in the car as it is his badge not mine.

Edited by royaloak
Clarification of blue badge holder.
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Sorry I wasn't having a go at you personally but the last comment was something I heard a lot while he was my trainee!

 

 I don’t work with him any more so I don’t know if he is no longer registered, I suspect not as, as you say it’s been fixed unless of course there are other issues which mean he is still registered, either way disabled or not he was passed to be a driver and is a bloody good one at that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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