Cyclemonkey

Jenny - i can't agree with you there. I will, to be fair, assess the situation idividually. If i am on my own very late at night and have had a bit to drink i will often get a cab. But i refuse to accept that i must curtail my life completely - we need to work towards making streets safer not making the victims curtail their lives. You need to be sensible, as i have outlined above, but advising women to not go out after dark alone is not a place i want to arrive at - what if you are single and live alone? What if you are ona low income and cannot often afford a cab? Here is a positive response to this issue http://www.reclaimthenight.org/ Also please remember whilst this incident is shocking and vile and we should all take extra care at this time women are LESS likely to be attacked at night than young men who are the most at risk group at night. Also women are more likely to be raped and attacked by someone they know (eg on a date, by someone they met in a bar, sadly even by a partner or former partner) than by a random stranger in the street.

How horrible for the person concerned - i hope they catch the person that did it soon. It goes without saying but everyone needs to remember to aware of their surroundings when walking home at night - no headphones on, no checking the phone, make sure you look around you as you walk down the road checking for suspicious people (having said that i did this walking hom along East Dulwich Road last week - getting increasingly concerned about a man in front of me who kept slowing down and looking back at me furtively - i went and stoood by the 24 hour Costcutter and chatted to the workers there and waited for him to pass my road as i was a bit worried about what he was doing - turned out he was looking for a quiet place to urinate! Self defence wise i would recommend women in particular do a self defence course - i recomemnd this one (not one i run but one i have done and heartily recommend it) http://www.kbselfdefence.co.uk/kbsd/about.htm Townleygreen - i understand your advice and a lot of people would do it but as a fairly high level kickboxer and someone who does a lot of self defence, kicking in self defence is not recommended unless you are a very well trained Martial Artist for the following reasosns: 1. It can unbalance you and give your attacker the chance to grab your leg and tip you on to the floor 2. Kicking someone in the groin can just anger them and unless you are sure you are fit enough to run away fast you will get yourself into more trouble - it also requires you to get quite close to the assailant allowing them greater opportunity to grab you. 3. Back to the reasonable force issue - kicking can do a lot of damage unless you have been trained how to control your kicks so it could end up in a worse situation. 4. If you are not very flexible or wearing high heels you can just end up injuring yourself badly The first rule of self defence is to run away, if you can't do that learn so techniques to disarm your assailant - eye gouges, finger bends, neck chops etc.. but as i said learn them properly from a qualifed self defence instructor so you can be sure that they are effective and within the law. finalyl, something i did when there were a few muggings on the road i lived on in Camberwell a few years back. Other women - if you get off the bus or train and are walking the same way as another lone woman why not offer to walk together

gsirett - no offence taken! I realise i have come slightly late to the debate. I only really found out about the CPZ reading notices in shop windows when wanderign around LL at Xmas. Reading the thread i'm not sure a CPZ woudl solve the issue as a wider London or even nationwide initiative is needed to tackle car dependency

gsiret - thanks - a useful summary. So if LL is not included why are the LL traders getting worried? I am astonished people drive to East Dulwich Rail Station - have they not heard of buses? (or indeed their own legs - saves quite a bit on the expensive gym membership) I accept that people in London will always need to drive whether due to their work (anti social hours, carrying tools etc..) becuase of disabilty or large numbers of children etc.. But i think a lot of people in london see driving as the default option when it really isn't that difficult to cut back or even eliminate car usage in many areas of London. We walk, cycle, bus or train everywhere. Use online delivery for all bulky items and use streetcar/streetvan for those times when you just need a car.

first mate that's interesting? i suppose there are complex issues: 1. people who agree who want to park outside their hosue and resent visotrs using "their space" 2. People who don't agree because they don't want to pay to park outside their house and also visitors who want to be able to park BrandNewGuy - interesting question - personally as a non driver parkigng isn't a problem for me but i always assume it is given the amount motorists winge about it! :) - do you think that there is a isn't a problem with parking here? i can't claim to know anything about the residents parking situation, however as a regular cyclist and pedestrian on LL i definitely think there is a growing parking/traffic problem there.

Wow - controversial subject!1 I live in ED but am happy to say as a non car owning tenant i have little persoanl opinion on the subject. However walking along lordship lane yesterday i saw that clearly something has to be done - the parking and traffic situation is ridiculous (as well as the dangerous driving, bad parking, lack of decent road crossing once you get further away from the pedestrian crossing by the EDT. As a non driver the one thing that always amuses me is motorists who compain about problems (lack of parking, congestion etc..) without realising that they are part of the problem - it is always some other drivers fault right? So i suppose i have two questions: 1. for those against the CPZ - uif we admit that parking is an issue in East Dulwich - if this isn't the answer what is? 2. For traders - would a CPZ really affect business that much? As soemone who used to work in planning and town centre policy i understand and occasionally agree with arguements traders make for more parking and against pedestrianisation schemes. However Lordship Lane is not a major shopping area - it is a local high street which probably has a radius of around 2- 3 miles max for people. Furthermore the main offer of shops and services sell stuff that does not need a car to transport. With the amount of trains and busesin he area do many people honestly need to drive there? Comming from the countryside one of my main loves about living in inner london is i no longer need to manitain and run a car - a huge financial burden lifted from me. i would be interested in some honest answers from people who do drive to go shopping in LL as to why they do and how far they have travelled from and whether they would stiop shopping there if they were not able to drive (BTW do not use the "if you had kids" argument - my partner and i have been bringing up a child in inner london for the last 10 years with no car - we are fitter and have a child who does not mind walking!)

Oh i would agree with you there!! there are many many bad road users in London - motorists, bus driver, cyclists and pedestrians! I am just amused that many motorists in London are the cause of the very problems they compalina bout eg congestion, lack of parking etc.. etc..

i'm with James here a CPZ would help you as residents would get parkign permits! I understand people objections to them but as a non driver i am astonished how many people probably drive to LL to shop who don't need to really - it's just becuase it's easier - ever tried cyclign along LL on a Saturday with all the parking and manoevering that goes on along a very busy road - i was nearly taken out last week by soemone tryign to reverse out into the road by the CO OP in a vehicle more suited for the prairies of America than a small inner london suburb. i know some people do need cars for their lifestyles but seriously some people moaning about parking fines, traffic and parking need to ahev a word with themselves and be honest about whether they really need to use their car as much in what is a very crowded inner London suburb with really quite good public transport.

This could be just a rumour but i heard it was going to be a takeaway pizza place - poss called Papa John - is that a chain? I was having a think about what kind of shop i would want seeing as i live on Solway Rd - however i can't think of anything i need that i can't get either in Peckham or Lordship lane

Hi it was me that started the thread about Morleys. Some of the trouble was localised to our block of flats - our block backs onto that row of shops and we have had some issues but hopefully we have resolved those with the shops manager and their landlord The wider issue that i have found out today they do not have a valid late night food license. I am concerned that this show a lack of respect for residents the area that they thought they could open until 1 - 2am without the appropriate license and also residents have not had a proper say in this type of shop opening in their area with the attendant issues such as litter, noise and anti social behaviour. i shall be makign representations to the council once they apply for a license but i would be interested in Southwarks licensing policy and if it is accepstable practice to allow late night food takeaways to open up next to 24 convenience stores in a predominatly residential area.