Gimme

Barry, When I get off at ED, I often see people dumping newspapers into the bins in the shelter and by the ticket office despite there being a newspaper recycling bin just outside the station. Any chance you could put signs up by the bins telling people to recycle their papers in the appropriate bin outside? Gimme

pepsi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Overzealous? Definitely. Should you appeal? > Definitely. But playing devil's advocate, if you > park illegally you can't be too surprised if you > get caught, however unfair it seems. Define illegal... parking in a loading bay to load a boiler into a van isn't illegal is it... Stopping your car to unload shopping isn't illegal... The surprise is often in how the rules are applied. Logic doesn't come into it. The thing that usually surprises me is that as a community we put up with a substandard service from the council like this. Anyway, parking in breach of parking regulations isn't strictly 'illegal', it is merely contrary to parking regulations

R&A Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I remembered this thread and took this photo of an > illegally parked parking enforcement officer on > Thursday night. > He was parked on the pavement opposite EDT just > off lordship lane > > I know that they can park on yellow/red lines etc > in the name of 'duty' but are they allowed to park > ON the pavement? > Is that even safe??? > > Anyone any ideas and i'll follow it up if so Send the photo and details of why you thought it was both dangerous and wrong to nick.costin@southwark.gov.uk and copy in des.waters@southwark.gov.uk. These are the people responsible for the parking enforcement.

johnh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > yep I agree trafiic wardens are Bast***s > I received a PCN for 4 minutes whilst my plumbers > van was parked in the loading bay opp Bells > Plumbers just off Lordship Lane while I was > loading a new hot water cylinder... even though > the bay is for loading and you are entitled to > 40mins.. explain that one to me someone.. You can definitely appeal that one JohnH. All you need is the invoice or receipt to prove you were loading. Send that with your appeal letter and you should be fine. What is a loading bay for if not for loading.. The Civil Enforcement Officers are nasty pieces of work. I saw the guy who ticketed me for the same thing this afternoon. I thought about walking over and pushing his scooter over (but then the civilised voice in my head told me not to :-)

I've been told that it depends whether your childcare vouchers are part of your 'benefits' or paid for out of your salary. If you ask your employer to provide childcare vouchers in lieu of salary, I'm told that your employer doesn't have to pay them (in the same way they don't have to pay your salary). If however, they are part of your benefits package then they do have an obligation to keep providing your benefits during maternity leave.

If you read Which? reviews, the Britax Vigour 3+ or 4+ travel system beats the Bugaboo Chameleon and the i-Candy Apple hands down. You can also get the whole Vigour travel system package (frame, top notch car seat, isofix and pram bassinet) for under ?500 if you shop around (we paid ?497 for the lot at Kiddicare.com). We have a Vigour 3+ and it is fantastic: really manoeverable, looks good, easy to use and sturdy (and the pram and car seat components slot straight in rather than having to deal with fiddly Bugaboo adapters). And you can switch between child facing you or facing away. And it doesn't have inflatable tyres like the i-Candy (which we didn't fancy due to possibility of puncture). Admittedly (for the purposes of openness), Which scored the Bugaboo Bee and I-candy Cherry to be as good as the Britax Vigour (all given a mark of 78% against the 69% they gave the Chameleon). It all depends what's most important to you in a buggy but you'll probably find that the Bugagoo and I-candy only have slightly higher social cach? to go with the much higher price tag.

Fine as long as you are wearing boots with proper tread on them. Hiking boots etc. I walked to the station just after 8am this morning and it was very walkable indeed but I was wearing hiking boots. It may have got more icy in the interim though so take care!

Anyone got a recent update on the trains from London Bridge? Barry's:"TFL Buses will accept Southern Ticket holders on all reasonable routes for remainder of the day." sounded ominous...

Does anyone know if you can now buy a weekly travel card on an Oyster? It would be a lot easier than carrying around the paper ticket which doesn't work on a number of the turnstiles at London Bridge...

I think that they moved to Franz after an unpleasant trial, getting there in a VW Beatle. Good luck in your search! ;-)

Gimme Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you go for the Victoria to Dartford option, any > chance of asking for it to start running a bit > earlier? > It is one of the best ways to get to Canary Wharf > / Docklands (changing at Lewisham) but the first > train is 8.31 from Denmark Hill which makes > getting in early difficult. Eileen, you are amazing!!! There is now a Dartford train at 7.52am and 8.19am from Denmark Hill. How did you do it?

James, That would be great. Thanks for that. Oh, and thanks for the Christmas card (although I suspect everyone in ED got one ;-)

James, Thanks for answering but your answer didn't make total sense... You said: "Equally, I don't expect enforcement officers to feel the need to describe some parts of East Dulwich as code red areas where they have to take extra precautions for their own safety before visiting. This is East Dulwich not the wild west." Do enforcement officers describe some parts of East Dulwich as code red areas? I'd never heard that before. Can you clarify or justify? Secondly, although you "hope" that enforcement officers stop somewhere safely to enforce and use their judgement and understanding about when to enforce, this clearly is not happening. I understand that you have merely been asked for your thoughts in this thread and have given them, but would you also be able to communicate to the managers in question that their staff should be both parking safely and using understanding and / or discretion? This will allow the parking managers to reinforce this with their staff.

garnwba Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > moaning on about the amount you have to pay if you > park illegally - ridiculous > If you choose to park where you shouldn't it is > your own fault. Garnwba - I don't think anyone is moaning about the amount you have to pay if you park 'illegally'. You maybe need to read the thread properly. People are complaining about the broken process that says that if you forget to pay a ?60 parking fine, you get asked for ?680 by some thug in a bomber jacket, without even getting a reminder letter or a 'please pay now or we will pass this on to debt collectors' letters. They are also moaning about parking wardens who park dangerously, contravening the parking regulations they are meant to be policing, and who do not realise that sometimes their behaviour is less than anyone would expect from a council employee.

James, There is a lively thread on parking wardens and the application of their powers on this site (see Parking Wardens - Setting a Poor Example). I've already complained to Nick Costin (the manager in charge of parking)about the fact that his staff park on the kerb, on yellow lines on dangerous corners, block disabled ramps and park in loading bays. His manager, a Mr Mahmood, wrote back to me saying that Civil Enforcement Officers are allowed to disregard all parking restrictions in exercise of their duties (which you can read as: "we're allowed to ignore parking restrictions so we will"). This power apparently comes from the Road Management Act 1984 (although when I read it I couldn't see anything giving that right to ignore parking restrictions) I'm not happy with Mr Mahmood's response at all, as the reason that the Civil Enforcement Officers exist is to enforce parking restrictions for the public good. By breaking those restrictions, they are therefore acting against the public good. Besides, this it sets an appalling example by appearing to suggest that the council can do what it wants - do what I say not what I do. And finally, when they park dangerously, this leaves the council open to legal action if anyone is injured as a result of an accident caused by their dangerous parking. What are your views on this? Additionally, there appears to be quite a few people on that site who think that the council are acting very poorly indeed when it comes to enforcing parking restrictions. I'm sure everyone appreciates that they are doing a necessary job but why so heavy handed. The council should be working WITH people, not acting as a big brother type organisation there to oppress the people who pay their wages (i.e. the council-tax payers) and certainly not sending round the baliffs unless really necessary. Any thoughts on this? Finally, I have repeatedly pointed out to Mr Nick Costin that the double yellow lines on my street, are degraded and breaking up, therefore making them totally ineffectual, and that these yellow lines are vital to ensure that a sharp corner doesn't have people dangerously parked on it (apart from his Civil Enforcement Officers of course!). Should he not at least attempt to get that fixed instead of just ignoring repeated notifications? Is this man incompetent, lazy or just overworked? Or can you remind him that maintaining double yellow lines is part of his job? Gimme

jimmy two times Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yellow lines = parking ticket > Double yellow lines = parking ticket > Red line = parking ticket > Double red lines = parking ticket and > indeterminate prison sentence > > See...not hard to work out is it ? Jimmy Two Times - Perhaps you could pass your logical approach onto the traffic wardens. Park your Southwark Council vehicle on a corner to give someone a ticket = face disciplinary action for making the roads more not less dangerous Park your Southwark Council vehicle blocking a disabled ramp = face disciplinary action for making the roads more not less dangerous Park your Southwark Council scooter in a loading bay = face disciplinary action for making a mockery of the point of the loading bay Treat people like sh*t = lose the respect of everyone who you encounter every day.

Declan - you are right, they say they are allowed to break the law to enforce it on other people. The problem I have with the way they use this 'right' is that I'm not sure that it was intended so that they can do what they want, when they want, with impunity (including parking in dangerous places). I would imagine that the council would prefer that people saw their staff as part of the community not some group who annoys everyone else more than they need to with their 'I'm above the law' attitude. As with every right, there is a responsibility to exercise that right appropriately.

Recently I was ticketed for parking in a loading bay in ED. Three hours later I saw the guy who gave me the parking ticket parked in the same loading bay while he ticketed someone else on a yellow line. On other occasions I've seen Southwark parking wardens (now called Civilian Enforcement Officers) parking across disabled ramps on pavements and on double yellow lines on dangerous corners. The behaviour of these individuals is hypocritical, sets a poor example to the community and in some of the cases described, blocks the way for people in wheelchairs or with pushchairs, and adds to the dangers of certain road layouts. Can everyone who sees a Southwark Civilian Enforcement Officer (on a bike or in a dark red car) parked somewhere that we, the public, would be ticketed for, please photograph the offending vehicle and complain to the council to try to stamp out this appalling behaviour. This issue has already been raised to the managers in charge of parking at Southwark Council but they have taken the line that 'they are allowed to so they will' quoting the 1984 Traffic Management Act as their right for their staff to park where they want no matter how dangerous or hypocritical. The manager in charge of parking at Southwark Council is called Nick Costin and I'm sure he'd be delighted to hear from you. I'm not sure that I'd be allowed to give out his email address on this post but if anyone wants to PM me, I'd be happy to pass it on.

Was this really worth starting a thread for?

I can't help but think, Ms Jowell, that what should have been a triumphant announcement has rather been squashed and deflated. Do you think perhaps that this is because of people's cynicism about the motives of politicians? If you did genuinely put in a lot of work to get this funding then "Well done!". If however, it was Nick Stanton's work that you are coat-tailing on then the cynicism is well placed. I suppose it will never be clear who should take the credit. Nonetheless, regardless of who gets the credit, it does sound like a very good thing that in these days of tight budgets that south Southwark should be getting an extra chunk of change to fund additional primary school places (particularly since we've just had a baby and would quite like him to go to a decent primary school in ED without a fight for places in 5 years time). Thank you for letting us know about this funding increase.

If you go for the Victoria to Dartford option, any chance of asking for it to start running a bit earlier? It is one of the best ways to get to Canary Wharf / Docklands (changing at Lewisham) but the first train is 8.31 from Denmark Hill which makes getting in early difficult.

I don't know how he manages to put up with a continual stream of people looking for scraps when they are trying to run a business. I'd go mad. If he sells velcro by the metre then why ask for less than a metre. You don't go into Somerfield and complain that they were rude not to give you half a pot of yoghurt or a couple of biscuits out of a packet.

I work one stop from the Canary Wharf complex. It takes 25 minutes ish to cycle (22 mins is my record but that was an exception during August school hols) and isn't too taxing (Burbages route is pretty much the one I use). The best public transport route (not mentioned so far) is the train from Peckham Rye to Lewisham (8 mins) and then DLR to Canary Wharf (14 mins). Only problem is that the first one is 8.35am and that will get you in at 9.03am into Canary Wharf DLR. On the way home however, there's a 5.54pm from Lewisham (plus a 6.41pm and a 7.06pm). Door to door from Lordship Lane is around 30 mins getting home (and 40 mins getting in because there's not a connecting train from ED to Peckham Rye that works with the 8.35am). When we moved to Docklands, I thought it would be a mare but it is easier than you think.

Is this thread title in the mix for daftest thread title of the year award? It sounds like 'I stamped my foot and nothing happened' and probably says more about the person who posted it than it does about the councillor. Am thinking of starting a thread titled 'My Ocado delivery is 27 minutes late and I'm late for my coffee morning'

The guy in Fabric is a character. He's got a way of doing things / saying things. He'd done nice curtains and blinds for us and goes out of his way to be helpful (he delivered some bits I needed for a curtain rail to my house when passing and refused to take any money for them). He also charms the pants off (not literally) some of the female customers that come in and they find him delightful (from what I've seen when in the shop). However, I think he can also be brusque and off-hand if he can't be bothered so I can understand why some people might not take to him. Characters always polarise opinion. As with everything, I suppose the only way to deal with his shop is to go if you want good curtains / blinds but don't go if he's been rude to you when you were last in.