lpool

Not an East Dulwich issue but a Southwark one. Contesting a parking ticket for being in a permit zone. Despite me telling the parking people their signage failed to comply with the DfT guidance in terms of where to position signs to avoid error, they chose to ignore this so I now have no option but to go through a full appeal process to show Southwark is non compliant. I did point out this would involve a waste of council tax payer money but they weren't interested. Is there a head of parking or transport at the council that is able to deal with these types of issues?

Funnily enough I had same idea this afternoon when I spotted a red scooter clearly being ridden by someone who preferred not be be seen or stopped and had no number plate. I would love to have whipped a D lock on it in the few seconds he paused before weaving off through traffic.

I would recommend 42nd Street which is in preview. Saw it yesterday and by far biggest theatre show I've ever seen. It will get a lot of 5 star reviews. All the cheap ?15 seats for front two rows in stalls now sold and later dates now ?75 instead. That said, if you see this show, you need to be in the first few rows to experience it fully. It's a really low stage so no problems seeing everything without neck ache.

Semi Final draw live via Periscope at 10.30am today.

New thread just in case those famous folk start shopping at M&S instead.

Burbage Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lowlander Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The only way to solve this is to revamp the > > franchising system on the railways. Sadly > neither > > Labour nor Conservatives seem willing to do > that. > > Ultimately we are beholden to the politicians. > > It's worse than that. We're beholden to the > Department for Transport, the dead hand that > mashed three franchises together and gave them to > Govia with a promise to bung them a billion if > anyone bought tickets or not. They have been > smirking on the sidelines ever since, knowing that > however much flak gets thrown at Govia, the RMT, > Network Rail or the politicians, none of it will > hit the DfT. > > The last time they presided over a massive > franchising cods-up was with the West Coast Main > Line fiasco. The chief culprit of that nonsense, > rather than being censured, went off to spend a > gentle few years heading up HMRC, retiring shortly > before Parliament asked too many questions (the > reply to which was, more or less, that knowledge > of tax was beyond her pay grade). The current > permanent secretary, the virtually-anonymous > Philip Rutnam, who previously loomed over the > largely invisible area of industrial policy at the > Department for Business, has spent the last four > years reorganising things so rail is now > outsourced to a Rail Executive that nobody knows > about because it swiftly disappeared into the > miasmic Office for Rail and Road, where it's > entirely separate from the Rail Franchising > Directorate, while its mayfly Director General > skipped off to the Department of Food. If this, to > the untrained eye, looks like a bunkerisation > exercise, that's probably for good reason. > > The officially-sanctioned solution to Southern's > woes is to give Govia more time. Govia claims, > impressively glibly, to have been training up the > missing drivers, and will have more or less enough > by sometime in this, or next, summer. Provided > those drivers stay put, do whatever shifts are > asked of them and comply with projections for sick > leave, holidays, retirement, overtime and 'rest > day' working, everything will be fine. If they > don't, then maybe it'll be the summer after next. > They'll need guards, too. But they've got enough > for the moment, and if Govia gets its way over the > RMT, they'll be able to train new ones at the drop > of hat, as they won't need to do anything more > safety-critical than breathe, and sometimes not > even that. So, provided the Rail Accident > Investigation Bureau's report into 'trap and drag' > incidents can be quietly shelved, and the RMT > placated, it's all set for a glorious autumn, > sometime in the next three years. > > Admittedly, this cheerful prognosis rests > precariously on the assumption that Network Rail, > serially-frustrated optimists when it comes to > planning anything, manage not to make anything > worse and, with Christmas a little over six months > away, history is not a very comforting guide. > Happily, however, that won't be the DfT's fault, > either. > > All of which, I hope, crystallises the reason why > nothing, apart from fares, will be changing soon. > Your suggestion of revamping the franchising > system is too little too late. They've already > done that, twice, and it just made things worse. > And renationalisation, the damp sparkler of hope > in the socialist mitten, can only lead to burnt > fingers. It's easy to imagine that the trains > couldn't get any worse, even if they were handed > to a bunch of ignorant, talentless, incompetent > bureaucrats. But reality, as everyone over the age > of six well knows, is invariably more > disappointing than imagination. The references to DfT Rail Executive are out of date as it no longer exists - Rail is now simply a department within DfT. ORR is a separate organisation. Not sure I would describe the DG being promoted to Permanent Secretary at DEFRA as skipping off. What's changing on fares - I missed that one.

My guess is that there will be some rapid movement on this issue. Claire Perry has gone and Chris Grayling as Sec of State for Transport sits in a constituency that relies on Southern. New Rail Minister yet to be appointed but I suspect it will be from the "no nonsense tough talking" wing of the party.

Thameslink services will run through completed London Bridge. Unfortunately there tends to be no escape from disruption when redeveloping a station. Hopefully in 3 years time we will all be wondering what the fuss was. Euston re-build for HS2 has the potential to make our woes seem fairly mundane if it goes ahead.

bil Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi lpool > > If the line is under TfL it is likely to become a > London overground line. These are much better > managed than the existing Southern service. If/when London Overground takes over Southern metro service it could take several years to match current Overground services and require huge investment. Southern metro is a much more complex set up than the current Overground.

Not sure what difference coming under TfL is supposed to make unless they are happy to roll over to the unions, which they have rarely done in the past. I do agree though that there should be additional buses running to help move commuters around. Not running services creates quite a large cost saving that at the very least could be used to lease buses.

Harriet Harman requesting the franchise be stripped from GOVIA will go nowhere and make zero difference. A better approach would have been to write to Clare Perry saying revised service level she will have approved is inappropriate and should be immediately reviewed.

It would seem strange for GOVIA to blame the previous franchisee for lack of recruitment of drivers as they were the previous owner. The RMT is offering to suspend strike action for 3 months, subject to the franchise delaying DOO plans for same time. May not help improve staff numbers though as no guarantee this will result in a sudden recovery of high sickness levels. The service level change being introduced is unprecedented, even if it is temporary. It is complicated by the fact this is a management contract with the DfT taking revenue risk. It does raise an interesting question as to whether it could be legally challenged by commuters on the basis that they will automatically be entitled to compensation for suspension of services, however, moving to a new timetable will be designed to mitigate this argument. It will take more than a few politicians complaining, or letters written to MPs, to have any material affect. East Dulwich is clearly not the only station affected here and more searching questions could be asked on the extent to which passenger numbers are affected, and whether due consideration has been given when drawing up the new timetable to whether this will lead to the train operator being unable to deliver its core obligation of providing rail services.

You also need to consider the return leg. If evening event then ensure in time for last train. I did Springsteen on a Sunday so no late train. I drove to Southwark station (parked opposite in Union Street), then Jubilee to Finchley Road where switched to Metropolitan. Took 1 hour going to get inside stadium. Coming back did Metropolitan fast to Baker Street and then Jubilee line.

The new Winkworth sign going up today seems to be more unsightly than the Glazer one below. Did this have planning permission James Barber?

Is this the cat flap thread?

I had them collect a double mattress last week without any problems.

Renata Are both Southern and South Eastern planning to attend the meeting tonight?

I seem to remember the Co-op doing something similar and having their application rejected. It might be worth checking what the Licensing Committee said at the time.

sandyman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've been told by a ticket collector that if you > have to queue for more than five minutes you are > entitled to board the train without a ticket > without paying a fine. (can't find this info in > writing though so you'll have to do it at your own > risk!) > > > > > When there's only one ticket machine and there's > a > > queue or a confused person having trouble with > it > > (happens all the time) you can end up with a > > choice of travelling without a ticket or missing > a > > train (that may set you back by an hour, given > > connections). > > From memory there is an obligation to ensure the maximum average time required to purchase a ticket is 5 minutes. I regularly end up catching a train from a station in Norfolk without a ticket when TVMs not working and large queue on a Monday morning. My own experience at Denmark Hill is not having to queue for more than a few minutes. the majority of volume at station is arrivals from elsewhere.

They keep back number of day tickets. We went last week and manage to get tickets for 4pm entrance. Think you are more likely to get later entrance. It's not a big space so always limited by number of tickets they can sell.

Hard to see the Rye being capable of anything bigger than about 5,000. Very small area and transport links not good enough for large event.

I'd just be grateful for some mail from the sorting office. 12 days and counting.

There was a very good interview with the author on the Radio 4 Front Row programme this week (think Monday).

Re Eurosport Twitter the BBC Football Gossip column today also covered this. Never thought I would see the day when DHFC would appear in the BBC Gossip section.

Not used Green @ Teggin but like fact they ensure they only take on work that can be managed at any one time. Got badly stung by an architectural company who had a habit of vanishing because too busy juggling different jobs.