Coaches ,Townley Road ,obstruction ,pollution when will it change ?

[intexasatthe moment]

An old problem as this thread from 2017 ,where all the old favourites that wea are still discussing appear.

https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1879512,page=1

It all carries on .Last night a coach parked at j of Dovercourt and Townley opposite traffic island .Vehicles exiting Dovercourt and driving along Townley Rd having to drive on wrong side of road .

Coaches parked outside bays . Engines running .Drivers with well practised responses -

the "can't hear what you're saying " coupled with turning the head away ,"behave" ,angry shouts of "why are you taking a photo ?" ,"I'm just moving off " .The latter from a coach who had yet to collect a single passenger .

A lone community officer was present but I fear he was outnumbered and not succeeding in his task .I wonder what the prescribed tactic is with drivers who ignore you and pretend they can't hear/understand what you are saying ?

James Barber posted back in 2017

04 December, 2017 11:53

"Hi ZT,

Southwark Council is about to implement - having made the Traffic Management Order in May, parking enforcement officers being allowed to warn and then if necessary issue tickets for people leaving motor vehicles engines running."

and the community support officer confirmed that he could report coaches with engines running . I imagine giving a verbal warning to some of these drivers requires dedication to duty and a very thick skin.

[intexasatthe moment]

Things don't seem to have moved on from this post from 2017

School coaches Townley Road

Posted by Glemham 30 November, 2017 17:02

A few local residents met with the Foundation Schools' Coach Service Manager, Leslie Okyne. He has only been in post since the summer and is based at Dulwich College. He is very aware of the problems in Townley Road.In the short term he is hoping to stagger the arrival of the coaches for picking up outside Alleyn's. Although the 'coach base' is for 7 coaches, currently 13 are in use. However drivers who arrive later are finding parking spaces already taken by parents and visitors, including other coaches bringing teams for sport. The situation is further exacerbated because when the road was resurfaced in the summer some of the double yellow lines were not replaced so there is more parking space for cars.

It's obvious to residents that there needs to be a concerted effort by Southwark Council, Alleyn's,and the Coach Service to find a long term solution for Townley Road. In particular we would ask that

1. the suggestions from last year's Coach Services Study [consultations.southwark.gov.uk] for shuttle buses to and from a coach park on the South Circular be given more serious consideration;

2. that Southwark more rigorously enforces traffic and parking violations, puts back double yellow lines, and considers having parking restrictions in the afternoons on weekdays outside Alleyn's say between 3 and 4 pm;

3. Alleyn's does more to control the congestion outside the school for the safety of all who use Townley Road at the end of the school day

[intexasatthe moment]

And finally ,if anyone wants contact details for the school Foundation Coaches managers

Mr Leslie Okyne

Transport Manager

Foundation Schools' Coach Service

Dulwich College

London SE21 7LD

Phone: 020 8299 9262

Mobile: 07712 924999

email: [email protected]

Ms Shaharah Hutchinson

Transport Administrator

email: [email protected]

Mrs Shirley Hardy

Customer Services

email: [email protected]

[Milan05]

I asked a local ward councillor and was informed that the re-routing to the South Circular should happen from 25th November as there was a delay to completing works on the SC and the schools delayed accordingly..

[intexasatthe moment]

Milan - I have heard it mentioned that the coaches will be taking a different route to Townley Road .Is that what you are referring to ? Or something to do with the parking in Townley Rd ?

[Milan05]

Yes, to do with a diversion of the driving route they take, to try and get them to stop using the Townley to Calton route.

[alice]

So no planned changes to the illegal parking on Townley? A ridiculous situation.

[tommyboy]

And this afternoon a coach is parked across several electric charging bays!

[alice]

Every day there are coaches with their engines on, Coaches parked on the pavement, coaches parked too close to the island so that cars have to drive on the wrong side of the road to pass, coaches parked outside the bays. And now coaches parked in the electric car slots.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Give them a break, they're working for a charity, charging huge fees to help advantaged children.

[intexasatthe moment]

It's beyond me how it carries on ,if it were in Lordship Lane I'm sure it wouldn't be dealt with by one community support officer asking drivers in stationery vehicles to turn engines off and with illegal parking and road obstruction just ignored .

Townley Rd appears to form a boundary btwn Goose Green Ward and Dulwich Village . I have emailed the Labour councillors James McAsh et al and asked him to forward my comments to his DV colleagues if appropriate .

[Asset]

I posted a picture on instagram the other day of the chaos on Townley, including a coach parked on the double yellows near the zebra crossing. I tagged Alleyn's school in the post and Southwark Council.

Alleyn's responded to say 'they had spoken to the driver in question'.

I don't believe they did.

A coach was parked on those double yellows today and now it's cold they have their engines running.

It will take someone being hit by a car before anything is done.

[Milan05]

Margy Newens is very aware as the Labour DV councillor who has been able to get updates from the schools etc., on this.

Interesting that Johnathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, is standing as their candidate for MP in Dulwich and West Norwood.

[intexasatthe moment]

I'm inclined to agree Asset.

I like Penguin's post,with the usual attention to detail ,from 2 years ago .

Penguin68 10 November, 2017 10:50

On the basis that the school presumably is contracted with the coach company (even if it does not control the actions of the coach drivers) it might be worth writing to the school enquiring whether their insurance covers them for being sued should there be loss of property or life consequential on the blocking of access to emergency vehicles by the coach companies with whom they work, as the the problem of coach parking has been made clear to them on numerous occasions such that they could not claim ignorance of it. I doubt, based on some of the photographs I have seen, that fire engines could necessarily get through, and even where drivers moved to allow then to this would necessarily hold up their access.

but I've not taken up his suggestion .

[intexasatthe moment]

One of the things that gets under my skin regarding this is the attitude of some of the drivers .Posters have complained in the past of this and I have experienced it first hand .

The hostility and unpleasantness is something to behold .They ( though I imagine some are reasonable ) clearly have no intention and feel no need to co operate with efforts to reduce pollution or to respect other users of the road .

Other blood pressure dangers are the length of time this has been going on and the inescapable feeling that this is a special case where the law does not apply and health and safety are no concern.

[Penguin68]

I like Penguin's post,with the usual attention to detail ,from 2 years ago .

Kind of you to remember. And to comment as that. Alleyn's can't simply duck away from this. Unlike the cars of e.g. parents they have a clear responsibility for these coach firms and their coaches which offer them a service. These act as the paid agents of the school in transporting pupils, even when the payments are made direct to the coach companies. Without Alleyn's fiat and agreement these companies would not be offering transport services to parents. And, frankly, for an educational establishment to be turning a blind eye to clear breaches of transport etc. regulation is hardly an appropriate lesson for their pupils.

[exdulwicher]

Penguin68 Wrote:

> Alleyn's can't simply duck away from this.

They've been ducking away from it for years. In all their Open Day literature it even stated that there was plentiful free parking in the residential streets surrounding the school.

> And, frankly, for an educational establishment to be turning a blind

> eye to clear breaches of transport etc. regulation is hardly an appropriate lesson for their pupils.

The school claim it's nothing to do with them, it's the fault of the coach companies. The coach companies deny all knowledge (or more to the point, they're not interested in hearing the complaints and becasue it's several different coach companies, they all just blame the others because their drivers would never do anything like that, sorry Sir/Madam, you must be mistaken). The council (who are responsible for enforcing parking infringements and engines idling) lack the willpower and resources to do anything more than show a token effort every once in a while and one even responded to a complaint by saying "oh it's OK, the pollution blows away"

That in itself is staggering - a council enforcement officer, paid for by council taxes basically saying "yeah, not going to do anything about this breach in the law here". Congratulations Southwark Council, it's that attitiude from humanity as a whole over that past 200 years or so that has comprehensively wrecked the entire planet. Nice to see you're continuing along the same path. Also, can I have my council tax that funded that idiot re-paid please?

It's got to the point where it needs a regular group of activists down there with placards and banners and someone to pull the external engine cut-off switch if it's left idling! ;-)

[Ghlpc]

The school has enough land to create an area or route where coaches can pull in and wait surely?

maybe not all the coaches but enough to release the strain on the overcrowded road.

[Asset]

Maybe we should get a group together and do a 'die-in' on the street at school pick up time.

Anyone in? Get the local press down, get the kids involved.

[prit]

I don't understand why they don't widen their front gates and park the coaches on that big semi-circular drive they have.

[intexasatthe moment]

"Maybe we should get a group together and do a 'die-in' on the street at school pick up time"

Oh Asset ,now that's food for thought ...and I can't decide whether all the objections circling in my brain are just excuses because I'm too lazy/old /tired .

If it got some press coverage I think it would be worth doing and you can count me in .

[Earl Aelfheah]

prit Wrote:

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> I don't understand why they don't widen their

> front gates and park the coaches on that big

> semi-circular drive they have.

They don't want fumes and congestion inside the gates, effecting all the fee payers. No, better leave to gift that to local residents as part of their charity work.

[Penguin68]

They don't want fumes and congestion inside the gates, effecting all the fee payers.

The gates are also part of their (necessary) internal security - opening them up (which they could do) would require them to invest in more security to compensate for that. They also would find parents using the access - which they don't want. Too much bother for them.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if private vehicles took up all the parking spaces used by the coaches one afternoon - wonder how fast Alleyn's would call in the authorities to have these 'illegally' parked vehicles moved?

And it would certainly p*ss off the coach drivers - so not all bad at all.

[alice]

Are you suggesting a park-in?

[exdulwicher]

alice Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Are you suggesting a park-in?

I think that would just create gridlock and possibly exacerbate the situation, not solve it. You'd also run the risk of pissing off all the students and parents whereas you kind of need them on side.

Everyone (except Southwark Council and coach drivers) can see that pollution is bad, action needs to be taken so having peer pressure from the students and parents would really help but just parking up and blocking the coaches from even getting into Townley Road (and the knock on effects on traffic backed up into E.D Grove, LL and Carlton Ave) would result in a backlash, not support.