Football-grounds car-park car wash -- police cordons --

[jacks09]

Any updates on this?

[Pink Panther]

neilson99 Wrote:

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> What a shame these guys were fantastic and worked

> their backsides off for not a lot. I stood there

> one day and worked out they must make less than a

> pound per car each. I hope they sort it out or

> relocate somewhere nearby.

>

> What a load if tosh people getting soaked waiting

> at the turnstiles I've never seen a queue for the

> football.

Fantastic that people earn less than ?1 per car each? I hope you get paid similar rates for whatever job you do.

As a Hamlet supporter I'm delighted that this cowboy operation has finally been closed down. Not before time too. Only a complete simpleton could fail to understand that it was located in a stupid position in the first place. We can thank the previous owners of the ground and football club for that. A bunch of chancers out to make a quick profit with minimal overheads who didn't give a toss about cutting corners or doing anything the right way. (These are the same people who were happy to accept late night lettings in the football clubhouse in breach of the licence, causing noise nuisance for neighbours into the small hours.) They dragged the name of Dulwich Hamlet FC through the gutter, brought the club to the brink of collapse after 120 years of existence, and all Hamlet supporters are delighted to see the back of them.

Why the hell should football supporters have to walk through a miasma of cold water, muck and detergent to get into the ground? At the very least the car wash should have been required to close an hour before kick off on matchdays.

On one occasion after queueing at the turnstiles I could taste the soap in the back of my nose and throat, it was disgusting. There are also clear H&S issues. The drains and gutters around the carwash area were hopelessly inadquate for the amount of water being used. After several year of being continuously saturated with water and whatever chemical cleaning agents were used the surface around the car wash area is now potholed and a clear trip hazard. After midweek games in freezing temperatures the surface was very slippery where all the surface water from the car wash had begun to freeze over. They worked on too many vehicles simultaneously - I once counted nine - which were backed up in an arc right in front of the turnstiles and across the exit gates, with long hosepipes trailing in front of our entrance/exit. On one occasion I saw an older suppoter snag his foot in a hosepipe, but fortunately he noticed before it tripped him up. Quite simply it was in the worst possible position and whoever decided to put it there deserves to be hosed down with cold water.

If anyone thinks it was so wonderful I suggest they should lobby Sainsbury's to accommodate it in their car park, which is much bigger than ours. I reckon most of the car wash trade came from Sainsbury's customers who otherwise wouldn't even have diverted off Dog Kennel Hill in the first place. It could fit nicely into the parking bays just inside the car park entrance to the left of the main entrance to the shop. It might be a bit inconvenient for some shoppers having a continual stream of slow moving vehicles passing in front of the shop doors and having to watch they don't trip over a trailing hosepipe, or getting sprayed on their way in/out of the shop, but so what?

It remains to be seen whether or not the new owners' long term plans are of benefit to Dulwich Hamlet FC, but at least unlike their precedessors they give the impression of being a well run company that operates with proper business principles.

[jacks09]

I can accept all of your points about H&S and its location but I think they stem more from an annoyance at the previous owners of DHFC then the people, who clearly worked very hard, and delivered a good service to it's loyal and numerous customers.

If the owners, for sound reasons have decided they can no longer accomadte the Car Wash, I hope they followed due legal process.

I also hope another site is found for the fantastic car wash.

[Loz]

Pink Panther Wrote:

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> As a Hamlet supporter I'm delighted that this

> cowboy operation has finally been closed down.

> Not before time too.

So you are happy these hard-working guys lost their jobs because you go ever-so-slightly sprayed once every second Saturday? Nice.

[Laddy Muck]

Pink Panther Wrote:

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

> ...and all Hamlet supporters are delighted

> to see the back of them.

Bollocks! I am a Hamlet supporter - have been for 16 years - and I am certainly NOT delighted to "see the back of them".

[ruffers]

Laddy Muck Wrote:

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> Pink Panther Wrote:

> --------------------------

>

> > ...and all Hamlet supporters are delighted

> > to see the back of them.

>

> Bollocks! I am a Hamlet supporter - have been for

> 16 years - and I am certainly NOT delighted to

> "see the back of them".

Agreed

[ruffers]

Am at the ground for the fisher game and can confirm that although they may be washing in Sainsbury car park the actual car wash next to the ground is still not there, and the gate is very much padlocked to stop them getting in, complete with security.

[neilson99]

Pink Panther if you read my post properly you'll realise that I was not celebrating in any way the fact that they got paid so little. I suspect your just looking for some reason to latch onto this issue and do your best Angry of East Dulwich impression.

Perhaps it was located in the wrong place in the car park such that you got a little damp on the way to such an illustrious and well appointed stadium, (you could always take 30 seconds and walk around it rather than through it?) but only a complete simpleton would think that evicting a source of revenue (however meagre and badly managed that has been) might not be the best way to helping DHFC to a financially sustainable future.

Hope DHFC and their poor rain soaked fans are pleased that they are putting out of work some people who seemed to me to work their backsides off, do a really great job and always did it in a polite and friendly way. Let's hope that karmma doesn't kick in and that they get relegated this season, they'd deserve it if they did!

[taper]

You think the club deserves relegation because of this. I hope you're joking. The club is part of this area's heritage. Its interests come before a cheap car wash that's been there five years.

[neilson99]

Of course I'm joking. I do think that putting a dozen or so people out of work, involving the police to employ heavy handed tactics though and justifying it on the basis of some people getting a bit damp once a fortnight raises a question about priorities and values.

[taper]

It seems the justification is commercial, nothing to do with the fans. You're creating a straw man.

[Pink Panther]

neilson99 Wrote:

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> Pink Panther if you read my post properly you'll

> realise that I was not celebrating in any way the

> fact that they got paid so little. I suspect your

> just looking for some reason to latch onto this

> issue and do your best Angry of East Dulwich

> impression.

>

> Perhaps it was located in the wrong place in the

> car park such that you got a little damp on the

> way to such an illustrious and well appointed

> stadium, (you could always take 30 seconds and

> walk around it rather than through it?) but only a

> complete simpleton would think that evicting a

> source of revenue (however meagre and badly

> managed that has been) might not be the best way

> to helping DHFC to a financially sustainable

> future.

>

> Hope DHFC and their poor rain soaked fans are

> pleased that they are putting out of work some

> people who seemed to me to work their backsides

> off, do a really great job and always did it in a

> polite and friendly way. Let's hope that karmma

> doesn't kick in and that they get relegated this

> season, they'd deserve it if they did!

Well you certainly haven't read my post properly. As I stated in the first place, they worked on too many vehicles simultaneously, not just under the canopy area, so on occasions you literally couldn't reach the turnstiles without getting sprayed. This created a clear H&S issue. I suspect if the relevant council official(s) had been summoned to have a look they would have been distinctly unimpressed. At one recent game, when the match ended, there was a bloody great 4x4 parked right across the exit gates (with several other vehicles behind and in front of it) being sprayed with high pressure water jets while 600 people were attempting to leave the ground. If anyone thinks that's acceptable I don't feel they're being very realistic.

The bottom line is that it's DHFC's ground and DHFC's car park. The whole place was clearly built as a football ground, with a car park for those attending football matches, not as a site for a car wash. The shysters who used to run DHFC decided in their wisdom that they could make a few quid by accommodating the car wash. By contrast the new owners appear to have qualities such as competence, efficiency, and adherence to proper business principles. If they decide that they no longer wish to sub-let part of DHFC's premises to a completely unrelated business it's their prerogative to take the appropriate action to move it out. DHFC has no moral obligation whatsoever to accommodate a car wash or any other business on its land.

[pilsbury]

Dare I ask.... Is there anywhere else locally that you'd recommend for a car wash?

[ladywotlunches]

seconded Pilsbury. I went down to Hamlet to see the boys today and have only just caught up on this news.

So I popped along to the only other car wash I know in ED, behind Iceland, and there were several cars waiting with VERY SLOW service, so I decided to leave it.

Any other good options?

[ruffers]

Surely there's an agremeent to be reached here? Does anyone have any details of what actually happened at the court?

[Loz]

Pink Panther Wrote:

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> By contrast the new owners appear to have qualities such as

> competence, efficiency, and adherence to proper business principles.

I has a small suspicion that this comment may come back to haunt you.

[dollywitch]

"competence, efficiency, and adherence to proper business principles"

Does this include having people living/sleeping in transit vans in the car park and keeping a large dog caged in a car all day and night for security as that seems to be what has been happening since the takeover ???

[Alex K]

I'd thought that the transit vans and those who dwell in them had been there quite some while -- in the car park proper till the expulsion, now in the bollarded area a few steps lower... "That's where the car-wash blokes live," I'd imagined. Must have got that wrong, because I can't imagine why they'd be sticking around when their work is gone. What that dog is doing, aside from being bored and noisy, escapes me.

[ladywotlunches]

I answered my own question about an alternative - went to Sydenham car wash (down the main stretch, Big Sainsburys end, near the Europcar hire place).

Very quick service, pleasant staff, good job done for the same price as the Hamlets guys. Car looked great until a family trip to Cornwall this weekend :-\

[eastdulwichhenry]

Sydenham seems a long way to go to get a car wash... is there still no chance of an agreement between the club and the guys who operated in the car park? I guess after this length of time they must have had to move on to other things anyway by now

[tiddles]

what about the poor dog?? who has installed him?

[johnhinton]

I also missed the DHFC team, who did a perfectly fine job. However, the guys up on Herne Hill, by Holmdene Road also did a good job (with quite a few upmarket cars arriving while I was there last week).

[CARLOS THE JACKAL]

This is just the start, the football ground will be gone next

[Ladygooner]

Looks like car wash may reopen soon - new signage up Dulwich Blue Car wash and wash area has been newly concreted

[East_Dulwich]

By the way does anyone know where the car wash guys moved? I've been using other car wash since they closed but I'm not too happy with attention to detail as well as efficiency, it seem to take an awful lot of time to get my car washed now and actually it's not that clean. I would really like to know where this guys moved if someone knows.