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forum
Drivers and their problems
A new catch-all Tea Shop thread for those miscellaneous new stories that don't quite fit with parking, crashing into buildings or trapped/prisoners in their homes.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
Latest Forum Topics
Latest Comments
- JohnP_SM7 3 hours 28 sec ago
Back in November, I added a comment in response to the article on the guy who broke his wrist. Included in my comment was this;...
- giff77 3 hours 38 min ago
Looks like a taxi driver ( silver car ) is pulling into the taxi rank bedside the Spar resulting in the other swerving rather than stopping.
- chrisonabike 4 hours 10 min ago
That won't be a problem because drivers are trained Yeah, that's a thing. Example the one (reported here IIRC) in Canonmills in Edinburgh ...
- S.E. 4 hours 35 min ago
I swallowed my first bug today... already had a few in the mouth this year, but could spit them out. Hay fever...
- hawkinspeter 4 hours 55 min ago
Why do they even want to be bigoted? All they're doing is closing down their own opportunities to make connections with other people and instead...
- S.E. 5 hours 5 min ago
Batteries are NOT recycled. It can be done, but it's too costly....
- S.E. 5 hours 11 min ago
This was the norm here in Switzerland until maybe 25 years ago. You had to show a new sticker on your bike every year as a proof, the same way we...
- Rendel Harris 6 hours 55 min ago
Happened to glance at my Strava this evening - Battersea Bridge to Lots Road, leader 178 km/h! Stop the madness!
- mattw 6 hours 59 min ago
This is important I think....
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3309 comments
Cop27: Lord Montagu says climate change 'more apparent every year'
so I assume the weekend car meets are off now and the National Motor Museum will change into a sustainability exhibition?
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23106786.lord-montagu-climate-change-mo...
please please please do cars: Calverton neighbours 'fed up' with dangerous e-scooters as police take action
When asked about her thoughts on e-scooters, retired Dorothy Bollands, 74, of Calverton, said: "I'd rather they use the pavements. I don't like them on the road as at about quarter past three you can't move down the road with school traffic, and people just whip through on scooters.
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/calverton-neighbours-fed-up-dangerou...
Last ditch attempt' to halt 'devastating' changes to seafront
"The lack of parking will just give people, at a time of a cost of living crisis, another reason not to come out and spend money. The demographic of Clevedon means there are a lot of older people, some who have mobility problems who need convenient parking."
"The system along the seafront has always worked well - The Victorians got it right - and most see no reason to change it.”
And what they are defending. Very Victorian.
Would it be unfair to suggest that if you are a trader reliant on parking you should provide it yourself, or doesn't it work that way?
Them Victorians couldn't get enough of those pointless "status symbols" SUVs, didn't they?
The second car had an argument with the sea and they're not speaking.
some of the quotes from locals they found for this
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/last-ditch-attempt-hal...
where do you begin, the owner of a pub who bemoans people wont be able to drive to his pub ? an owner of a shop who clearly doesnt understand what a cost of living crisis is? another shop owner who supports people driving along the road, but worries with less cars that it will be more dangerous as cyclists will hit pedestrians ?
I don't normally shout, but IF YOU ARE RUNNING A CAR, YOU ARE NOT POOR.
Ah, but "poor" is relative isn't it? We're normally comparing up or down deliberately e.g. with those we aspire to be or those we don't want to be. Plus poor also relates to what you can get. Given that running a car appears - to many people - to be about as optional as paying tax or your mortgage - that expense is a "must be found". (A bit like smoking those who quit are often struck by just how much they were forking out for the priveledge.)
So in the UK we can almost all easily be in the top 10% of the world's income and a surprising number of us are in the wealthiest 1% in the world (we're the super-polluters) - but lots of us are also poor and struggling amid a cost of living crisis.
Why would someone drive to the pub when they can't drink alcohol (because they're driving) and other venues tend to be cheaper for non-alcoholic drinks or for food...
and we're back in Clevedon.
So all the local drivers, especially the ones with a faded-out plastic poppy in the grille that stays there all year round are rising up and saying "we will not drive for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning so the remembrance parade we all care so passionately about can go ahead".
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/disappointing-red-tape...
I've seen road closure signs our for Remembrance Day in one nearby town.
To recap, RBL issued new guidance on parades. Not sure what's changed as regards the police. What I am working towards here is "How cars stole the Remembrance Day Parade"
A local authority led TTMO takes 12 weeks to do. Having been involved in this in the past as a manager, I know people all quick to blame the council, so it was usually my team nudging the RBL people in the summer about getting things in place in good time for November.
https://counties.britishlegion.org.uk/media/6540234/200821-remembrance-p...
"A serious road accident at a 2018 parade focused attention on how serious the consequences of a road traffic accident can be for the victims and those close to them. In this case, the accident left a supporter with life changing injuries. The accident also drew attention to the burden of cost such an accident can have, with claims for damages often running into the tens of millions of pounds. In this case, the Legion has benefitted from the support of its insurers. However, those insurers have made it clear that the approach to TTMOs must be more formal and, in future, all branches must adhere to the policy."
"TRBL and its volunteers must not engage in the deployment, management or removal of any TTMO. This includes, for example, placing barriers, directing traffic or driving vehicles that are involved in the TTMO."
Remembrance Day Parade in Port Talbot will not be taking place this year after 'shift in the stance of police forces towards security'
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/remembrance-day-parade-por...
From the Clevedon article above: There has been no change to the advice this year. A Royal British Legionspokesperson said: “The Royal British Legion does not expect or allow its volunteers to organise remembrance parades and we regularly remind branches that local parades are organised by local councils who have the expertise and legal knowledge to deploy road closures and other safety measures.
“Local parades are civic functions that are attended and supported by the Royal British Legion, not RBL events supported by civic authorities."
How cars stole the Remembrance Day Parade.
The Royal British Legion are taking a stricter line with their local branches as a result of this incident or one like it in 2018:
https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/news/army-veteran-fights-for-his-life-af...
"AN ARMY veteran from Warwickshire is fighting for his life after being hit by a car at a Remembrance Sunday parade.
Ade Stowell volunteered as a marshal at the centenary event in Studley and was clearing away closed road barriers when the accident happened."
It sounds like there was an insurance claim made and paid.
This conversation must be being had in every community that has a tradition of a Remembrance Day parade. They seem to have managed OK in my village this year with our fairly simple parade route. Whether they're complying with the RBL line, I don't know.
District Councils and police cannot deploy personnel to multiple locations simultaneously . Town and Parish councils have no powers to make road closures - the community org mentioned in the article would have needed the district council to effect this if required. It may also depend on the happenstance of where your cenotaph is located e.g. in a park.
More broadly, although there are lots of willing participants and helpers, everything, like PA equipment, signage, the wreaths, public liability insurance all has to be organised, found and usually paid for. It's usually the Council that has inherited the upkeep, and even updating of the war memorial.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that in large measure cars did this.
No Remembrance Day Parade in Kingswood after disagreement over who is responsible for it
Is it a Royal British Legion event or a civic event?
"The wreath-laying at the town’s Cenotaph took place as usual, followed by a church service at Holy Trinity Church in Kingswood, but there was no parade due to a row over road closures and public liability insurance."
"South Gloucestershire Council maintained its position that the responsibility for organising the road closures and insurance connected with the event lies with the Royal British Legion, but the RBL nationally - and the Kingswood branch - maintain local authorities should take on the ownership of the logistics and legalities as they regard them as civic events."
"Parades with road closures did happen in Yate and Staple Hill, where a local community organisation took on the responsibility of organising the legal issues around insurance and road closures."
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/no-remembrance-day-parad...
Campaigners enlist highways expert to fight seafront changes
"The SOS group is to now submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request"
"This is not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship." - welcome to our world, guys.
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/campaigners-enlist-hig...
Liam Fox can't see a bandwagon without attempting to jump on it
I don't understand why a 30 mph limit and having to wiggle between the parked cars to get onto the seafront is better than a 20mph limit and a cycle lane.
Oh yeah - "cyclists"
Just keep driving! The hated cycle scheme will be sub-aqua in a generation!
non-story alert here, but welcome to our world, guys. I admire the courage of whoever went out of their way to intervene here as this article would follow as surely as a burnt mouth from biting into an apple pie too fast:
'Humiliated' pensioners on mobility scooters turned away from Lincoln McDonald's drive-thru
"I felt as if I was discriminated against because of my age"
"I am 71 and I have had a stroke. That’s why I find it difficult standing and walking around sometimes."
"I felt really upset about it all. I have got a license plate on the front of mine. It’s all registered."
https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/humiliated-pensione...
If i were the individuals here, I would take a different approach (and I'm banking it for when I end up on a scooter cos a dickhead driver has wiped me out)
I'd be demanding the name of the name of the insurers and the wording of the exclusion.
Next steps depend on the response (insurers have more options to go after them) but either way, this is questionable legally.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't this sad, but complaints like this are my hobby. Gonna have to change my name to CyclingKaren.
Demand whatever you like. You must want that cheeseburger real bad.
The menu is dire and beside the point (exception made for cheese bites when I am pissed)
What gets my goat is firms making up rules under false risks. Whether lazy or discrimination, when firms do this you cannot rely on them to get the big stuff right. Discrimination against protected characteristics, using data protection to be lazy, denying service because of an incorrect application of anti-money laundering etc, well worth my time in challenge.
In this case, it appears people with a protected characteristic are denied a service, because they have a protected characteristic. It may be OK, but there would need to be a rigorous and documented thought process underpinning it. I would bet my next pay packet there isn't.
I'm not about to suggest that cycling becomes a protected characteristic... but when firms start thinking rather blindly denying, the world will be better for cyclists.
It's one of those "why can't scooters use the drive-thru?", which when there's a shunt will turn into "why was there a scooter in the drive thru?"
Not sure what liability would fall on the landowner there.
In my view, because that's a risk anywhere yet scooters are not banned. However, in this case, a business has chosen to deny a service to someone because if a protected characteristic. Unless they are saying that they are offering a service that is more dangerous than other similar environments which in it self is a concern.
Personally I think it's a risky position to take under the Equality Act. I might be wrong, but it's not unreasonable to ask for their consideration under the Equality Act.
We were very badly let down 5 years ago when it came to activating a funeral plan my parents had taken out.
These days, you're on you're own with this stuff - the old Equal Opportunties Commission seemed to be little more than a vaguely sympathetic a call centre.
The funeral company were evasive when I complained. I'd have had to have gone to court to get anywhere, the moment had passed and who's got the time?
The potential disability discrimination problem here is not the drive thru, but that for whatever reason they didn't/couldn't enter the restaurant for service.
I'm really sorry to hear this.
It might not come as much comfort now, but the dire approach of Funeral Plan companies towards consumers means that Funeral Plans have recently been brought under new regulations. Consumers going forward are more likely to be treated better and I'm pretty sure people can go to the ombudsman service now as an alternative to court.. It probably means some Funeral Plan providers will go bust... though to be honest, they probably should. I have some familiarity with the change in rules and what went before... I can only imagine what you went through at a horrible time.
We probably have differing views on this, but I'm firmly in the camp that business showing a poor understanding of protection laws means that their practices are poor for everyone... and it benefits everyone to challenge them.
I don't disagree about challenging crap businesses.
We'd have made a local journalism classic - "85 yo wheelchair user denied adapted funeral car by callous funeral company bosses. As it was, we hired one of the regular taxi firms and all was well, in fact they were brilliant.
My sense of the Mcdrive thru story is that that the situation got adversarial when it needn't have. As is often the case with these stories, the situation and the players seem a bit confused and there are minor inconsistencies that don't quite add up.
Tesco shoppers threaten boycott as 28p electric car charge branded 'disgusting'
It was previously free to charge electric vehicles at the supermarket
but my free charge-up
Another shopper said: "I was using the free charging as an incentive to shop at Tesco, the only supermarket around my way to offer free charging. Now I'll spread my wings a bit and shop at other places too."
https://www.devonlive.com/news/uk-world-news/tesco-shoppers-threaten-boy...
I wonder: did those people expect free petrol from Tesco when they were shopping there (before they bought an EV)? If not, why do they expect free charging?
Free charging, it's like free parking - it's a basic human right! Or at least, I'll boycott them that don't provide it. (Unfortunately I'm not able to extend this analogy to McDonalds and drive-thrus as it'd be a cold day in hell that would see me cycling there specially).
A perspective from a neighbouring country shows that - if there are alternatives - even free parking just ain't that big of a draw. So presumably with a slight change in direction now we could avoid having to take up sizeable chunks of the streetscape / trip up pedestrians by putting charging facilities everywhere.
Doesn't the Stevenage experience suggest that if driving is also easy, a lot of people will plump (geddit?) for it?
Indeed. Several good articles knocking around on this one, Carlton Reid said it best IMO: "where cycling and driving are convenient, Brits drive". More detail argues that even in Stevenage / Milton Keynes (the most often-cited new towns with cycling provision) things were stacked in favour of the car from the get-go.
In the UK the genie is more than half a century gone from the bottle there is often very substantial resistance to any change. A lot of people see changes affecting their car travel as an existential threat. So much so that even making something else available and making driving both more expensive and slightly less convenient won't cause most people to change.
I do believe lot of people can be persuaded to change - and will find that it didn't ruin their life in retrospect, rather the opposite. That's because it has happened both elsewhere and here.
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