26 August - Gully thieves return
At around 7 a.m. each weekday morning I walk to Abbey Wood railway station to
collect my newspaper, The Telegraph in case you were wondering. It seems odd to
me that I get served by the friendly lady there much quicker than at the
village newsagent which is always queued up with people buying travel cards
there rather than the nearby station. I noted on my journey that four drain covers
(the council calls them gullies) had disappeared overnight with obvious dangers
to life and limb. I emailed Graham Ward, Bexley’s Deputy Director of Customer
Relations at 06.40 as I have always found him a helpful sort of guy. What I
didn’t know is that he is an insomniac because he emailed back almost
immediately to say he had passed on my information to Tony Hughes who heads the
team dealing with this sort of thing in the Highways & Amenities Department.
Tony must have been on the ball too because later in the day he emailed me with
the news that with the co-operation of Bexley police the culprits had been
apprehended. During the day the open gully openings had been made safe. So well
done Bexley council. I wonder how many times I will be saying that on this page?
This subject appeared on the council’s website under their ‘News’ heading and in
The News Shopper.