Now
that council leader Teresa O’Neill is
officially sucking up to Boris Johnson
you can expect to see some of Bexley’s ideas being adopted by City Hall. Their
new welcome sign was on display for the first time yesterday. I jest of course
and if you feel so inclined you can read the full story on the
London SE1
Community website.
Another joke is Bexley council who once again have splashed themselves
all over today’s News Shopper. It’s another parking story and someone on Bexley
council has seen fit to get the police to do their dirty work again. A shop worker
who warned motorists of the presence of a Bexley gestapo wagon was visited by
his friendly neighbourhood plod and shown a picture of himself trying to save shoppers a fine. Quite how a photo of a man with a placard
found its way from the gestapo car to plod is something the council doesn’t want
to talk about. The policeman as it turns out was your actual friendly neighbourhood
bobby because he is reported to have said “it’s not a police matter” which begs
the question, why on earth did the police not tell Bexley council to take a jump?
I think we know.
Try if you can to get a copy of The Shopper, they don’t allow a direct web link
to their ‘paper’ issues and
I don’t think it is right to ‘borrow’ their hard work while it is current. Nor
do I believe in spoiling their stories in advance but I do know there is another nice
parking story brewing which I hope one of the papers will take on board for next week.
(News Shopper link to
front page added 11th May 2011)
So who do you think is the idiot whose antics keep the news media alive with anti-Bexley
council stories? Yesterday I said it had been leaked to me that
it was
councillor Craske (cabinet member for transport, £22,650) who went to the police
to report me for harassing the council. I’ve no proof but it lends credence to
the story that we now know that someone of influence with responsibility for
parking matters has persuaded the cops to take up a case which appears to be “not a police matter”.
No joking matter is my disabled friend
Carole’s ongoing battle with some bus drivers.
I haven’t been with her in the mornings since Easter as things were going well
but she no longer gets help in the afternoon from another friend who doesn’t
have a spare child seat in her car any more. As anyone who travels on a bus just
after 3 p.m. will know, it’s not a lot of fun even when the school children
on board are well behaved. Now Carole has to contend with them as well as two
children and her disability.
She is not a lady who gives up easily and has raised the issue of buggies on
buses to the highest levels within Transport for London (TfL). She is now on
first name terms with their Driver Communications Manager. Yesterday
Carole tried to get on a B11 that already had two small buggies on board and
although they will take three (I have a photo as proof) some drivers think two
is the limit and not just guidance. Beyond two some drivers insist that buggies
must be folded, but Carole just cannot do that for herself. So Carole managed to
get herself and her buggy half on the bus and with help from no one was allowed
no further. The driver was shown Carole’s disability card but he told her to get
off and wait 15 minutes for the next bus - which might be just as full - but she
stood her ground. The driver called the police and Carole called TfL’s Driver
Communications Manager. The bus driver refused to talk to his manager, probably
thinking Carole was bluffing.
The stand-off went on until the next bus came along with passengers
inconvenienced, not that I have any sympathy for them as not one volunteered to
fold up the buggy. Fortunately the next bus was driven by a man more flexible
than the first who recognised a regular passenger and came to her
rescue. I would have loved to be there with my camera; I would like even more to
have been a fly on the wall when the driver got back to base to find a TfL manager
wanting to speak to him.
Carole has a meeting set up next week with TfL and councillor John Fuller. I’m
not sure what influence he has over TfL but at least he is maintaining a close
interest, which is more than one can say for his fellow ward councillor and
Bedonwell School Governor John Davey (£9,543 + £7,782 from the Bexley Care Trust)
who has done what he always has done in my experience; look steadfastly the other way.