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News and Comment April 2014

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11 April - Crossrail lives up to its name

Crossrail Crossrail CrossrailYou always know when there is little new to report about Bexley council when Bonkers falls back on the Crossrail project developing almost on my own doorstep.

In the past and for about three decades rail users and residents had to put up with constant flooding outside Abbey Wood station but it would appear that Crossrail is taking no chances. A massive storm drain has been dug deep into the ground. Why it needs to be quite that big I have no idea but a construction worker told me it will connect into a network of underground tunnels.


CrossrailThe project necessitates the regular arrival of large vehicles and construction plant in Wilton Road which is a small but busy shopping area. Last weekend while in Malmesbury I received two messages to get myself to Wilton Road quickly to record what was going on there. It transpires that lorry drivers had taken over the road using their own cones and forbidding parking by the general public.

I have heard that car drivers who were reluctant to move their cars were approached with heavy construction tools, bolt cutters and the like, threatening words and racial abuse. The police were called and are still pursuing enquiries. I have been promised some photographs and if they support the stories provided by local traders you will of course see them here.

Note: A subsequent investigation showed that the construction vehicles were working on behalf of BT, not (Balfour) Beatty as originally alleged.

More Crossrail related blogs.

 

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