14 August - War on motorists extended
It
was easy to predict; who would a cash strapped council look to first to pay for
their past mistakes? Motorists of course. Even Cabinet Member
Alex Sawyer
says they get a raw deal. Ironically he is in charge of Traffic and Transport.
Bexley Council took the power to penalise motorists for minor traffic
transgressions, U turns and the like, a year ago. They published
a list of 246 locations where they hoped to catch you out and help plug a hole in their finances.
A reader sent me a note of a new location where a moment’s inattention might
cost you money, it is not one on the aforesaid published list.
If you know of more
please get in touch.
When did an impoverished council decide it was OK to use public money to install CCTV
at an entrapment site in Welling where buses stop for no obvious reason and without signalling
and then leave you stuck in a box to be fined!
Bexley Council is using a poorly placed box at the junction of Central
Avenue and Stephenson Close to make as much money as they can.
Well that is the name of their game. Stealth taxes and making money.
(Note: There are two boxes in Central Avenue, one on each side of the railway bridge.)
Bexley Council has no money
to restore the Belvedere Splash Park and
modified the consultant’s report in
order to better justify their decision to close it. (Alex Sawyer again in an earlier role.) It has agreed to sell four parks and ignored
four thousand dissenters and will soon sell six more.
It can no longer afford to
monitor the borough’s CCTV system leaving criminals
to go about their business unseen and roads are left unswept and the verges
uncut. However it can afford to spend an average of £30,000 a junction
(figure from Barnet Council) on waging war on motorists.
The Council’s excuse is that it will “Improve traffic movement and road safety”.
Unlike the entrapment site at the end of Upton Road which can only wreck the
free movement of traffic, the one in Central Avenue may help when the station car
park is in frequent use. But improving safety? No way. Perhaps someone should submit an
FOI to see how many KSI accidents (Killed or Seriously Injured) there have been
in Central Way, Welling in the past five years.