25 January (Part 2) - From the post bag
Recycling
I have been monitoring a long running correspondence between a resident and
Bexley Council which asks why the refuse collector wheels his large bin along
the street tossing all the recyclables carefully separated by residents into
that one bin and in due course into his truck. Not just on one occasion, but every week.
Coaxing a response from Bexley Council is proving to be impossible. The
resident blames his contact Lesley Moore for the poor response which may be
unfair. The top man Steve Didsbury does not set a good example. They are all as clueless as each other.
Welling Corner
Reports are coming in of four way temporary traffic lights at Welling Corner.
This will likely be TfL moving their traffic light control box to where it
should have been put when they messed around with that junction a couple of years ago.
The clowns put it right up against the memorial cannon. So well done
to Bexley Council on getting them to move it. Bringing another part of town to a
standstill will barely be noticed among
all the other traffic disruptions going on.
Photo: The old gas pipe in Abbey Road which has caused
widespread traffic chaos throughout most of January.
Train door delays
Someone suggested that
the two second
delay on train door opening might be due to a GPS controlled interlock that
made sure a train had stopped before the doors became active.
It seems to be an unnecessarily complicated method to me and what happens at
stations like Abbey Wood where
the driver’s cab comes to a halt under two feet of concrete? But there may be
something in the story because I once read that tube trains have to lock in very
precisely to the prescribed stopping point before their doors can be opened.
On the other hand it doesn’t explain why the delay appears to be a recent
phenomenon. A two second delay must be the least of train travellers’ problems
over the past 36 hours.
Photo: Why there were no trains via Greenwich from Abbey
Wood yesterday when the derailment is at Lewisham is something of a mystery.
Blue Badge abuse
Bexley Council continues to pursue Blue Badge abusers and a good job too.
Two were heavily fined recently.
It’s not just criminally inclined drivers who are involved in such activities. I knew of someone
with a Blue Badge who is a member of a rambling club and went on long hikes most
weeks. You need someone bent on the inside to be able to pull that trick. It
doesn’t happen any more. Well not in that case. Don’t know about others.
Police issues
The Directorate of Professional Standards have issued another of their monthly progress reports
on their investigation into why the local police failed to charge Councillor
Craske when they first traced an obscene blog to his home telephone line way
back in 2011. Apparently a couple of things they need are hidden away in the
archives and they have decided they must get hold of them. They also need advice from their High
Tech Crime Unit. What? Basic facts are still proving elusive after all this
time? What about the Bexley police sergeant’s own admission that the case was
“crippled by political interference” and the incriminating stuff already
known to exist in the case file?
Craske, or whoever had his knowledge and access to his phone line, must have
caused the police to spend as much money cleaning up the borough as
he plans to
spend on cleaning up the borough.