Drivers and their problems

I went to a fight and a branch of B&M broke out:

B&M shopper in parent-and-child space has 'pathetic' sticker slapped on car

The mum then had to drive home with the sticker on her window and "her child looking at it as she couldn't remove it in the car park". Stephanie added the sticker also left a "horrible sticky residue" on the window when it was eventually removed.

The mum, whose children are aged two and 14 weeks, has parked in the same space before but has never experienced something like the sticker. She called the sticker "pathetic" but added she was extremely upset by what happened.

The mum said she now feels "targeted and watched

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/bm-shopper-parent-chi...

IMO car wash in Hereford closed after car loses wing mirrors

"This morning, everything was fine, but then a car smashed both of its mirrors," said Hawbashi Mustafi, who works at the car wash. 

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/23931581.imo-car-wash-hereford-closed...

Bite me.

Fire service hits out at illegally parked cars delaying response

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23932870.fire-service-hits-illega...

This reminds me of the "LTN delays emergency vehicles" stories - it's never the official spokesman, if anyone is named, it's an anonymous fire fighter/ambulance person. 

What’s driving Howard Cox? We meet the anti-ULEZ campaigner from Kent running to be Mayor of London

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/i-ll-scrap-ulez-20mph-zones-even-...

“In 2010,” he recalls, “I was doing some work for this haulage logistics company. It had about 50 articulated trucks. 

“Almost half of all of his costs were taken up by fuel costs alone. Of which 70% was, at the time, going to the government in tax.

“That’s when I gave birth to Fair Fuel UK.”

cameras are a money making scam latest (transcribed from Private Eye)

HOTA TOPIC

WHILE the government's new "Plan for Drivers" promises to "curb over-zealous enforcement" of traffic offences to win over moaning motorists, a long and growing backlog in approvals for road-monitoring technology is likely to do the job for them.

Equipment used to record evidence for enforcement, such as speed cameras, needs to complete testing and certification for Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) in order for images and speed readings to be admissible and treated as accurate in court.

Evidence from non-HOTA equipment can be shown but would need to be backed by an expert witness.

Testing is carried out by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, with the admin handled by the Home Office.

In 2015, the Greater London Authority, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police told a parliamentary select committee inquiry that the ludicrous slowness of HOTA meant police and enforcement bodies were left with only "outdated, ineffective and costly" technology, when better and cheaper options were available. At the time their complaint was that the approval process for HOTA took around two years.

According to industry body Intelligent Transport Systems UK (ITS-UK), manufacturers are reporting that HOTA now takes between three and five years. And thanks to the "long and unpredictable timescales", suppliers are avoiding the UK market altogether, meaning clever systems that would improve road safety and traffic flow are not available.

As upgraded or replacement parts for approved devices also need to go through HOTA, ITS-UK warns that even expensive existing equipment will become unnecessarily obsolete while waiting five years for a new part to be signed off. It is pressing for a fast-track approval process for modifications.

Anyone got access to this? 

Why three quarters of young people aren’t learning to drive

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/freedom-of-the-road-loses-appeal-as-o...

Claims Cheltenham to Gloucester cycle route is too wide and needs to be redug refuted by highways bosses

There have been unfounded comments online saying part of the Churchdown stretch of the planned cycle spine between Bishop's Cleeve and Stroud had made the road too narrow for motorists 🎻

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/claims-chelte...

Sorry, kiddies and birdies - where am I supposed to park, you tell me.

Future of Warndon's Cotswold Way public open space

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23936361.future-warndons-cotswold-w...

Police appeal after Hereford crash between BMW and bike

West Mercia Police are appealing for information following the crash which involved a grey BMW estate with black alloys and a cyclist.

The BMW fled the scene after the crash, which took place at around 6pm on Monday, November 20, in Newmarket Street. 

A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: "We are appealing for witnesses after a car and cyclist collided in Newmarket Street in Hereford.

"The incident happened yesterday evening (November 20) around 6pm. The cyclist was crossing the road when they collided with a grey BMW estate with black alloys. The driver of the BMW fled the scene.

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/23939220.police-appeal-hereford-crash...

please stop with this "collision between car and cyclist (or pedestrian)" stuff  - there's a 1% chance I'm wrong here, but I'd say the driver - there was a driver - left the scene out of a guilty conscience. 

A spokesman said "we are finding the Acme automatic bank robber catcher is just too effective at catching bank robbers, so having listened to bank robbers' concerns, we are asking bank robbers about options for an alternative means of catching them, in which fewer bank robbers would probably be deterred from robbing banks or ultimately caught."

Cameras could put an end to bollard fury in 'nightmare' Watford cut-through

Infamous bollards in a Watford cut-through which hit headlines could be scrapped and replaced with a weight restriction

https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/cameras-c...

Well, twenty somethings, it's your future, you need to grab a hold of it.  There's the big stuff, you know climate change, reversing Brexit and the middle-sized thing of ending the oppression of E Scooters by a car-obsessed, wealthy older generation. 

Reporter James Pallant (aged 25-34), from Canterbury, on how costly it’s proving to get a car in Kent – from driving lessons to soaring insurance premiums

"But equally, the luxury of commuting on foot doesn’t so much feel like one when buses are cancelled and I have no choice but to walk 45 minutes to get home, uphill, in the rain."

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/i-never-imagined-it-would-c...

From ULEZ to rising parking charges – is there really a ‘war on motorists’ in Kent?

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/is-there-really-a-war-on-motorist...

No. 

Exeter roadblocks halt Father Christmas

Exeter's Round Table's annual Santa Float won't be visiting Heavitree and most parts of Whipton this year because it has not been possible for organisers to devise a new route away from the new trial LTN bus gates and bollards

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-roadblocks-halt-father-...

Enraged politician tells Cornwall Council 'you're killing our town'

'You may be chuffed some of these parking figures have gone up in tourist areas. We're not a tourist area, we're just normal Cornish people'

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/enraged-politician-tells...

Gosh, yes those local businesses being killed-off by the absence of shoppers who (can somehow manage to run a car but) can't afford £1 to park it for an hour. 

And do feel free to publicly attack council officers, who can't answer back. This just plain cowardly. 

Man returns from 3-week trip to find car parked outside his home covered in 24 parking fines

Mr Hawkins, 57, claims on one day, four fines were issued within three hours and he has been desperately trying to appeal all of them but hasn't had any luck so far. His parking permit had expired without him realising and due to being away he was unaware of the fines, so wasn't prompted to renew it as the penalties piled up.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/man-returns-3-week-trip-8924852

Disabled resident trapped in own home by two parked vehicles

Natascha Imlay missed work because of it and said the council stopped enforcing parking recently

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/disabled-resident-blocke...