southwark council van pollution

[JickieC]

There is a southwark council van sitting on Muschamp running its engine for over an hour - with the headlights and windscreen wipers on and no sign of a driver. It's over heating too and the fumes are horrible. Any ideas what to do?

[TheArtfulDogger]

Jump in and drive it away around the corner

The driver will then have to explain how they "lost" it when they get back to base

[JickieC]

i did try the doors to honk the horn - but (s)he actually managed to lock them

[seenbeen]

thank goodness it's raining- all the horrible pollution gets washed down the drain!

[Sue]

Take its reg number and description and report it to the council?

Why would somebody leave a van with its engine running?

[DulwichFox]

There is one rule for Southwark Council and another rule for everyone else.

[tiddles]

Was the driver in the van?

A - knock on door and ask them to turn off the engine

B - take photo of vehicle and call the southwark number that no one answers

C - send photo of vehicle etc to southwark

They (southwark) are spending loads in banners near schools asking drivers to turn off idling

Engines

[bels123]

Call Southwark enforcement next time 020 7708 8587.

[tallulah71]

Def report next time - hypocrisy of the highest degree. Happens all the time around where I live, though usually with builders. I did knock on a British Gas man n van once and he finally drove off. It's not just a council drive for cleaner air, it's a fine-carrying offence

[natty01295]

They keep saying about pollution Yet they (Southwark council) Leave there engines running when its not necessary to do so

[Humdinger]

Did you not let down the tyres? Thats what the council advises you to do when one of their employees dares to take a lunch break on OUR time.

[peckman]

How on earth is this the councils fault!! Its completely down to an incondiderate driver! Jeez the council has its faults but come on !!

[Zebedee Tring]

The Council would be potentially liable for the actions of their employee in the course of his employment, at least in civil law.

[cella]

Humdinger Wrote:

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> Did you not let down the tyres? Thats what the

> council advises you to do when one of their

> employees dares to take a lunch break on OUR time.

There is no way this is Council advice - why bother to post this no matter how annoyed you are?

[doogleflip]

I?m confused as to how he/she locked the doors from the outside if the engine was still running?! Surely you need a key to lock the doors from the outside... very strange!

Edit - I don?t have keyless entry in my car so maybe it?s that?

[Sue]

I reckon the driver was asleep in the back..

[tallulah71]

...yes! with the A/C on. Makes sense

[malumbu]

You've got plenty of good advice, and some stupid stuff too. This is not funny. So do all of these below:

Clock the registration, preferably video it, and report to Southwark Council as a complaint (polluting and wasting fuel).

Report to Southwark Council Environmental Health, and/or Highways, quoting their own air quality policies, and asking what action they will be taking. https://www.southwark.gov.uk/environment/air-quality/what-we-re-doing/what-we-are-doing

Also question how on earth they can 'ban' unnecessary idling. Discourage it, take enforcement action yes. Ban? How many enforcement officers would that take? https://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/2018/jan/southwark-launches-new-anti-engine-idling-enforcement

Copy in the Mayor of London and ask what action he will be taking

Write to your MP and ask him to raise this with the Secretary of State for the Environment.

Copy in your local Councillor.

The stupidity of leaving your engine running is something I normally associate with the middle classes on the school run, or the police. Those have led to most of my arguments. The more we do to raise this with the appropriate authorities the better.

My only facetious comment is to stuff a potatoe in the exhaust so the vehicle stalls. Highy unlikely that this will send carbon monoxide into the vehicle.

[peckman]

Lets be clear ! The only person at fault is the moron who did this . By all means send a snnotty email to cllrs , mps etc but its fuckin common sense .. some people have it some dont

[malumbu]

No it's not, it'd the organisation. Organisational morons. Don't excuse the organisation.

It's like excusing the German people in the second world war for Hitler.

It's not snotty letters, it is getting the organisation to take responsibility. Why don't you apologise for every other organisation that has done wrong?

[Sue]

peckman Wrote:

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> Lets be clear ! The only person at fault is the

> moron who did this . By all means send a snnotty

> email to cllrs , mps etc but its @#$%& common

> sense .. some people have it some dont

The person is presumably doing this whilst working for Southwark Council, otherwise why would he be in a Southwark Council van?

And probably this isn't the first time he has done it (and won't be the last), and other people may be doing it too.

Therefore the council need to know about it. In my opinion.

[Paulo]

Who knows? Could it have been some kind of emergency? An emergency kip? But ffs don't just blame the council straight off without a clue. If you have a complaint register it here:

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/complaints-comments-and-compliments/making-a-complaint

[Sue]

I don't think anybody is "blaming the council" ?

And if you are desperate to sleep, you don't need to keep the engine running ....

[Penguin68]

I don't think anybody is "blaming the council" ?

Well, I haven't been (not posted before on this thread) - but simple (a) training and (b) rules and © enforcement of these rules are up to the council, and as described (for the time claimed by the OP) there can be no 'excuse' for the actions apparently taken (or innaction allowed) by the council-employed driver of the vehicle in question.

Of course, the action is the 'failure', strictly, of just one individual, and there may be (though if the timing is right it's difficult to see what) a reasonable explanation, but the council necessarily takes management responsibility for the actions of its agents, and is ultimately to blame here, even if other council employees may have been unaware at the time of what was happening. That is what corporate responsibility is about. If no council rules were broken, for instance, that is a failure of council rule-setting.