Unacceptable parking

[Dougal Mulldoon]

Parking like this is unacceptable, selfish and dangerous: if the fire brigade had to get in in a hurry people could die.

[Pugwash]

Are these removable barriers?

[Dougal Mulldoon]

Yes, the fire service have a key to remove the middle post allowing access but not with this car parked. Five minutes would be ok but this has been there twice now for over twenty four hours.

[malumbu]

Have you alerted anyone in authority. OK I don't expect the police to come out, and the council are unlikely to do similar at the weekend, but it would be more useful to do than posting on a community website. By all means start a thread on the lounge, as many of us would be happy to join in with our stories (mine in the banqueting hall on Perry Vale where I have tried directly and through the MP to get better enforcement). By chance I did find a cop car one cay but they were disinterested. Sadly many motorists feel the entitlement to drive what they want, where they want, when they want and how they want. Similar can be applied to parking.

You can always leave a note something like subtle like "you selfish barstool". There were some very sticky ones you could buy once but probably all this would do it cause confrontation, no matter how tempting it would be. I've just done a search for an official looking note, but just came up with lots of passive aggressive ones. The best would be "do you mind not parking your car here as it is blocking emergency vehicles"

Fortunately there is always the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4635626/Blog-names-shames-Britain-s-selfish-drivers.html

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

"The quickest way to report a request for parking enforcement is by emailing [email protected].

We will need to know the location and what the issue is. Examples of parking enforcement issues may include vehicles parked on yellow lines, footway parking, double parking or vehicles obstructing your drive."

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/report-a-parking-enforcement-issue

[Sally Eva]

Dial directly to Apcoa on 0207 708 8587

They will clear the right of way -- and also the path for emergency vehicles, as you say

[peckhamside]

Plus it makes it hard to cycle through.

[ed26]

Technically the bit in the middle is pavement, so people shouldn't be cycling over there anyway. The cycle gates are either side. No excuse for the poor parking though.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

ed26 Wrote:

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> Technically the bit in the middle is pavement, so

> people shouldn't be cycling over there anyway. The

> cycle gates are either side.

Yeah but even when you ride through the cycle gate on the left, you've got to weave through the narrowed space between the white van and the blue BMW/the dickhead behind the blue BMW. Obviously BMW Driver would lose their mind if he got a scratch on their car.

[Garveyplumbing]

To be fair, every household seems to own 2 cars per family these days but nobody drives to work, meaning very little parking spaces. It?s a real issue and sometimes you have to park where you can to access a property to drop off tools good and materials before finding a parking space.

There is less and less parking/road space for local tradesmen as a result of these measures and the new culture that seems to be actively forced on us lately.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Southwark has one of the lowest rates of car ownership anywhere in the country. Most households don't have a car. It's about 0.4 cars per house, maybe less now.

https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s89797/Appendix%202%20Car%20Ownership.pdf

https://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/car%20ownership%20rates%20by%20local%20authority%20-%20december%202012.pdf

[DuncanW]

Agree that parking is an issue.

I'm not sure that 'every' household has two cars though, or anything like that; 46% of London households do not own a car at all. https://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-12-how-many-cars-are-there-in-london.pdf

The population of London has risen significantly c15% over the last decade or so which obviously links to more cars on the road, even though car-ownership per capita has reduced during the same period.

So, how do we ameliorate the problem? I guess we could build some more multi-story car parks... or we could work out ways to reduce unnecessary car use and ownership, but that's not always popular..

[Penguin68]

Southwark has one of the lowest rates of car ownership anywhere in the country. Most households don't have a car. It's about 0.4 cars per house, maybe less now.

That is a borough wide figure - and the comparatively populous north of the borough is well supplied with bus, tube and rail routes. The south of the borough, and particularly the deep south (here) is vey much less well supplied, and I believe car ownership in our neck of the woods is much closer to e.g. the Bromley figures - not surprisingly as our exposure to public transport provision is similar.

[DuncanW]

And I would assume that the availability of parking spaces also increases as one heads south as the houses/frontages are bigger and generally less multi-occupancy dwellings... and as you get further out towards and into LB Bromley more dwellings with their own off-street parking.

[Nigello]

I think those in big houses (I mean, richer people) would have the same number of vehicles even if we had a Tube or even a couple more bus routes that would connect parts of our area that are not on the main LL drag. Disposable income goes on shiny things, often. Maybe they'd have smaller vehicles but I still think they'd be likely to have a similar number of cars. People like them, unfortunately, and are not prepared to go without them. Can't blame them to some extent as our post-war development has been predicated on private transport.

[Lebanums]

Nigello you are absolutely correct about creating new bus routes etc!

However I believe that car ownership is cheaper than public transport. Yes, there are savings to be made by buying a monthly or weekly pass, but you have to have the disposable income at hand to afford that.

There will always be people who will not want to move away from a car, no matter what but if the price of public transport was reduced, I believe that would make a difference. For many of us, it is about cost, and the answer is not to increase costs for motorists, especially now cleaner technology and fuel are available, and it will continue to improve.

[Nigello]

I don't think buses are expensive, especially when you take into account that some fares are subsidised for certain categories. You can bus hop now so can cover a fair distance for ?1.55, for example. I could do with more routes, but don't hold my breath. Thing is, once you have a car you feel the need to use it to get your money's worth (very hard to do in reality because they sit static on a road or drive for most of their lives).

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Penguin68 Wrote:

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> Southwark has one of the lowest rates of car

> ownership anywhere in the country. Most households

> don't have a car. It's about 0.4 cars per house,

> maybe less now.

>

> That is a borough wide figure - and the

> comparatively populous north of the borough is

> well supplied with bus, tube and rail routes. The

> south of the borough, and particularly the deep

> south (here) is vey much less well supplied, and I

> believe car ownership in our neck of the woods is

> much closer to e.g. the Bromley figures - not

> surprisingly as our exposure to public transport

> provision is similar.

If you look at the link, it breaks down car ownership by postcode and by ward. The most car-heavy ward is also I'd guess the richest in Southwark - Village Ward. But even then it's only 0.87 cars per household (or maybe more usefully, 9 cars for every 10 houses).

Village Ward and "deep south" Southwark (lol) are not poorly served by public transport.

[Lebanums]

Agree that busses are fairly cheap, but unless you want to spend most of your day getting around the city to work, it's quicker to take the train/tube. The cap of a daily ticket is way more than what is spent on petrol and yearly, way above costs for a car.

[oimissus]

My last couple of trips on buses have been a nightmare - one to take my daughter to an appointment at St Thomas's involved the bus unexpectedly terminating early, and the next being held for inspectors (accompanied by a lot of police, because that's how well the citizens of south east London take to being asked to show their ticket) holding the next bus at a stop for quite a while.

And let's consider those citizens, with their mobiles blaring out music, TV or Granny on a video call for the whole bus to hear - must be some kind of shortage of headphones round here. If only phones came with free headphones... oh wait, they do. And let's not get started on the lack of masks, smelly food, feet on seats, general aggression and rudeness to any of those being challenged, however politely.

I would love to use buses more, they are a truly democratic mode of transport. But unless those things get sorted, and let's face it, the latter has only got worse over the years, I'll stick to other ways of getting about including, yes, my car.

[Nigello]

What a calamity. How very unlucky to have had such a lot of problems in two trips. It is not often like that, but I agree there are downsides to using public transport at times. It is a big city and people are not always up to one's personal standards. Stay seated and seethe/sulk or move down the bus, and if it really bothers you and you wish to affect positive change you can use the time you save by driving to write to the bus company to register your dissatisfaction, CCing your MP. Just a thought...

[Penguin68]

How very unlucky to have had such a lot of problems in two trips.

I gave up taking the 176 into the West End - it always terminated (in the evenings) on Waterloo Bridge, wherever it said it was going when I got on.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

oimissus Wrote:

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> that's how well the citizens of south east London take to being asked to show their ticket...I would love to use buses more, they are a truly

> democratic mode of transport.

Odd thing to say for someone who doesn't really seem to like the demos very much! 🤣

> But unless those

> things get sorted, and let's face it, the latter

> has only got worse over the years, I'll stick to

> other ways of getting about including, yes, my

> car.

Give over. Buses are better than ever: quieter, cleaner, operating through the night, air conditioner (more frequently), trackable to the minute through mobile apps... As the person above said...

> There will always be people who will not want to move away from a car, no matter what

[malumbu]

DKH, it is all Southwark's fault and those evil LTNs, they are incompetent, corrupt and in the hands of those living on the leafy streets.

Anyway, now that is out of the way, not sure why this thread is going on about buses, which I am a fan of anyway. But as others have noted most cars sit there all day on the road without moving. Road space that could be put to better use, dare I say even scooter lanes?

Bring on smart/connected transport, mobility as a service, where it will all be joined up with an autonomous pod (if we choose not to cycle/walk/public transport/community car club) will take us to our transport hub for our onward journey, simply with a swish of your phone (or perhaps a flicker of your eyes). And private car ownership, beyond a small number of enthusiasts, will be over.