Entertaining Letters in Local Rag

From the Manchester Evening News letter pages, 27th June 2008[1]:

"The [traffic] congestion is the fault of the council in the first place,
but they arrogantly put the cause down to the motorist."


This one is is even better, and with added On-Topicness:

Friday, 27 June 2008 [2]
Idiots with bikes on cars

WHEN is the government going to ban bicycles from being carried on the
outside of cars? Is there no limit to the number of bicycles these people
fit onto their cars, mostly for show, or to say 'look at my latest toys?'
These things are highly dangerous and I would hate to think what would
happen if they came off or were involved in an accident. Some of these
idiots travel at up to 80mph on the motorways with two or three bikes on
the back. God help other motorists if ever they came adrift. Why don't
these people use their common sense and buy a vehicle big enough to load
their luggage and cycles in, for example, a seven-seater or similar? I have
a seven-seater and have taken the rear two seats out and I can get my two
grandchildren's bikes and my own in quite comfortably. Common sense does
help occasionally and could save the inevitable pile-up which is bound to
happen one day. Ex-Continental Trucker, Manchester

Ex-Continental Trucker, Manchester



[1] <http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....tter/20080627_
4.html>

[2] <http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....tter/20080627_
3.html>

On 27 Jun 2008 12:00:20 GMT
Mark T
<pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com.invalid>
wrote:

> From the Manchester Evening News letter pages, 27th June 2008[1]:
>
> Common sense does help
> occasionally and could save the inevitable pile-up which is bound to
> happen one day. Ex-Continental Trucker, Manchester
>
Should reply with something about how fundamentally unstable artics are
when braking hard ...

.... why am I just waiting for the sharp inhalation of breath and the
wheezed

"I just don't bel-LIEVE it"" from Ex-Continental trucker.... ?

That letter of his reads more like wa Viz top tips really... :-)

didds

On 27 Jun 2008 12:00:20 GMT, Mark T
<pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com.invalid>
said in <Xns9ACA844EA9C0Cwibbled@130.133.1.4>:

>"The [traffic] congestion is the fault of the council in the first place,
>but they arrogantly put the cause down to the motorist."

Ah yes, because of course the council is the one who forces people
to drive instead of taking the drain. Or something.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <uce@ftc.gov> wrote:


>Ah yes, because of course the council is the one who forces people
>to drive instead of taking the drain. Or something.

Well... it could be argued that GMPTE are controlled by the council
and as GMPTE won't control prices and even in their future plans
*still* refuse to provide decent transport links for the west of the
county (smaller than TFL's area, BTW), then they are in fact forcing a
large proportion of commuters to rely on cars.

Even sitting in the traffic, it is way quicker to go from my town
(Leigh) into Manc by car than to use the bus. The so called express
bus takes almost 1.5 hours in rush (several) hours - even with bus
lanes choking the roads. The nearest train station is 4 miles away and
is always just 2 carriages and inevitably packed out, by the time it
reaches my nearest station.

There are no direct public transport links to Trafford Park, anymore
(an area where most of the commuters from my area work) and to do the
trip by public transport to get to work for a 6am shift is impossible
- the first bus is at 06:30. To do it at any other time of day would
take over 2 hours.

If the Manc congestion robbery is introduced, the public transport
system will collapse - even the proposed "improvements" (which,
incidentally only run through the affluent areas) are not going to
help. People will not be able to afford to drive to work - but neither
will they be able to get to work by other methods. Pressure will be on
employers to subsidise employees congestion robbery, and many
businesses will re-locate outside the zone (already stated). The end
result is that all the money will pull out of Manc and the city will
revert back to being the craphole it was in the 60's and 70's.

There is also a further plan to extend charging to the whole of
"grating madchester". it will kill the entire county - people will
leave in droves.

If it does expand out here, this country will lose a taxpayer, as I
will go to another country - and so will many others.

It has to be said: this country has, in the past 11 years, gone from
being a bit crap to being a deeply unpleasant place to live.

BTW: I would love to use public transport - but it needs to be far
cleaner, more pleasant, more frequent, more widespread and about a
fifth of the cost, before I can consider it. Really.
--

Fr. Jack

Fr Jack <sp@m.com> wrote:

> There are no direct public transport links to Trafford Park, anymore
> (an area where most of the commuters from my area work) and to do the
> trip by public transport to get to work for a 6am shift is impossible
> - the first bus is at 06:30. To do it at any other time of day would
> take over 2 hours.

Such people will not be affected by the congestion charge.

> BTW: I would love to use public transport - but it needs to be far
> cleaner, more pleasant, more frequent, more widespread and about a
> fifth of the cost, before I can consider it. Really.

At present, much public transport costs, in my experience, almost the
same as motoring. Why do you believe that it should be 80% cheaper?

Cheers,
Luke


--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire <http://www.shrimper.org.uk>