Patchway Potholes

People keep telling me that the roads near where they live are very bad with potholes and crumbling road surfaces. I then invite them over to my house. And simply everyone is astonished at the very poor condition of roads near to me. I am now formally complaining about this issue and below are copies of emails I have.

If your venhicle is damaged by a pothole, I recommend you visit this site: http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim

These are the emails I have so far concerning the potholes in Patchway. My original start was on the South Gloucestershire web site. They have a “report pothole” button. I duly filled it an and this is their acknowledgement:

 This was received on 6 May at 14.59. And I have not heard from them since.

This is an automated email from South Gloucestershire Council. Please DO NOT reply to this email as replies will not be monitored.

This is to confirm that your report of a fault on the highway has been successfully submitted to us.

If you need to contact us regarding this matter, please quote the following reference: WEB-0161448

___________________________________________________________________________

 South Gloucestershire Council – rated April 2009 under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment a maximum ‘4 star’ council by the Audit Commission.

 

At the same time, I also sent an email to Patchway Council advsing them of what I had done. My local Counsellor only lives 100 metres away from me and she replied as follows:

“Sorry its taking me so long to get back to you, unfortunately my job with the Health Service have taken alot of my time over the last few weeks.  But of course you have my support re the state of Patchway Roads, especially around the Coniston Road, Bevington Walk area.  I have noticed that some of the potholes between Strode Road and Kestrel Road have been filled in, but I feel that is the guys doing the street lighting using up their spare tarmac.  I have e-mailed Street Care but I know they have a limited budget for the whole of South Gloucestershire and know that they are trying their best to repair all of South Gloucestershire roads, we as a council are all moaning to Street Care re the state of the roads but unfortunately we do not have a magic wand to get them re done quickly before a serious accident happens.

Regards”

And then I replied as follows:

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I have waited for a reply from South Glos, but alas, nothing has reached me.

Could you let me have the email for the Street Care so I can contact them direct? I was well aware that the excuse is lack of budget. My issue is how the budget is spent.  When you have a budget, you choose how to spend it. The choices were, in my opinion, plain wrong. From my viewpoint, the timeline is as follows:

 Street Lights

 The lights started to be replaced around September 2009. Whoever agreed the replacement and budget spending needs to hold their head in shame. The nation was in the middle of a severe recession that had already been going for over a year. So why replace perfectly functioning street lamps?!! The Council should have been seen to cut back. And didn’t do so. Error No 1

 Salting of Roads

 The 09/10 winter was one of the severest we have had for many years. No one could have foreseen that. I have lived in Bevington Close since 1984. It was noticeable that the roads had much less salt put down compared to snowfalls in past years. This caused the poor road surfaces we now have. However, South Glos chose to use the minimum amount of salt. They had plenty left – as evidenced by the Minister for Transport ordering South Glos to share their excess salt with Bristol City Council!!

Error No 2

Recent repairs

The recent repairs are no more than temporary patches and have been poorly done. When I turn right out of Bevington Close and drive over the patches towards the post box, it is like driving over rumble strips. Yes, the tarmac is not level. Error No 3

Now out of personal choice, I drive a nice car. Four tyres cost £750. Who can I send the bill to? Or perhaps I can only claim for collapsed suspension?

Last week I drove to the outskirts of Gloucester and went onto a “B” country road in the GL2 area. It had been completely re-surfaced over a 3 mile stretch. Yet Coniston Road is a nightmare to drive on and it is a bus route as well. Am I right in thinking that Pathway is deemed to be a poor sub-standard area and budgets are spent accordingly? Error No 4 looms large.

I will be sending all this correspondence to our new MP next week as I assume he has the power to twist the appropriate arms. Any comments you have in the meantime would be greatly appreciated.

And there we stand at the present moment.

A Suzuki Swift had its suspension damaged in Highwood Lane, details are here: http://www.potholes.co.uk/stories/view/833/Highwood_Lane_Patchway_Bristol/

Here are some pictures of just a few (!) potholes in Bevington Close. All taken on afternoon of 2 June 2010. Spot the faded yellow paint. South Glos Council marked these in March – with the benefit of hindsight, wish I had recorded the date!

Pothole 1

 

Pothole 1 close up

 

Pothole 2

 

Pothole 2 close uo

 

Pothole 3

 

Pothole 3 close up

 

Pothole 4

 

pothole 4 with matchbox for scale

 

Pothole 5

 

Pothole 5 close up

 

Pothole 5 with matchbox for scale

A month in My Life – November 09

The random happenings in my life during November 2009. The names of the guilty have been changed. But they should know who they are. I might even be subject to some retribution…….

Well what can I say? My birthday passed by. It was a four day celebration of sport, food and general enjoyment. Thanks to everyone, especially the PALS tribe. What would I do without you? Um, er, pass!

A young me...........just where did it all go wrong????

And now time for a moan. Yes, another one. Christmas stuff in the shops before Halloween. I can just about live with that, but don’t like it. But it got worse. Yes, really. I read that there were Christmas jingles on the radio on 15 November. In Peru mind. Just WTF? I will be having words with Paddington Bear next time I’m at the station. I’m sure he had an influence on the matter.

Council Tax wise, I am in the remit of South Gloucestershire. These guys have no idea that there is a recession on. Perfectly functioning street lights have been taken down and replaced by new “light pollution” energy efficient ones. So I can see the night sky better. Oh crap, I’ve paid for that. Why replace perfectly good working ones en mass? Apart from buying them, there is the workman’s wages for the installation. Lordy me. I’m going purple with rage. Grrrrr

And now onto South Glos – part 2. Local side road is closed and diversion in place. I duly wander around to see what’s happening and find a solitary workman. The road is being re-surfaced. But they are digging down about 18″. Is this a bodge job? And it’s a road I regularly cycle down and I didn’t think it was too bad. As for the awful bit of road on the main drag….well, yes you have correctly guessed it is untouched.

As you may well know, I’m a useless salesman. Couldn’t even sell a box of matches for a gas hob. But I do know a good thing when I see it and I have no reservations in plugging something. Being brought up in Cornwall taught me about rural life. And as I get older, I come across people who have had heart attacks. So when I came across AED Locator, I just had to find out more.. They provide public access defibrillators in cabinets. They are available to everyone and are required when a cardiac arrest is suspected. Saving lives HAS to be good! www.aedlocator.org

Young Whits commenced her paramedic training with a couple of night shifts. I’m pleased to report she thoroughly enjoyed it. She had the baptism of fire with a fatality on her first “shout”. Top marks m’gal.

Here in Bristol it continues to be warm, albeit very wet and windy. My rule is to wear shorts for as longer time as possible. So I’m still wearing them. Luverly jubbly.

I realised that I continue to suffer from the disease of oddness. Just why is it that I do my grocery shopping, stuff the fridge full of goodies – and then get a take-a-way. Just what is that all about?

This month’s overseas news comes from The Engineer. He moved to Thailand recently and is still sorting his house out. Thai builders really do multi-task to levels of astonishment. They do a motorbike taxi service in the evenings. And then drive busses at the weekend. And they might even run a weekend market trader stall as well. And they might even do all this whilst getting drunk on the local brew. Can your builder do all this?

I’ve had many long and enjoyable phone calls this month with Man from Lydney. We put the world to rights big time. Put us together and the world ducks in terror. Fantastic stuff.

I was moved enough to sign my very first e-petition. So I was obviously a bit riled then! The UK Government wants to cut off internet access to those who illegally download copyrighted files. No bad thing BUT the flaw is if someone hacks your connection – you get cut off. Not fair. Surely the law should be used to protect the innocent? http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus

Are you sat comfortably? Good. I have a major revelation. My back garden is sorted. Yes, I’m as shocked as you are. Bulbs, primroses, lily’s the whole works. Even a dedicated herb section. Marvellous! So what brought that on then I hear you cry. Ok, Ok, the fabulous AA took control and did it. Me garden? Pha, tish and tosh.

The month ended with the closure of Masters Snooker Club. The Tiler and I have played there for many years. Mike ran the club for 25 years. The lease expired and as he was 65, retirement called. We believe the landlord will develop the premises, but what into? It’s a prime location but surely too noisy for re-development into flats?

Burger boy joined in for the final snooker session. For reasons that left me baffled, he spent an inordinate amount of time fiddling with his belt and trousers. And not a girl in sight either. Should I be worried?

And the late breaking news is that the L of PALS lost her first tooth. Apart from the usual money under the pillow, the Tooth Fairy left a letter. L insists the writing looks familiar, but cannot remember whose it is. A classic example of being (almost) too smart for your own good!

Having not had a serious bike ride for ages, I picked a hard one to start with. Only 12 miles, but very “lumpy”. Best guess is that only 2 mile on the flat with a couple of tough hills to climb. To give you an idea of steepness, I hit 30 mph on the two big downhills. I managed the trip effortlessly. Just how did I do that? Genuinely surprised at how I kept my fitness level up. And then it rained none stop. Sometimes there was a gale to go with it as well. Confined to quarters.

A different question to end on this month. Lots of people seem to have forgotten the word “no”. I’ve said “no” loads of times this year and it hasn’t done me any harm. Go on, give it a whirl…….

General Randomness

I’ve found time to do a bit of writing this month and the articles are:

Overkill https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/overkill/

Simple Photography Tips https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/simple-photography-tips/

Football Clubs and Tax Debts https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/football-clubs-and-tax-debts/

IR35 Revenge Time https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/ir35-revenge-time/

Technology https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/technology/

Sports News

Not much sport watched this month. On the football side, there was a break for the International games. And then the league fixtures were not kind. Clashes everywhere. Oh well, stuff happens.

And the quality of the Rugby was pretty bad. Oh dear England, just what is going on?

Well, as far as I am concerned, there was just one important football story. Thierry Henry, the French football captain deliberately handled the ball and a goal was scored. That meant the French qualified for next summers World Cup. Officials did not see the incident, but cameras did. After a huge public outcry Henry apologised for his lack of sportsmanship. You cheat! The world will view you differently now sunny jim.

Gosh, have just read that motorbike racing is to go “green”. There are to be four electric motorbike races in 2010. FIM said “as the governing body of motorcycle sport, we must take into account current environmental problems”. Yes well done. You are being seen to do good. Did you mention the MotoGP circus takes up 2.5 jumbo jets of room per race? No!?????