One man goes to town

 

Liverpool, Wednesday, April 11, 2012.

Found this story in one of my  old notebooks. It's about a day out in Liverpool eight years ago.

 I catch the number 10 for town from outside the off licence on East Prescot Road.

As luck would have it, the conductor was George. Always had a smile and one-liners at the ready. "Anyone want to pay twice" was a favourite as he squeezed down the aisle.

At the London Road stop in town, for T. J. Hughes store, George would call out: "Shop Lifters Paradise", and receive a good natured slap from chuckling passengers getting off.

I alight two stops later, in Queen’s Square.

I.m checking out a few of my old haunts, pick up the vibes.

Walk via the 1960s-built St John’s Shopping Precinct, calling in at Model Zone – full of models of course.

I’m keen to see what trains they may have.

Nothing for me, as it happens.

The shopping precinct replaced the lofty Victorian covered retail market demolished in the name of progress in 1964.

It was one of the first and the largest fully enclosed roofed market halls when it opened in 1822.

I have only a vague memory of it now.  The front façade of the building was rather austere. Not very attractive to my mind.  But it hid the real gem from the street, the market hall itself. I looked up the facts of the build.  Discovered it featured 16 stone-trimmed classical arched window bays and the roof was supported by 116 interior cast-iron pillars.

It was a huge lofty trading space, full of bustle, the air filled with the aroma of fresh veg, fruit and flowers.

In the Sixties many such places were seen as old fashioned.  The call was for new buildings to represent the modern age. So  many old places were demolished without ceremony and replaced with the simplicity and clean lines of concrete, as architects determined to brighten the place up with a modern building, in this case a garish contrast to what stood before.

Some of the changes were not so well received.

When the new market caught fire many Liverpudlians expressed their regret that the fire service saved the building.

For me it felt like dead air in that place. No energy. I sense that loss whenever I walk into WHSmith today, which takes away my will to live. 

It's all to do with positive and negative ions, the former being bad for our health the latter good. The science underpinning this is fascinating and this walk about town is not the place for it, on this occasion.

Except to say that pollutants given off by many modern materials used in buildings  and by electrical  equipment deplete the high density ionization in the air which is crucial to our well being. This probably explains why those pinned to the mobile phones all day look miserable and only half-awake.

I redress the balance by going a for bike ride in fresh air.

Liverpudlians can dose up by frequent visits to the Pier Head and the bracing Mersey.

Meanwhile, back to the dusty city streets. No dead air there.

I recall a TV documentary about Liverpool comedian Ken Dodd in which he was filmed surrounded by chattering fans, signing autographs near Williamson Square. "And what's your name, "he  asked one lady. "Eileen" she replied (pronouncing her name,  I Lean).

"To the right or to the left", was Dodd's quick response.

Here's Lime Street which besides the magnificent train station also features  two splendid pubs - the Vines and The Crown. Both hotels. I recall their opulent  interiors where masterpieces in craftsmanship.

Just like the more famous Philharmonic pub in Hope Street, a short walk up Mount Pleasant.

Your spirits lift the moment you step inside those places, before you even reach the bar.

Some of course had too much spirit in them and would be required to leave.

I was in a bus queue once when a customer was being  pushed out of the door by a barman, shouting "Gerrout". 

The bus queue all turned their heads to see the kerfuffle. One elderly lady shouted out gleefully; Oooh, a bolshy barman." and we all laughed.

Someone always, always will have something to say in Liverpool for the slightest  reason. Failing that,  your eyes will meet in silent acknowledgement of the event, whatever it was. Maybe someone dropping a shopping bag! You're never alone even when alone.

One man in a newspaper piece explained why  Lime Street peaked his interest every time he walked that way.

He noted that between the two pubs at either end of this section of Lime Street there were number of premises, including a small cinema and a bar, which I think was called the American Bar, plus maybe there was a tobbacanist?

But he could never be sure in which order they fell, whether he could come upon the bar first and then the cinema and the tobbacanist, or was it the other way around.

And that, to him, was key. Because for him, the moment you knew exactly which order they appeared the street would be predictable and therefore no longer interesting.

I liked that. 

On we go, to walk by Blackler’s on Elliot Street. Blackers was once a big fashion store, famous for its lavish Father Christmas Grotto.

When I was a trainee production assistant for Randall’s Advertising Agency on Church Street Blackler's was one of their clients.

So I would regularly visit the store, taking advertising proofs for the buyers to check.

Blackler’s, like many major Liverpool Stores – Owen Owen and Lewis’s - is now closed. The building remains, occupied by several outlets, including the pub, the Richard John Blackler, owned by Wetherspoon, paying homage to its former life. 

They celebrate the founder, with large photographs of the store as it was.

I wonder what happened to the attractive atrium, allowing shoppers to gaze upwards to the two galleries above and ascend to the first on a central staircase. Gone, I suppose.

Opposite is Yates Wine Lodge. I remember one day how a well-oiled customer staggered out into the fresh air with the urgent need to prop himself up against the wall  outside. But even that proved too difficult. Gradually his knees would buckle and he  would slide down the wall and only with a mighty effort would he slowly hoist himself back upright, only to slide slowly down again, head nodding up and down and to the left and right before falling to his chest, his limp arms dangling by his side.

 It was a losing battle. Eventually a police van turned up and the officers stood by for a while, bemused and observing his plight.

After several more performances, the officers brought down the curtain on this street entertainment, and ushered the fellow into the back of the police van.

On I go, up Bold Street, to the very top, for coffee in Tabac.

Refreshed I continue  past the bombed relic of St Luke’s Church, a scar from the Second World War when German bombers targeted the nearby docks but often flattened wide areas of the city miles from there. For years large swathes land lay waste across the city.

Then right turn into Seel Street, where the Blue Angel Rock club looks unchanged, outwardly at least, in the 40 years since I last stepped into its dark interior to have my hearing bashed by rock bands.

China Town is around the corner, celebrated with a beautiful Chinese Gateway of dragons and serpents in bright yellows, gold’s, reds and blues across the roadway.

Into Duke Street, then right turn to thread my way back to Bold Street, once home to Cripps and other high fashion stores.  Pit posh, back then, was Bold Street.  

Today, there’s a Bohemian feel to the street, with specialist bookshops, varied cafes, a fine artists shop. On I go, down to Church Street, one of the main shopping streets, pedestrianised now and better for it, the sound of people's voices happily replacing that of traffic.

The times they are a changin’

I note the changing face of the city in the four decades since I left.   Many older buildings remain.  But many have come down.

I think our early years are often the most impressionable.  During this time the illusion of your home town is one of permanence.

The face of the city presented to your eyes remains unchanging in all but small ways.

This is how it will always be,  you imagine.  Well, some places don't change while others parts do. 

Even rock solid structures can be removed without trace – Central Station for instance.

Replaced with a tacky modern shopping centre, to compliment the dodgy build which replaced St John's Market Hall a couple of hundred yards away.

Permanence is an illusion.

So it is old streets become modernised.

The old disappeats, except for some buildings of historical merit, we hope.

They remain, lodged among the new.

These step changes in the look of a road, of a whole area, combine over years to transform the whole.

And then there are major changes which completely transform places. Such as, I imagine, when

St George’s Hall was built in the 1800s, for instance, a neo-classical grade 1 listed building. 

What a splendid sight this is now for passengers emerging from  Lime Street Station opposite.

Yet when Lime Street was opened in 1836, the vista greeting arriving passengers was one of green fields! The city had yet to spread that far from the river front.  There was no St George’s Hall! No big iron casts of Lions guarding the imposing pile.

Lime Street Station.

Building work on St George’s Hall began six years later, in 1842, and it opened to the public in 1854. And the grassy area behind it was transformed into gardens with pathways and seating overlooking the city gradually extending its reach.

Out of those same green fields to flank and complement St Georges Hall sprang William Brown Street,   the Walker Art Gallery, the museum and The Crown Court. The whole vista of this impressive pile gave rise to Liverpool becoming known as the Florence of the North.

The splendor of St Georges Hall.

Some 90 years later, a few 100 yards away, a giant hole became the Kingsway entrance to the magnificent engineering feat, the  Mersey Tunnel, which opened in 1936.

Meanwhile, dring my time,  on the waterfront, the Albert Dock development brought derelict, historic riverside warehouses and dock back to a different life.

Albert Dock is now complimented by Liverpool’s latest development, the Liverpool One shopping area
which has transformed a bomb site into a 21^st century pastime – shopping and eating out.

Everton Football club have a supporters shop  here. The address: Everton 2 Liverpool 1.

Geddit?

It's all nicely done.  Up the steps is a small park with a pathway leading directly to the Albert Dock across land which had lain waste since the War.

For me, reflecting back on 40 years, the Albert Dock and Liverpool One are perhaps the two major developments to have dramatically, changed the face and character of the city during my time.

Subtle changes

But smaller changes also occur, and always, somewhere, a treasure has been allowed to remain.

I notice the changes. But to younger people this is how it has always looked. 

Until they too observe, over time, the slow, gradual, unstoppable, subtle changes to the same canvas, this picture in their minds.

But I must press on, for lunch in the attractive bistro at the Bluecoat Chambers off Church Street. Built in the early 18th century as a charity school, The Bluecoat building presents three sides to a gated courtyard and opens out to a small garden at the rear.

It was “improved”  during my years of absence, and slightly spoilt, to my mind.  The old, musty book shop has gone.  And the ramshackle garden at the rear, made tidy – in other words, stripped of its character.

Still, it’s a nice place to sit, all the same. The lovely fabric of the building is well maintained.

And the craft shops adjacent always a pleasure to visit. Mum bought me a nice China tea cup there.

And I bought some nice egg cups.

On I go again, into Church Street, once choked with traffic but now pedestrianized and so much better for it.

At the cross roads I join the traffic again, into Paradise Street briefly, left into narrow streets leading  to once dingy Mathew Street,  to the site of the Cavern Club, famous for spawning the Beatles. I recall going there once, to the damp cellars with their walls running wet with condensation.

This was in the late Sixties. The Beatles had left town by then, for London and stardom.

I joined a queue in Mathew Street. The doorman was being selective, only allowing in those judged to be properly dressed and turning away those who were not. So I removed my tie and tied it around my head, bandana style.  The doorman singled me out and bade me enter.

Great music down there. Can’t recall who was playing but the acoustics were good. I am told this is  probably due to the vaulted brick roof and the floor space sectioned off by archways. You could take refuge under the arches, give your ears a rest from the NOISE and hear yourself think.

Gone now, the original Cavern, replaced by a fake  across the street!

There’s a Beatles Shop just around the corner, full of 1960’s memorabilia, then onto North John Street, Dale Street, Exchange Street East –Pyke's the jewellers, no longer there. 

The Albany – a gem

Past Albany Buildings in Old Hall Street. Built in 1858, an architectural gem built around a beautiful sunken courtyard.  

It features a lovely wrought iron staircase in the centre, leading up to walkways connecting the upper floor.

Once you could gain access easily through an archway, but today, it is only visible through locked glass doors.

Built to house the HQ for the Liverpool Cotton Brokers, today only the ground floor of the Albany are offices. The other floors are all luxury apartments.

Exchange Flags behind the Town Hall has been surfaced with granite sets replacing the flagstones of the 1960s.

In Water Street Oriel Chambers (built in 1860) has the distinction of being the first iron framework building in the world. Nicknamed the “glasshouse” because of its large windows, modern for that period.

The India Building opposite remains as splendid handsome celebration of Britain’s dodgy days of Empire.

I am pleased to note that the strange “bucket” fountain on the Goree Plaza  is still in place. Sadly, not working today. I used to enjoy watching the water fill up each bucket – there were as many as 15 or 20, each filling up in sequence -  before rudely cascading  the contents splashing into the pool, below.

Close by is Castle Street, one of the original ancient streets of the city and by far the most handsome in Liverpool. You can see it on maps dating back to the 13^th century.

It must have changed a bit since those days! But not much in my time!

Castle Street is top and tailed by the Georgian town hall at one end and the Queen Victoria monument at the other.

I didn’t spot the debtors stone on this occasion, a round stone slab in the roadway.  Looking up local history I could only see reference to the Sanctuary Stone which marked the boundary of the market once held there.

But the little book I had back in the sixties  referred to the debtors stone, where anyone owing money could seek “sanctuary” by standing on it. Perhaps he’d shout“Barley” which in kids language meant they can’t touch  you!  Presumably a mate would go off to get the necessary funds to make settlement, always hoping he would return of course, while creditors stood idly by waiting to grab him if should do a runner.

 

The interloper and the Three Graces

The Port of Liverpool building reflected in the mirror like wall of the new building opposite.

At the bottom of Water Street, we reach Temple Buildings. Ah, ha. I used to work in there, for Millican Advertising.  

And across the Dock Road - where ghost trains rattle above on the long-gone Overhead Railway - to where the imposing River Mersey beckons. This wonderful water front has, for more than a century, presented Liverpool’s face to the world of shipping. Here stand the “The three graces” – an  imposing threesome each of distinctive architectural merit: the Royal Liver Building with its huge towers topped by two 18-foot high “Liver Birds”,  the Cunard Building in Italian Renaissance and Greek Rivival style and  the Edwardian Baroque Port of Liverpool Building.

Those Liver Birds! Big buggers. I knew never to miss the last bus from the Pier Head. Cos I imagined dem birds might ‘ave yer, pick your bones clean.

“What time do you call this?,” my mother would exclaim when I staggered home in the small hours.

The Three Graces are no longer alone. A modern  black marbled interloper has joined them, lined up to the right of them  (as viewed from the River) .  The stranger is next to the Museum of Liverpool - I'm not sure what it contains - but it is huge. One end of it is angled like the bows of huge ship. Not to everyone’s taste. But I like the contrast it provides.

Because his huge slab of shiny tiled wall offers a perfect, shimmering reflection of the domes and pillars of the classical styled Port of Liverpool Building across the road; and also of the buses at the kerb, and people walking by. 

I wonder if the architect was wary of imposing his modern design on its famous neighbours.

And hid it  behind a huge mirror like edifice, to render his work all but invisible. I wonder what else has changed since day.

 

Cycling UK need to be more open about their problems

 

Hello, Cycling UK, are you receiving?

Good .

Following the last entry in which it was revealed Cycling UK don't have the resources  to tackle rogue Local Authorities who build crap cycling lanes, Freedom Cycle features a fellow member who advises Cycling UK what they need to do to rectify matters.

“I understand Cycling UK’s point about resources and a top-down approach, but they could be more open about the problem they have. And they could engage someone to write about it in their magazine - then in the Leader column they could say it is an issue [and they need more resources]...they could then appeal to local CTC areas for support I guess, or to local cycling campaigns - e.g. Kingston CC. This could be good for stirring up general awareness and publicity about dangerous infrastructure and money being wasted.”

“The 1996 guidance (Cycle-friendly Infrastructure Guidelines for Planning and Design) could be used to frame the regulations, and the government can then oblige LAs to follow it. This is what Cycling UK should be promoting as an approach to making improvements.

And they should be leading a discussion in the pages of their mag and proposing how to tackle the problem.”

Yes, it beggars belief they haven’t shared this nugget with us, that they cannot do the most vital work and engage with Local Authorities responsible for so much shit! Why ever not?

                                           Street scene in Holland, 

                                           where they know how to create safe routes with adequate

                                           segregation from pedestrians and motor traffic

Surely Cycling UK's problem compromises much of their otherwise excellent work to promote safe cycling. 

 Because, let’s face it, there is not much point in lobbying government to provide funding for a national cycling policy if the people tasked with doing the work   are the Local Authorities who haven’t a clue how to do it.

In the meantime, Cycling UK continue to go round in circles by wasting  members time introducing  the Cycle Advocacy Network (CAN) - as if this will make any difference.

 They want to “resource and support people around the UK who are speaking up for change, helping to make things safer for cyclists in their area.”

CAN says we need cycle lanes in place for parents with kids, the over 65s, handcyclists, people with cargo bikes (see pic above) or pulling trailers.

Good luck with that one.

 This has been going for years by local cyclists in most towns and cities.

Councillors and planners pay lip service but mostly do nothing much – a token cycle lane here and there, dodging posts and telephone boxes, bus stops etc.

 There will be little change unless Cycling UK can directly engage with the Local Authorities who cock up what little provision they do provide cycling.

*Finally,  felicitaciones  to Preston’s Hugh Carthy in Spain, winning Sunday’s monstrous mountain top finish in the Vuelta, and moving to third overall.

 

 

Dangerous cycle lanes and why Cycling UK seldom challenge Local Authorities who build them

 

As the late comedian Ken Dodd would say: Well, Missus, I am most “discombobulated”. In my case I am discombobulated to discover an uncomfortable fact about our leading cycling organisation, Cycling UK.

Those defenders of cyclists’ rights, those  leading campaigners to make the roads safer, who tirelessly lobby government to fund cycling adequately – in vain - seldom challenge Local Authorities who build unsafe cycling infrastructure.

Can you believe that?   

Local Authority planners and engineers have turned bad cycle lane design into an art form. There are good works, of course. Some Local Authorities are better than others.

But around the corner you may suddenly find a hazard; a bus stop in the Kingston cycle lane (photo below); telephone boxes;

the cycle lane ends with no warning; switches to across a busy road; and worst of all, the cheap option, cycle lanes on pavements in built-up areas when this facility was only ever intended for inter-modal routes.

The irony is that if ever government coughed up the £billions needed for a national cycling policy, it will be the dodgy LA’s who will do the work, the very people who make a pig’s ear of the small offerings we have to contend with.

And yet these rogues are continuously allowed to get with it unchallenged by Britain’s leading cycling organisation.

This makes me so angry. And confused. Because over the years I have sensed the passion various campaign chiefs have brought to the task of promoting cycling –the many reports on health benefits, economical benefits and so on.

And I have felt their anger at government prevarication, the stalling, and the false promises.

So it follows they must be as frustrated as Hell because not only is government fucking them about, so are many local authorities. They may be well intentioned but with no proper understanding of what is required

When a few weeks ago this blog tore Kingston upon Thames to shreds over their building of bus stop cycle lanes – where bus passengers alight straight into the path of cyclists - I said I felt sure that Cycling UK will surely have complained to Kingston.

At one bus stop Kingston did  get it right, with the cycle lane curving round and out of the way of where passengers alight. But as in the case of the bus stop illustrated above, they simply just drove the cycle lane right through it.

Cycling UK, I have discovered,   have not so much as written a letter in protest.

What’s more their excellent bi-monthly magazine Cycle has never carried a story about the Kingston shambles, nor any shoddy work by any Local Authority, if memory serves me.

A picture story would suffice with a caption saying beware, your life may be in danger using this or that cycle lane. 

Why is there only ever cosy news such as the story on the new Cambridge traffic island built in the cycle friendly Dutch style? Good to see this, of course.

But, come on, let’s have some balance.

So what’s going on? What’s the problem?

Because Cycling UK staff were working from home, like many people are during the pandemic, it’s been hard to track anyone down.

Eventually a fellow journo gave me a contact and I was able to put the 64,000 dollar question.

Why do they not grab the LAs by the balls?

Do Cycling UK have any partnerships to promote cycling that might make criticism difficult – such as Grant Application Partnerships?

“No”, they do not have Grant Application Partnerships, a spokesman firmly told me. “Of course, we do have partnerships with various authorities to deliver programmes but that never has and never would prevent us from criticising an authority if we feel the need to do so.”

So why can't they tackle these misfits?

The answer is Cycling UK don’t have the financial resources necessary to go after Local Authorities!

So as well as being mad at the world I’m now both mad and sad. Sad that the defenders of cyclists’ rights are unable to take up the fight with local authorities who mess up.

Duncan Dollimore , Head of Campaigns, explained.

“To answer your specific question, no, I haven’t spoken to Kingston about this, and I’m almost certain that nobody else has spoken to them. In an ideal world, we would have more conversations with local authorities about inadequate infrastructure, but I’d need a much larger team of campaigners to have those conversations with every local authority across the UK about every scheme which doesn’t meet the required standards.

"That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been trying to build up a local campaign network, and better equip and support local people to raise issues locally.

"There’s no reluctance on my part to challenge local authorities, and we have done this, but there is an issue with capacity to do it.”

He added: “The good news is that the Government are planning to create a new inspectorate, Active Travel England, which will have oversight of standards around new infrastructure – withholding future funding if schemes do not meet required standards. They announced this in July, and the months seem to be passing without any sign of actual delivery of this commitment, but we are expecting this inspectorate to be up and running early next year.”

So there you have it.

They don’t have the resources for what is really vital work.

But why didn’t they say. Why have they not told us, the members, and the transport world at large?

Who knows, there might be some rich benefactor out there.

OK, we now know get why Cycling UK seldom directly tackle Local Authorities over such matters. As Dollimore explains, it is a question of money to employ a team to do so.

That in itself indicates how bad the situation.

Sam Jones of Cycling UK press office explained further.

“As a small national charity, it’s not possible for us tackle every single bit of egregious cycling infrastructure we hear about. Instead Cycling UK has focused on the problem behind the mistakes, namely the lack of national design standards, which now we have in England outside of London (and Wales). These standards will ensure councils don’t waste their money on inferior infrastructure, and will also allow local campaigners to challenge substandard work if they do encounter it.

“This isn’t to say Cycling UK is ignoring the problem of poor local infrastructure. We’ve just had to focus on where we can make the biggest difference with our resources. So instead of battling it out at micro level, we’ve geared ourselves to provide the support and tools to local campaigners to challenge the problems they encounter, such as newly launched Cycling Advocacy Network.”

To this I have to say there is in fact a perfectly good design guide. It’s been available since 1996!

It’s entitled: “Cycle-Friendly Infrastructure - Guidelines for Planning and Design.”

It was approved by the DoT (now DfT), the Bicycle Association, the CTC, and the Institution of Highways and Transportation. But universally ignored by Local Authorities.

Every LA in England has a copy gathering dust on a shelf, unless it was chucked out. It's a known fact that local highway chiefs think they know better.

Leaving it to local Cycling UK groups to engage in these matters will only go so far.

If the experience of my local group is anything to go by – and they include a professional engineer - planners listen for a while; go through the motions of listening, then out of the blue put down another crap facility without consulting anyone.

So Cycling UK need to get out the knives.

Just as they did when the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead threatened Velolife Cafe over the planning application for their premises. When was that, now? Last year, the year before?

Can’t recall. Time flies.

That was a nasty issue which saw the café owner and cyclists stopping there threatened with legal action for just meeting for a ride.

We may never know what drove the council to threaten this course of action, but it was all nonsense.

After a bitter struggle the council eventually backed down, climbed out of the hole they had dug for themselves and apologised to the café owner. But it took a lot of legal pressure from the combined forces of CYCLING UK and the racing organisation, British Cycling, and their legal team, Leigh Day.  

We know that Cycling UK have teeth.

They really need to bite the Local Authorities.

IT'S ALL THE RAGE

 

This edition starts nicely enough. But it ends with a story about a cruel twist of fate – worthy of Tales of Mystery and Imagination – which befell a cyclist at the hands of the law after a serious altercation with a motorist.

I begin with a recent ride of my own, up a very quiet favourite climb of mine. It was a little after 8am, a lovely morning, clear skies, cold, the sun all of a sparkle, blue sky topping the downs. Not much traffic. Then as well as bird song in the air I heard voices.

Looked over my shoulder. Nothing. The voices persisted.  A casual conversation in my head. So this is madness at last?

Then they swept by, three on road bikes, moving at twice my speed of 7.8mph, all chatting amicably.

Good heavens, I thought.

And I called out – for despite my efforts I could, at this early part of the climb, still muster breath to speak:

“I must say I find that really disconcerting,” I said as the third rider hurried by, “for you to be chatting away and yet go past at that speed.”

They ignored me and disappeared around the second hairpin.

When I took the corner there was no sign of them ahead of me on the long, long straight!

Disconcerting!

Perhaps they had stopped talking and started to ride!

Only the day before, on the flat, I had been overtaken by a guy on an electric mtb. Whoosh – probably doing 30mph! This on a two-metre wide cycle path so he was too close for comfort.

Gave me quite a start.

At least I had some inkling of the threesome’s conversational approach.

 

After pausing at the summit to admire the view to the South Downs 30 miles away, I turned and retraced my route.

A rider overtook me just before the long descent and I laid off by some 10 metres. We were doing about 24mph, that’s all.

Then he inexplicably braked almost to a stop and with barely a look over this shoulder, swerved to the right, across my path to make a U-turn!

I think he’d spotted some mates going the other way! Even at 24-25mph I was closing on him rapidly.

I grabbed my brakes while this guy, unable to complete the turn, stalled and leapt off his machine in the middle of the road and I just missed running into him.

I gave him a foul piece of my mind,   *!!!!!*** I probably Breached the Peace.

“Sorry,” he called out.

Then I remembered.

It was a Saturday morning, the start of the weekend, when all the weekend cyclists get out!

Normally I avoid the honey pots at weekends.

I used to think it was good that so many more people have taken up cycling since the 2012 London Olympics.

Not any longer. There are too many unpredictable idiots among them, no road craft, going too fast into bends. Long queues in cafes – when we used to visit them!

Making U-turns!

But I also felt annoyed with myself for losing my rag.

It’s stress. Lots of stress on some roads, and in life generally, especially with the coronavirus persisting, resulting in lockdowns.

When I got home I checked my emails.  There was an awful story from Cycling UK which put my travails into perspective.  I think it’s since gone viral.

Cycling UK member David Brennan was put in fear for his life when a vehicle was suddenly driven to within inches of his back wheel. In the altercation with the driver which followed there was much shouting and swearing and he was punched in the face. 

Months later he was shocked when the police accused  him of a breach of the peace but let the driver off with a warning.

He was astounded. According to Cycling UK, the police had earlier told him they had seen the video (and I presume also heard the colourful soundtrack) - of the incident and were going to investigate ‘further criminality’.

But when they called at his house the police told him:  “We are here to give you an official warning for contravening Section 38 (Breach of the Peace).”

The warning stated:  that he: ‘Did shout and swear causing fear to others’.”

Well, it was strong stuff. But no wonder - he feared he was about to be run down.

Brennan was further shocked to learn that the driver had also been given a written warning when clearly he thought he should be investigated for dangerous driving.

The incident occurred after the rider, who had been following a slow moving line of traffic on his way to Glasgow, decided to overtake a vehicle on the inside.

There was plenty of space.

But no sooner had he cleared the vehicle, than the potentially lethal weapon changed its line towards Brennan – you can see it do so clearly on the film. It came so close as to pose a real threat.

Such threatening moves have been experienced by other cyclists,  as though the driver has taken exception to being overtaken by cyclist.

In this case, cue for the Brennan to slap the bonnet and the very angry exchange which followed.

The pair came to a halt and the driver got out. Both were loudly shouting at the other. The cyclist was shoved and then punched, leaving him with a swollen lip.  Then the driver drove off.

Another driver who witnessed the whole affair came to Brennan’s assistance.

Brennan reported the matter to the police. After a month he hadn’t heard anything so chased them up. He felt sure the footage of the film taken from his helmet camera would confirm the driver had made a dangerous manoeuvre on him.

After several more months he received a late night visit by the police to his home and his world turned upside down. It would seem that the police took no account of the dangerous incident which in itself “caused fear in others” and which had provoked the cyclist’s outburst in the first place.

Cycling UK’s lawyers are looking into matter.

The F...... phone box has gone!

 

IT’S GONE!  The  F……  phone box has gone.

Vanished! 

A couple of weeks after this blog told the world about the phone box on the cycle lane on Portsmouth Road,  Kingston upon Thames, which forced pedestrians to step around it and into the path of cyclists, the offending box had disappeared into thin air.

A bit like Dr Who’s Tardis.

                                                                    Now you see it.....

                                               ...now  you don't...phone box gone

But of course, knowing how long it can take for councils to process decisions, the removal of the offending hardware might have been in “planning” for months and it's disappearance nothing whatsoever to do with this blog.

But we can’t know that. So we shall claim the Freedom-cycle blog did it, as a result of engineer John Meudell’s critical appraisal which shamed the council into action.

Well done.

If you have a phone box you want moving, or any offending furniture on cycle lanes, you know where to come. 

Sam's Tour success lifts spirits

 

IRELAND’S latest Tour de France hero Sam Bennett, the  winner of the green points jersey and the coveted final stage into Paris, got the front page story, a big inside spread and the editorial in the Irish Independent on Monday.

     “SAM BENNETT’S HEROIC DEEDS BOOST THE NATIONAL MORALE”

              So ran the headline. Followed by the sub heading which spoke for us all:

 “The tonic that is sport has become even more precious”.

This of course was referring to the positive distraction sport has provided us from the Covid 19 Pandemic. And in particular, the successful completion of the Tour de France against a backcloth of rising infection in France and across Europe and now in the UK.

The big story of Slovenia’s Pogacar’s brilliant overall victory barely got a mention in the Irish paper, which was all about Bennett, with due reference to the two Irish heroes of the past.

For Bennett is only the second Irishman to win the green after Kelly did so four times in the 1980s, the last time in 1989,  while Stephen Roche won the Tour outright in 1987.

 

There is a lovely quote in the story which perfectly captures an Irish figure of speech as Bennett describes the build up to his successful sprint win: “…I was feeling the legs a little bit and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m after messing this up a bit, I’m after using up too much of my legs'.”

It was expression “I’m after”. I could hear the Irish accent coming across there.

 Irish Independent’s reporter Gerard Cromwell tells of massive home-support in Bennett's native Carrick-on-Suir (coincidentally, Kelly’s home town, too). Throughout the Tour the town was bedecked in bunting and flags carrying Sam’s name.

Says Cromwell. “There is already a sports centre and a town square in Carrick named after his predecessor Sean Kelly.

“Unlike Kelly, Bennett now has stage wins in all three Grand Tours of Spain, Italy and France. It may be time to build a new monument.”

The celebrations for Bennett gave me pause to reflect Kelly’s achievements in the green jersey, which I witnessed first-hand.

I cast my mind back to 1982 and the stage to Pau when Kelly won the stage to take the green for the first time.

Thirty years on and now it’s Bennett’s time.  Ireland has a new cycling star.

 

 

 

 

The Phone Box - How the F..k did THAT get there?!

 

 

The image of the Kingston’s telephone box blocking the footpath forcing pedestrians to step into the path of cyclists is symbolic for all that is wrong with the shit fest that is cycle planning in the UK.  

Hopefully, Manchester’s Bee Lines will be an exception to the rule, if the excellent Cyclops junction introduced recently is anything to go by. 

But by and large, there are far too many crap cycling lanes built in the UK. All manner of roadside furniture and hazards including trees are left in place on cycle lanes around the country.

Kingston's £32m cycle scheme, with its telephone box and, worst of all, the dangerous “bus stop cycle lanes”, could be a microcosm of what we could end up with if ever the government does fund a national cycling policy.

I wonder if Cycling UK, those guardians of cyclists’ rights, have challenged the misfits in Kingston, and looked into any of this?

I’ve had no response to my telephone calls and emails to their campaign department and their magazine. This could be because staff  are working from home due to the pandemic. But if anything has been written about these issues I’ve not seen it.

John Meudell’s report below concludes the sorry Kingston tale.

 

 …………………………………..

As highlighted previously, the choice of cycle infrastructure configuration in Kingston has made it difficult to design junctions, bus stops, loading bays, etc., writes Meudell.

The designs adopted conspiring to create conflicts that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

 

And don’t talk to me about lines-of-sight, which, as far as the highways engineers and designers involved are concerned, don’t exist. 

 

Let’s talk about that phone box outside the University…..

Think about a pedestrian walking towards the phone box, effectively blocking sight lines around it?  And what happens if a pedestrian inadvertently pushes a baby buggy into the cycle lane without looking?  It just takes a moments inattention on the part of both pedestrian and cyclist.

 

And real irony?  Look closely and you’ll see the phone box isn’t connected to anything…….

 

But the real question is…how did cyclists and pedestrians end up with a (disconnected) phone box blocking the footpath?  And, given its been there for more than a year now, why is it still there?

 

Bear in mind that the cycle infrastructure in Kingston has its genesis in the award of £32m from Transport for London in 2014 to improve safety and convenience for cyclists.  In the years immediately following award, detail was added to routes planned under the Go Cycle programme strap line.

 

Furthermore, Kingston University has a major re-development under way adjacent to the phone box (the new Town House and frontage) planning of which took place in approximately the same time frame. 

 

Developments such as these have implications for utilities such as BT, a statutory undertaker, all of whom would have been consulted in the early stages.  And the phone box has been in that location for many years, well before both developments were proposed.

                                  The phone box in pre-cycle lane days

 

So, it’s not as if any of the major players in the phone box fiasco, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, British Telecom and Kingston University didn’t have or were given plenty of notice and had time to consider the implications. 

 

All the major players have been involved or consulted and/or interacted with at various stages in the planning and development of these projects, both in general and in detail, and arrangements for relocation of the phone box could easily have been concluded well before work commenced.

 

So, it’s not as if this is a communication problem.

 

 

Kingston have at least £32m to spend on the Go Cycle programme and the University has spent around £50m on development of the new Town House building and re-development of the frontage of adjacent university buildings where the phone box is located.

 

So, it’s not as if this is a money problem.

 

Even worse, local politicians have (unhelpfully) got in on the action, using what is a planning, design and engineering process issue, to score political points rather than solve problems.

 

https://www.kingstonconservatives.com/kingstons-32million-cycle-lanes-being-mis-managed-by-libdems-%EF%BB%BF/

 

And it’s most definitely not a political problem.

 

 

Most large organizations I have been associated with have clear processes for development, design and construction of capital projects, usually with decision “gates” to minimise (if not eliminate) risks, be it financial, schedule and/or physical.  Physical risks will not only include those to their own staff but also construction workers, project users and the public at large.

 

Not to do so would run not only the risks identified above, but also consequential reputational risks that could seriously damage the future health, if not existence, of the organization. 

 

 

Design input for the Kingston infrastructure projects would, or should, have included information gleaned from safety audits at each stage of the process, part of statutory obligations on highways authorities aimed at ensuring (and, dare I say it, improving) the safety of those using the highway.

 

So why is it none of the safety risks of the scheme; including junctions, bus stops, loading bays and the phone box, were ever recognised, whether by the designers or, perhaps more importantly, by safety auditors?

 

And, even if they were recognised, why is it nobody could be bothered to do anything about them?

  

The case of the phone box, as with all the newly created hazards, demonstrates the failure of processes and the people and organizations participating in them.

 

Given the amount of money that has been spent on these projects, are any of these people and organizations involved going to voluntarily admit that they cocked-up, let alone do anything meaningful to eliminate the hazards…….?

 

Without a national regulator overseeing and informing and assuring design and engineering processes and people, accountability (or lack of) is a major, major, contributing factor. 

 

 

So, will anything change, system-wise?

 

In my experience that’s highly unlikely in Kingston, or the rest of the UK, even if somebody (dare I say it) gets killed or seriously injured as result of crap infrastructure.

 

………something that’s definitely not the case in the Netherlands!