Forum Topic

Clayponds / Mercedes Benz car park !!!!

hi, the other afternoon, I was pulled up by the police - flashing lights and sirens, Because I had gone around the bollards, -- just up from Mercedes --- clay ponds road--  on the wrong side of the road, which I think a lot of us do,  because 9 out of 10times it's a pain trying to squeeze through the gap that's left by,  Mercedes dumpedcars  and the poor people that live there, veing for space !!Streets lined with Merc cars, go out,no where to park when you come backI had a very strong reprimand from police man,  licence and vehical checked   needless to say, he was not interested in my argument about Mercedes parking so close to said bollards !!!!   Any views on this - or am I just being awkward ??Yes I know they pay road tax and are "intitled

Joan Robinson ● 3901d16 Comments

So I was right, it is Clayponds Ave that is unridable and undriveable especially in smaller and older cars . It is plain dangerous on a bike especially in winter and wet weather. Just who thought this road is OK? It is lethal and damaging to vehicles.There is a history of PFI and general contracts contracts being 'sold' on to other organisations. Some are takeovers where a company wants the contract but failed in it's own tendering. Others where the cream has been taken and the company wants out of it's remnant obligations. It's happened a lot with Parks and recreation services, street lighting, cleansing and even council general services. Each time, lawyers manage to negotiate out aspects of the contracts.That is the problem, when they discover just how much work is entailed, the loss is too much for a companies shareholders to bear.So some walk away as the cheapest option, but many try to sell on and pass the problems on.It's a bigger version of smaller companies (usually in the building trade) who cease trading, liquidate and and reappear as Bloggs (2015) ltd. but without the liabilities.The problem is that the details of the contracts are not tight enough nor good enough.Hounslow's contract with CiP for parks maintenance had more holes in it than a colander. A parks maintenance contract where they had no obligation to sweep the footpaths.  That should never have happened. But it does.

Raymond Havelock ● 3895d

Paul, yes and no is I think the answer. As I understand it (and I don't have a complete grasp of the contract as yet) the principle is established for 25 years and that is that the roads should be brought up to a standard and kept there, with the contractors obliged to keep them to the agreed standard irrespective of what it costs them. Where there is flexibility is upon the agreed standard: clearly all roads in A1 condition will be more costly than - say B+. I believe the standard might have been flexed down somewhat to make savings. Their argument is that the likes of Crowther Ave, despite being an unholy mess, are fundamentally OK structurally and thus less of a priority than the likes of Somerset Road which look OK but have structural problems underlying. I am a mite sceptical of this and in any case I think roads like Crowther are just plain unacceptable, however wonderful their underlying structure might be.I believe Raymond's interpretation is wrong, always assuming there are measures in place to ensure the contractor cannot just walk away a la First Group(?) on the East Coast mainline and the Tubelines consortium. Bear in mind though that no contractor would walk away unless fulfilling would entail a substantial loss.

Guy Lambert ● 3896d

Clayponds Avenue runs from Occupation Lane to the Great West Road.Crowther Avenue is a turning off Clayponds Avenue which leads to Carville Crescent.Also just to confuse you even more the address of the properties in Clayponds Gardens are in W5 Ealing. although rent and council tax is paid to Hounslow.Clayponds Avenue is in Brentford

Bernard Allen ● 3896d

Guy and all, You are right. It is Crowther Avenue that I meant. All these years and I've called it Clayponds Ave.!!The section from Occupation Lane all the way down to The Great West Road.Is all of it Crowther Avenue or is it also Clayponds?It seems that all the easy roads in good condition are being resurfaced and the ones in very poor condition are being left untouched.This worries me a bit as there are several precedents up and down the country with these contracts not being fulfilled as expected.The contract holder does all the low cost works initially with gusto gets it's profit early then walks away from the contract or sells out to another company, this  rolls on . New company then forces authority to renegotiate contract as remaining roads need costly major repairs which are not in the specified contract for resurfacing.Because the easy low cost streets have been resurfaced it leaves a deficit of expensive repairs which they are unwilling to do as part of the contract.End result, the roads with problems never get repaired.

Raymond Havelock ● 3896d

Guy,Surely all the road repair funding is covered by the Highways PFI which still has about 20 years to run?

Paul Fisher ● 3896d

One main dealer will be disappointed if Claponds Avenue and Carville Crescent were ever resurfaced, as this is a good road for finding faults with a car suspension, it has the right amount of holes and bumps to rattle any shock absorber

Bernard Allen ● 3896d

I beg to differ about the worst road surfaces. It's only Clayponds Gardens being done now, and as far as I'm concerned the unrivalled champion for a bad surface is Crowther Avenue. Parts of Lateward and Albany are bad, but they're not in the same class and are rivalled by Netley amongst others.I am meeting with Hounslow Highways and a council officer this month to try and have them unravel the mysterious spreadsheet they use to determine which roads need doing.At the risk of provoking a furious reaction, I would like to point out that councils, Hounslow very much amongst them, are bearing the major brunt of the government's ideological shrinking of the state so these 'optional' services like street repairs and cleaning (as compared to statutory ones like children's services) are going to be under extreme pressure given that Hounslow has already had to find £60M and is expected to find £60M more in savings.

Guy Lambert ● 3897d

Great to hear these roads are finally going to be resurfaced. That probably moves Albany Road up to the number one spot with Lateward Road a close contender for Brentford's worst Road surface with Avenue Road vying for third place!

Raymond Havelock ● 3897d

It's going to be fun on Tuesday when they clear all the vehicles from Clayponds Gardens so Hounslow Higways can resurface the road. There is going to be extra parking in Clayponds Avenue. Maybe its time that any Merc not registerd to Clayponds Ave and gardens get move on to allow residents to park there.

Bernard Allen ● 3899d

Zig -zags or white lines can be applied here long enough to allow safe negotiation of the bollard/refuge.  All it takes is a traffic order.The full legislation applies to class A, B and classified roads.Residential and thoroughfares are also subject to road traffic act  but if the road surface, obstructions or conditions in the vicinity negate correct negotiation of the road the laws are discretionaryIn other words the officer has to survey the circumstances and enter those into the report.I have heard reports of covert camera vehicles being positioned so as to actually cause the obstruction. Only answer to that is to stop and take a picture if one spots this.  I've never seen this myself, not locally.Traffic wardens hiding in cars though, yes. Especially near churches during weddings.In the cases of Lionel Road and Clayponds, there are regularly obstructions to the centre bollards. These have to be observed and entered by officers into their report.It is also an offence to cycle the wrong side of the keep left sign but there are several serous potholes on one side.I wonder if Cyclists have been nicked as well?If they are going to fined based on rigid application of the law, then cyclists must also be treated in accordance with the same law and the officers must present a clear report on the conditions in the immediate vicinity.I note that the keep left signs at Kew Bridge have now not been regularly illuminated for nearly 3 years, does that mean that any violation of road law is void there?

Raymond Havelock ● 3900d

I was fined recently for going on the wrong side in Lionel Road North. I couldn't be bothered to contest it, but the parking in the street is such that it's sometimes unavoidable.

Susan Kelly ● 3900d

The council seem to be using Lionel Road North as a cash cow in this regard. Every few days they park an unmanned camera car in the road to catch unwary drivers who pass the island on the right in order to avoid the cars parked much too close to the island on the left. If the council are concerned about such "law-breaking" a better solution would be to put double yellow lines on the road leading up to the islands to discourage drivers from parking too close and causing a problem.

Mick Brent ● 3900d

The Mercedes parking issue is one councillors are very well aware of. No obvious way to fix it other than a CPZ.There are dozens of new Mercedes currently parked in the underground car park at Ferry Quays. I presume this is due to the new registration plate coming in on 1 September and the artificial spike in demand.

Guy Lambert ● 3900d

"The keep Left signs are advisories"From the website of a mate who designs road layouts for a living:'Section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 basically states that failure to obey a properly placed traffic sign is an offence:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/36The Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions 2002 (as amended) sets out what are traffic signs.A keep left arrow is diagram 610 (scroll down the link a bit)http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3113/schedule/2/madeYou will see that amongst others, it refers to Regulation 10(1) (again scroll down):http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3113/part/I/madeS10(1) of TSRGD2002 basically lists the signs which apply under S36 RTA1988 and that includes diagram 610.The police can issue a fixed penalty charge of £30 (I think) and there are no points for disobeying a keep left, although the manner of driving to pass on the wrong side may lead to a more serious charge.The sign has to be installed properly and lit in accordance with the rules (some bollards may not need to be lit - it is a bit complicated).Keep left bollards do not need to be placed by law and because we drive in the left, passing on the right of something may still be an offence, but not the disobeying of a sign!Yes, it is not simple to explain!'http://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/what-load-of-bollards.html

Thomas Barry ● 3900d

It will be fun if the 235 bus route is extended up that way!

Jim Lawes ● 3901d

Most vans here go the wrong side of the bollards as well as it is is less likely to damage vehicles which are parked too close. The same happens all the time in Lionel road.The keep Left signs are advisories but if an obstruction makes the manouvre hazardous, one can proceed with caution via the other side.Very few Police Officers have a full grasp of road traffic law to the degree that they are no longer allowed to perform point duty.Traffic Officers however, do know their stuff, but equally will identify the hazard if it is deemed to difficult to safely negotiate.It's a shame these officers do not report the extremely dangerous state of this road for cyclists and motor cyclists. Something they do have a duty to do is report dangerous road conditions. Yet again, this road has been passed over for resurfacing for the 38th year!

Raymond Havelock ● 3901d