Chaos reigns over road resurfacing (From Bucks Free Press)
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Chaos reigns over High Wycombe road resurfacing
4:28pm Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in News
Oakridge Road, after the resurfacing work.
AN attempt to resurface a Wycombe street has resulted in chaos and confusion, after contractors laid asphalt around cars that were left parked in the road.
Oakridge Road has been left with a two-tone look - black where the new road surface has been laid and pale grey in areas the workmen could not reach.
Resident Bernon Brown, 69, a garage proprietor, said: "They've left bare patches on the road, it's unbelievable. It's us who will have to pay for it."
Officials from Transport for Buckinghamshire explained that the work had been delayed but that letters had been sent to residents asking them to move their vehicles while resurfacing took place.
Resident Rosie Archer, 29, a teacher, said: “The workmen were here fairly early and they did the best they could, knocking on everyone’s door trying to get people to move their vehicles.”
Transport for Buckinghamshire has confirmed it will be returning to complete the work.
Dan Green, spokesman for Transport for Buckinghamshire, said: "Several cars were not moved on Oakridge Road whilst surfacing took place.
"The site foreman made efforts to move the cars, however the police and parking wardens were unable to help. Transport for Buckinghamshire have no powers to move parked vehicles in that area.”
Residents have reported parking problems in the road, as double yellow lines need to be replaced where the asphalting took place. They fear non-residents have been parking down the road, making it hard for homeowners to find nearby spaces.
Comments(23)
s6blr
says...
5:38pm Wed 22 Aug 12
There's a few places on Marlow Bottom road that match your picture, yet we don't see you decreeing "CHAOS".
What a lot of old cobblers you write up sometimes.
shakesheadindisbelief
says...
9:25pm Wed 22 Aug 12
Slacker
says...
9:37pm Wed 22 Aug 12
Slacker
says...
9:39pm Wed 22 Aug 12
miccles
says...
10:22pm Wed 22 Aug 12
This just proves how much the council has gone downhill sine Tett took over, tbh he is the one who should be sacked for managing a council that produces images like in the picture that looks like some primary school children have just done.
johnmfritz
says...
7:45am Thu 23 Aug 12
gotanybiscuits?
says...
9:53am Thu 23 Aug 12
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What an unusual name!
Cressex Offender
says...
10:54am Thu 23 Aug 12
johnmfritz wrote:I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
johnmfritz
says...
11:26am Thu 23 Aug 12
Cressex Offender wrote:Yes but most people think seem to use their garage for storing junk and then clutter up the roads by leaving vehicles out. Didn't realise I was paying road tax so that others could leave their cars out on the road all night.
johnmfritz wrote:I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
listerps2
says...
11:48am Thu 23 Aug 12
Cressex Offender wrote:The road tax argument again! There is no such thing. It's VED that you pay if you have a car. Roads are paid for through general tax not from your VED.
johnmfritz wrote: OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
miccles
says...
11:53am Thu 23 Aug 12
johnmfritz wrote:I totally agree with you, if people have nowhere to leave their cars, or their driveways aren't big enough, sell a car or move, or to the most annoying ones, do both
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
thethe
says...
1:53pm Thu 23 Aug 12
Cressex Offender
says...
2:03pm Thu 23 Aug 12
johnmfritz wrote:This is a fair point but there are a lot of people who don't have off street parking available to them. I have a carpark where I live so I am not guilty of this but I also have a garage which I use to store junk. A garage that was built in the 1960s, meaning that I would need to weigh around 3 stone and have a 12" waist in order to successfully park my car and squeeze myself out of the available space left.
Cressex Offender wrote:Yes but most people think seem to use their garage for storing junk and then clutter up the roads by leaving vehicles out. Didn't realise I was paying road tax so that others could leave their cars out on the road all night.
johnmfritz wrote:I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
BOOKERite
says...
2:38pm Thu 23 Aug 12
thethe wrote:Don't bank on it!
Surely the council will withold payment to the contractor until the work has been done to an acceptable level. So the contractor loses out not the taxpayer. (or that using too much common sense? something councils tend to be short on)
Flackwell
says...
3:16pm Thu 23 Aug 12
we all pay for the roads - they should therefore be accesible to all
If you think about it if we all reserved the space outside our home for ourselves then where on earth would we drive to ?
Cressex Offender
says...
4:50pm Thu 23 Aug 12
You can come and park outside my house if you like?
AmyQ
says...
4:56pm Fri 24 Aug 12
After a quick phone call to the council, they confirmed that the road should not have been closed and apologised profusely, even stating that they did not know of any work being carried out in the area. I suggest that the next time workers have been contracted that a supervisor from the council comes to inspect that work on the day.
There is also a suspicion that some cars are parked there as it is adjacent to two roads (Kitchener Road and Plumer Road) where residents are charged to park outside their homes - one worker told me that he wasn't aware of the road names even as he was from Birmingham.
usvelt
says...
7:04pm Fri 24 Aug 12
Cressex Offender wrote:Still no such thing as road tax. That little round disk you pay for is VED, this does not pay for roads.
johnmfritz wrote:I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
J B Blackett
says...
12:36am Mon 27 Aug 12
gotanybiscuits? wrote:His real name is Vernon , but he has had a long unfilled desire to be in show business so he optimistically used his stage name.
I've never met anybody called Bernon.
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What an unusual name!
.
It's in the BFP so it must be true.
Corblimeytrousers
says...
10:42am Tue 28 Aug 12
Cressex Offender
says...
11:49am Wed 29 Aug 12
usvelt wrote:True but I pay a lot of taxes of all descriptions as do most of us. I'd like to think that one of them is for something useful like road maintenance.
Cressex Offender wrote:Still no such thing as road tax. That little round disk you pay for is VED, this does not pay for roads.
johnmfritz wrote:I don't think it's a case of abandoning vehicles, it's this thing called parking. You should try it, it's very useful when you need to leave your car somewhere and don't have a mobile garage with you. It's why we pay through the nose for road tax.
OK the contractors were foolish, waste of Council (our) money. But blame also car owners who think they have a divine right to abandon their vehicles on public highways.
Judge 2
says...
9:34am Thu 30 Aug 12
Secondly, the council could have monitiored the situation better to ensure the contractors conduct and delivery was done in a more professional way.
john_b says...
4:58pm Wed 22 Aug 12