Westminster Council to charge for bike spaces

I'm local too. I've never used the toll road, I use the M6/M5 during
rush hour.

 

I've just noticed that the Maidenhead spot on their customer panel is
vacant. The service is so ropey at the moment (7.35 in is OK, but the
7.50 doesn't even have standing room when it reaches Maidenhead some
days) I'm half tempted to put my shouty hat on and apply.

 

<shrug>

I value my time.

 

A Virgin Voyager I would expect. Relatively new stock and they aren't
bad trains - I've only been on a couple of them. I congratulate Virgin
for the fact they put in brave (some would say mad) bids for Cross
Country (the service you used) and the West Coast. It's been agony
getting to where we are now but Cross Country is doing very well and the
West Coast is showing signs of strong growth. The Cross Country
contract is being retendered now but Virgin have been put back in charge
of the West Coast franchise by the DfT until 2012.

Shame the DfT are in the process of smashing the Cross Country network
to pieces. I think that under their current franchise proposals you
would have been forced to change in Birmingham - I strongly suspect you
therefore would not have bothered to travel by train given that
Birmingham New St is a bloody disaster area and who in their right mind
wants to change trains there.

 

Paul Corfield says...

I came back to Flitwick from Penrith on a Virgin train last month in 1st
class. It was very very nice, a fast and comfy journey with excellent
service from the pleasant staff. But then again, I'd expect it to be at
£125 quid for a single ticket.

 

Or even go anywhere near Brum in the first place.....

 

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 22:46:14 -0000, "Alison Hopkins"

snip>

I thought he was voted in by the people of London but you make it seem
as if it was some kind of a violent coup.

 

Funny you say that, but that's where I met SWMBO. Poor bugger had
suffered a year in Coventry beforehand so I suppose she was toughened
up slightly.

I think that the only reason that the French like Brum was because of
Moulinex which was based there at the time.

 

Why should anyone not affected by the charges be concerned?

I'll start to worry about emissions charges when they apply to me and
up until that point I really don't give a ****. Any attempt to
restrict emissions would involve either heavier exhaust systems or
strangling the power and I don't want either.

 

What evidence do you intend using to back up that idea? I haven't used
the old route since the toll road opened nor has Adie and we both
travel up to the NW regularly.

If tolls keep people from using it to take the kids to school then
it's a good thing because it makes my commute a lot easier.

 

Well... I had an Astra SRi once, about fifteen years ago IIRC. There
were a few attempts to steal it, in one case they tried to break the
steering wheel lock and managed to shear the steering wheel off the
column.

I got into the car and fell over; when I stuck my hand out to grab the
wheel as I leant into the car and dropped into the seat it wasn't there.

 

<files away for future use>

 

TOG@toil, ,

I thought *car* travel was cheaper.

I wanted to go to Harrods recently (more exactly I wanted to go to a
particular concession within Harrods). Taking the train for myself and
my son would have cost 67.50; plus parking at Bath train station etc.
etc. Call it 75 quid.

Driving the car to Harrods, parking nearby for free (Sunday) cost me
about 10 gallons of petrol; what's that, two thirds of the price? The
bike would have been about half of that.

 

In communiqué
<1hrhei9.1jo9tgxw16pinN%>, The

Cookley is far enough away to be safe presumably. Has your mate got a
root to pass on or not?

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Well, if ou factor in the other things like depreciation, wear & tear,
it probably would have been more expensive than the train.

Guessing at 35mpg, so say 350 miles, and the IR's base car expense is..
what? 32p a mile? That gives £112.

 

says...

I had an Astra LXi Estate[1] with every conceivable toy and 4 grands
worth of Denon stereo[2] around the same time, no-one ever tried to
steal it. No doubt the 5 different alarm systems and huge "BAR - Car
Security Specialists" signs down both doors each side had something to
do with that.

[1] Pretty much an SRi with an estate body.
[2] Absolutely wasted on me with my shite hearing.

 

Oh blast. You mean horseradish?

No.

Gissa snail mail address and I'll post one. Beware - it's *amazingly*
strong. I'll send enough for you to plant some out and scoff the
remainder.

Oh, and to Alison - got the seeds, and thanks very much.

 

MK to Oxenholme (20 miles from Penrith) 1st class single leaving MK at
just before 7am was about £45 the only time I've traveled up there by
train. That was booked online about 6 days in advance.

 

Andy Bonwick says...

Mine was bought the morning of travel. I don't care, the company paid.

 

Heh, I'd hate to think how big that file is of yours.