Kingsway Villagers

There have been recent postings about the bus bollard and the imminent changes, (ie: the installation of a traffic camera).

This morning when I went out for a walk, I saw a car turn down the road towards the underpass. Finding the bus bollard in place, the driver stopped at the white “give way” line (meant for bus drivers) and he and his passenger got out. They left the car in the road at the white line, ignoring the double yellow lines, and walked under the underpass. As I was walking the same way, I watched them in disbelief as they headed towards the cash point at the HSBC bank, (any bus coming down the road would have had a problem getting round the car)!

Given the other postings on this site about inconsiderate parking - not to mention the seeming increase in litter around the place at the moment (viz the broken glass and empty bottles around the underpass - yet not a single litter bin in sight), and the lack of social responsibility by those inconsiderate people who don’t clear up after their dogs (another phenomenon on the increase around here, it appears - check the pavements), I’m left wondering whether we’re just unlucky to have a seemingly disproportionate number of people in Kingway who think they can do what they want, (if they leave litter or park where they want, it’s not their problem, someone else can clear it up or be inconvenienced, not them); or whether it’s just a selfish and inconsiderate few who are causing most of the problems for the rest of us… Or whether it’s just a sign of the times.

Last week some irresponsible, anti-social persons dumped 2 bags of rubbish in my front garden! It wasn’t kids dumping rubbish, this was a deliberate act of fly-tipping of a couple of bags of rubbish in a couple of Tesco carrier bags - presumably their own dustbins were full, so they were looking to offload their rubbish on someone else. The bags weren’t just thrown into the garden, they had been deliberately placed there.

I contacted the Council and reported the fly-tipping. Apparently, when fly-tipping happens, the Council go through the rubbish left and, if they can find who dumped it (eg: by finding an envelope with an address on etc), they prosecute.

I suppose it’s only to be assumed that - with the new fortnightly waste collection regime, there will be some anti-social people who don’t understand recycling, fill their own bins and then look to dump their extra rubbish elsewhere, passing on the problem to other people! I’ve asked the Council what measures they intend to take regarding such miscreants and will report back.

In the meantime, I’m pleased to say that the Council collected the bags and - with some luck, will be investigating with a view to prosecuting the anti-social fly-tippers.

Watch out for it happening to you.

This week has seen at least 3 shopping trolleys abandoned in the road in Valley Gardens - either by kids or socially irresponsible adults (does nobody care enough these days to challenge people taking trolleys away from stores)?

I’ve seen 2 from Matalan and one from Tesco.

Why Tesco and Matalan haven’t adopted Aldi’s policy of using coin-deposit locks on their trolleys remains a mystery. Shopping trolleys aren’t cheap by all accounts, and it obviously costs the stores money to retrieve them if they’re stolen and taken away from the store - yes, the theft of a shopping trolley from a store is a crime.
These recovery / replacement costs are reflected in the prices we all pay in the stores - so it’s in everyone’s interest either to stop trolleys from being stolen or to let the stores know if their trolleys have been left abandoned.

Community Support Officers used to be a common sight in Kingsway a couple of years ago and presumably acted as a deterrent to people stealing trolleys.

Nowadays they’ve become much rarer, so I guess it’s up to all of us to do our bit to keep Kingsway clean and safe.

For information, the numbers you can call to report abandoned trolleys are:

Tesco: 0845 677 9567
Matalan: 0845 330 3330

…and the stores will send someone to collect them.

If enough of us ask the stores to do something about it and install coin deposit locks on their trolleys, we may see an end to abandoned trolleys littering the roads and pavements in Kingsway.

Remember - it could be your car that bumps into one unexpectedly left in the road one dark morning…