Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
22 December 2009
17:3135467Sue I think its not a good idea to ask Nigel.
He paid the ultimate price on Saturday evening and ended up on his back due to slippery paths.
I do hope he's alright.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
22 December 2009
19:4535471He was (more or less) when I saw him Sunday lunchtime.
Roger
Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,036
23 December 2009
02:3635476Sue,
I remember well working with your Paul in the old Seaspeed days. He used to go above and beyond the call of duty especially when everything was going wrong, which was quite often in those early Hovercraft days. Bad weather, skirts dropping off and engine trouble were the norm.
I always remember Paul giving the crew little goody bags (a can of beer, sarnies and crisps etc.) when we had to work over our hours and couldn't easily get home.
I felt really sorry for those poor souls trundling their luggage from the Priory station to the Eastern Docks when I saw it on the SE news.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
23 December 2009
07:5135478Most of those I saw were going from the Docks to Dover Priory station.
Although I guess there must have been, I didn't see anyone trundling along to the docks, they were all trying to get home.
Roger
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
23 December 2009
08:1535479dont mention its a conservative run kcc and ddc lol
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
23 December 2009
08:4935485Well sorry to hear about Nigel falling but perhaps its a good way to make the point about the rest of us slipping and sliding and nothing evey done. Now that a cabinet member has fallen on his rear end, something might get done...as has been pointed out before, as Nigel is the only DDC cabinet member from Dover he really should communicate with us more.
Roger No
..it was actually the opposite..hundreds if not thousands were trundling TO the DOCKS..all trying to get away.
I did see people coming homewards but just a relative few in comparison.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
23 December 2009
09:1635486Lovely posting there Alec .Well Keith Im almost ashamed to admit Im a councillor .They got rid of me but if I had been there still I would have called an emergency meeting .Too many heads in the clouds and not enough with feet on the ground .
I went into Dover yesterday and by the time I arrived home I had several problems ?complaints which people had discussed with me .The old emails and phone calls were going out .
How could they get it so wrong
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
23 December 2009
10:1435490Sue I have just done your path up to the house,and the top end of the close but we have run out of salt. The Gritt lorry has run into a back of a van at the top ,do not go out yet,I could not get up the close so I had to back down again,do not go out yet.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
11:2635499they were travelling in both directions, very precariously.
we know that kcc do the roads, who is responsible for the pavements and who is responsibole for the seafront?
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
23 December 2009
11:4535500I'd like to echo Howard's sentiments - this is a time to be ashamed of being a Dovorian........not only do we have tourists struggling to get to the docks, but we have pavements that have not been touched by the council, roads that are still sheets of ice days after the snow stopped falling, stories of ambulances being unable to get through the traffic to injured pregnant women, and a stony silence from KCC and DDC.
Ultimately it doesn't matter who is responsible for the safety of the people, if the councils concerned stopped passing the buck, got off their backsides and actually did something constructive, perhaps Dover wouldn't be seen as some hick town in a forgotten backwater of a p*ss-poorly managed country.
We have the much vaunted high-speed rail link now coming to town, and no buses to take the passengers to the docks, where at least one of the ferry companies no longer take foot passengers, where the far-seeing DHB closed the departure lounge some years ago, and with it the facilities needed to provide some creature comforts for stranded passengers.........it beggars belief, it really does.
Dover is a bad joke at the moment; all Roger Walkden's efforts as Business Support Manager, all the efforts of the new Chamber of Commerce to breathe life into a dying town centre, all the efforts of the brilliant community groups such as the LRCF, all this will be a waste of time, money and effort unless the basics are got right. Stop pussyfooting around and get the basics right - get the infrastructure in place so that the town doesn't grind to a halt every time the wind blows or the snow falls. It doesn't matter what colour your politics are, the efforts of our civic leaders have not been good enough over the past week, and it just reflects on the town itself. As I said before, it's a bad joke - and noone's laughing.
True friends stab you in the front.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
11:5235501100 per cent with you on that post andy, can i add that people with heavy luggage were queueing at bus stops on the folkestone road trying to get buses to the docks.
they would naturally assume that one service would go there, no indication otherwise.
most of these passengers had endured hardship to get to dover expecting that their problems would be over when they arrived here.
what will be their abiding memory of dover?
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
23 December 2009
12:4435505Just sent an email to Chief Excutive DDC ,Paul Watkins and Nigel Collor .For what good it will do .There is no communication coming out of DDC at all .How can we Community Coucillors inform our residents when we are told nought .
Still have tried .
This would not have happened years ago .Barry would know all about that having been Chairman of Tec Services
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
23 December 2009
12:5835506I am not sure if people expect too much these days though. According to KCC Highways they maintain 5000 mile of roads and 4000 miles of footpaths which is an immense amount if people want them done at least twice a day.....
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
23 December 2009
15:2135508Just once over the weekend would have done the trick I think Paul.
But maybe that is asking far too much.
A few days from now it will all be forgoten about and the person responsible will be sat on his fat backside in his office wondering what all the fuss was about.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
23 December 2009
15:2635509Paul - it is their job.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
23 December 2009
17:0235516Ian. With his fat backside, perhaps he`s been too busy playing Santa Claus!
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
23 December 2009
18:5735544I had a copy email this morning from a resident near to where we live, complaining to the Police about the state of the road and pavements.
The Policeman's reply was advising him that it isn't the Police's job to grit the roads, but that of KCC - for the main roads and DDC for the minor ones.
I didn't think this was correct so contacted DDC to determine what was right.
KCC are responsible for ALL roads and pavements, NOT DDC. They work on priorities and it seems even bus-routes and pavements, are far too low down in their list, to get done; just wait for a few days and eventually it will go away.
This is obviously not good enough.
Dover Town pavements and the pedestrianised areas should have been gritted, at least from the Town Council offices to and including, the Market Square and all roads off. This I feel should be the responsibility of DDC.
Even the Council offices aren't gritted - I attended a DDC Committee meeting this morning and almost slipped base over apex, because the car-parking area close to the offices hadn't been done.
Andy is right that we need the ground-floor (literal and metaphorical) looking after and it isn't being.
Although the Police are not responsible for gritting, they are responsible for traffic management and there was none of this last Saturday - a little later on, but far too late and far too little.
Vic. well done for salting Sue's path.
PaulB, you may well have seen people pulling their suit-cases towards the docks; I can only say what I saw and the ones I saw, were only going in one direction - the train station, trying to get home and there were serious amounts of people.
We didn't help ourselves or others over this last weekend, Monday and Tuesday.
Roger
Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
23 December 2009
19:0235545I can tell you they were going both ways hundreds of them mainly heading to or from the train station
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
19:0535546that surprised me about KCC being responsible for all pavements in kent.
surely this should be left to local authorities to handle, they have more local knowledge and make decisions about prioritising.
when you think how little snow we actually had compared to everyone else, it is still hard to comprehend the problems we had.
just one lot of gritting of pavements would have been enough.
good to hear about victor gritting susan's pathway, it will help her avoid falling due to the banana skins he had already planted there.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
23 December 2009
19:2535551I do believe that it should be up to DDC to grit our Town's pavements and will be asking if this can be the case in future - now of course, it'll have to wait until after the new year.
Roger