We Name and Shame the Guilty PartiesBritish Telecom's Urban Depots |
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The BT van invasionOur correspondent writes ... The more I drive round my local streets, the more I get the feeling that I am driving through a British Telecom transport depot. Their vans are everywhere. At first I thought it meant a lot of people were having telephones installed or serviced but a pattern emerged showing the same vans on the same streets at most times of the day or night. I think parked vans have a sort of tone-lowering effect on many residential streets. Not just because they are there, but often because they are not parked outside the houses where the drivers actually live. The drivers seem to prefer to leave them outside someone else's house. Of course, it's not just BT causing the problem. Often the vans are ex-BT and are now owned by self-employed builders, plasterers, electricians, and other tradesmen. But they are still identifiable and one thing is for certain: they often make progress hazardous by obstructing the view of other road users. I can understand why tradesmen have to keep their vans at home but surely large companies like BT could do more to ensure their vehicles did not cause annoyance to ordinary people who would prefer not to have their street scene blocked by a damned great van. Or is it that BT like to use their parked vans to help recruit new employees. It must be a great incentive to know that joining BT means you will only work a very small number of hours each day. City Link also ...Regarding the proliferation of commercial vans in residential streets, we and our neighbours are obliged to look at a lurid green and yellow City Link van for days at a time, it's right outside our houses in a road where no other vehicles are parked. Complaints to City Link have been totally ignored and polite requests to the driver have only met with confrontation and abuse. The vehicle is not even parked outside the driver's house. It's not even in his sightline so they don't have to look at it. It's there all weekend and some evenings. So much for neighbourliness and so much for consideration from a big national company. Anon, Devon Editorial comment:The worst thing about this problem is that these big national companies don't give a damn! City Link's website talks about 'One Company, One Vision' but it doesn't mention 'One Big Parking Lot - right on your doorstep'. I had a similar situation some years ago when a new family moved into our road. As a result, I suddenly had a really tatty van belonging to Greenwich Council parked right outside my house. I was furious because the driver lived further up the other side of the road. He clearly didn't want to see the van outside his lounge window but didn't worry about neighbours' reactions or feelings. I complained to him and was told 'he could park where he liked'. I telephoned Greenwich Council and was told 'their employee could park where he liked'. So I tried an official approach in writing and gave a copy to the driver. After reading it, he banged on my front door and called me "f**king w***ker!" Nice way to make yourself popular with your new neighbours. After that, his wife started mouthing obscenities from across the road. When you've lived in a road full of really nice people for many years and you suddenly find the newly-arrived family consists of foul-mouthed yobs, it comes as a bit of a shock, and that's without having a bloody big work van parked outside your lounge window. Time for different tactics, I thought. I rang Greenwich Council again. Same answer: He can park where he likes. So I told them I could not see why I had to stare at their tatty van for up 17 hours a day and all through weekends. Whoosh!! What a difference that made. They asked if two members of their Fraud Department could come to see me. No problem, I told them. When they arrived, they wanted to know if I had seen their employee unloading stolen goods from the van. I hadn't, so I said no. However, they already knew that some of the building materials used in matey's massive house extension had originally belonged to Greenwich Council so my problem ended very quickly. The large van disappeared and was never seen again. I can't guarantee this would work with BT or City Link but you never know. These companies don't mind one of their employees upsetting his neighbours if it's saving them the cost of running and manning an overnight parking depot, but if they think the employee is short-changing them by not doing a full day's work, that's an entirely different matter. Visitors' CommentsI pay my road tax, parking permit, insurance and I have a driving licence. I park my van legally - sometimes outside my house; sometimes not. I
like and respect my neighbours but I would say f**k any neighbour who dictates to me. These vans are earning the drivers a living, and often supporting a family. They have to be parked!! My husband has a very clean, well-maintained white van. He always tries to park with consideration to our neighbours but still gets letters asking us to park elsewhere. How neighbourly is that? Some people just have too much time on their hands and have nothing better to do. Maybe they should get their own van and get a few days work to fill their time. If we are parked legally and not obstructing your view or light, then mind your own business. I apologise if it does not fit perfectly into
your pretty street. That I think is often the problem.
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Last updated:
14 November 2008 |
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