Southwark Council, another story of how they can't be @rsed.

Harveytile

This should possibly go into the "Rants" section but then again hopefully this will warn a few users of the Southwark roads and prepare them for the "Council Palm-off" when they complain.

Below is the email chain to and from Southwark council regarding some dangerous driving by the SAME vehicle. I am absolutely fuming at their pathetic attempt to placate me.

Halfwit pencil pushers and short term memory impaired drivers! :evil:

Named and shamed:

Blondel,

Thank you for your reply. It was pretty much what I was expecting – nothing. When your truck finally succeeds in running me over hopefully the police will take more action than this. Typical nonsense not taking a member of public’s complaints seriously.

Regards,

*************

From: Markham, Blondel [mailto:Blondel.Markham@veolia.co.uk]
Sent: 29 October 2010 12:21
To: ************
Cc: Mulholland, Debbie
Subject: Near Miss with rubbish truck: VX04FYN


Dear *************

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. We are alarmed that such serious allegations against our drivers have happened on more than one occasion as we take safety very seriously ensuring that all our drivers attend the Cyclist Awareness Course as well as taking a driving assessment. Your complaint was referred to the refuse supervisor to investigate.

As a part of his investigations the refuse supervisor checked our vehicle tracking system, which confirmed that the stated vehicle was in the vicinity of the incident on that day and time. This enabled him to identify the driver of the vehicle revealing that whilst it may have been the same vehicle that you encountered in January it was not the same driver on that day. The driver was interviewed regarding the alleged incident on 12 October however he stated that he had no recollection of any incident occurring on that day.

Whilst we appreciate your comments that the driver of the vehicle made a dangerous manoeuvre; unfortunately without corroborative evidence we cannot take further action.

We are sorry for the disappointment caused by this conclusion however as a result of your complaint the drivers have been debriefed on the importance of driving safely.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Kind regards
Blondel Markham
30-34 Penrose Street
Walworth
London
SE17

________________________________________
From: ******************
Sent: 12 October 2010 15:23
To: Markham, Blondel
Cc: Mulholland, Debbie
Subject: RE: Near Miss with rubbish truck: VX04FYN

Blondel,

I have attached the email correspondence from January / February this year regarding a Southwark Council branded refuse truck.

It was with disbelief that I approached the same intersection this morning only to find the same truck waiting to turn. The driver looked directly at me as I approached at approximately 17mph and then pulled out directly into my path when I was about 20m away from him. I had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I looked up to the number plate. This was the same truck that had almost run me over in January.

One incident could be expected but the same truck committing the same extremely dangerous manoeuvre twice and almost causing another accident with the same cyclist suggests the drivers of these vehicles do not care for safe driving practices or indeed the safety of other road users. This is in addition to the other refuse trucks coming from the same depot and travelling in the middle of the road forcing cyclists to pull over to avoid a collision with the trucks.

This is unacceptable and should be addressed as a matter of urgency. It is a matter of time before these trucks cause a fatal accident.

Regards,

**********

From: Markham, Blondel [mailto:Blondel.Markham@veolia.co.uk]
Sent: 08 February 2010 14:33
To: ***********
Cc: Mulholland, Debbie
Subject: Near Miss with rubbish truck: VX04FYN

Dear ************,

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the incident that took place on 28th January 2010 with a Veolia refuse vehicle. The refuse supervisor have spoken to the driver involved who confirmed that due to the size of the vehicle he had to mount the kerb in order to carry out his manoeuvre. The driver’s intention was not to cause you any distress or difficulties, whilst on your Journey, and we apologies if this has happened.

I can assure you that our drivers have had to undertake a driving assessment conducted by a Trained Veolia Assessor.

Many of our drivers have already attended a Cyclist Awareness Course, however the driver in question has not been on this awareness course as yet, the driver concerned is aware of the dangers around cyclist and is very careful whist on the road.

Thanks for bringing this matter to our attention.

Kind regards
Blondel Markham
30-34 Penrose Street
Walworth
SE17
________________________________________
From: Tuffery, Gareth [mailto:Gareth.Tuffery@southwark.gov.uk]
Sent: 01 February 2010 16:28
To: Bouchon, Fabrice
Subject: FW: Near Miss with rubbish truck: VX04FYN
Dear *********
I am unclear if you are saying this is a Southwark Council bin lorry?

I will forward your email onto our depot manager who no doubt will come back to you if the vehicle is one of our fleet. Otherwise you would be best advised to report this to the police if you feel the driving was dangerous.

Kind regards

Gareth

Gareth Tuffery
Principal Road Safety Officer
Transport Planning
Regeneration & Neighbourhoods
London Borough of Southwark Council
PO Box 64529
London SE1P 5LX

Tel: 020 7525 5566
Fax:020 7525 5683

www.southwark.gov.uk
ROAD SAFETY IS NO ACCIDENT!


________________________________________
From: ****************
Sent: 29 January 2010 15:49
To: Tuffery, Gareth
Subject: Near Miss with rubbish truck: VX04FYN
Gareth,

Below is an email I tried sending to Roger Stocker (cycling info) but he is out of office at this time. I feel it is quite important so please have a read.

“Roger,

This doesn’t really count as looking for information regarding cycling in Southwark. It is just to let you know about a near miss I had with a rubbish truck yesterday morning.

I cycle from Wallington to Stratford four times a week and have seen the rubbish trucks operating around Brandon Street. Yesterday morning (28/01/2010) at 06:33am a truck with registration VX04FYN turned right off Brandon street into Wadding Street cutting off my route. The truck did not indicate, the rear right hand side wheels mounted the kerb and rode across the footway. I had to take evasive action to avoid being crushed. The truck then proceeded down Wadding Street and turned right into Rodney Road again without indicating.

I don’t expect any apologies as this may be common practice but I would expect the driver to be briefed on the highway code or encouraged to drive in a safe manner at the very least.

Sorry to put this to you on a Friday but I think it should be acted on to prevent accidents involving HGVs and cyclists in your borough.”

Regards,

********

_Brun_

That rubbish lorry's contract should be terminated immediately before it kills someone!

Zachariah

Get. A. Camera.

Kieran_Burns

Zachariah wrote:

Get. A. Camera.

+googolplex

The beauty is: you don't mention the footage until you get the denial... THEN you drop a YouTube link on them.

vitesse169

I've got one of those MUVI cams - place it in an obvious position and record. At the very least you know the vehicle reg to avoid - when you see the wagon you can probably by now, automatically take the 'safe' way.
My commute route is such that there are only a couple of junctions where I need to take extra care.
Be careful out there - ITS DANGEROUS....