926 FOCUS

FOCUS
18 Focus
Does anyone at the new roundabout
construction have any common sense ?
Over to
you...
Hopefully you are reading this when the roundabout is fully signposted
and safe to negotiate.
But as I write that is not the case. Since fully opening the roundabout,
all they have done so far is road markings that you only see once you
are at the roundabout. Despite usual logic ( right hand lane for turn
right ) , in both main directions the left hand lanes are for left turns
only. Where are the road signs set further back , telling you which
lane you should be in as you approach the roundabout?
Keep children safe and park more considerably
As the weather has turned considerably autumnal in recent weeks,
I've been doing the school run by car and have been using the Club
Woodham car park most mornings and afternoons.
It amazes me how so many school-run-mums, and it's usually the
same offenders, think it's ok for them to park outside Club
Woodham, Balgores and the Co-op, on the double yellow lines to
either drop off their children in the morning or sit there waiting for
them at the end of the day, when there are spaces in the car park
just a few feet away. Does the highway code not apply to them?
In the mornings, the parked cars cause a backlog up the whole of
Baron Road as nobody knows whose stopped/parked and who
hasn't, and the jam invariably spills back out onto Inchbonnie Road,
especially if there is a huge delivery van parked outside the Co-op as
well. For those of us who do use the car park, it's not easy getting
out of there after drop off as cars are turning into Baron Road from
Inchbonnie but they can't get down Baron Road .... because you're
blocking it!
In the afternoons, the children take their lives in their own hands -
they can't see to cross the road, because you're blocking it again! I
realise it gets busy when it's rainy but there are other places to meet
- the leisure centre, the car park where the kebab place is or Asda's
at a push.
Just this morning I saw a lady pull up outside Strands, get out with
her son in a Willy D uniform and walk carrying a box of cakes away
from her car - why not park in the empty car park less than 20-30 feet
away? It wasn't raining but it had been. The laziness is incredible -
the chances are these people will drive through the car park anyway
to turn their car round to go home - why not use it to park - it's free
and it's always empty in the mornings!!
Another strange phenomenon in the Club Woodham car park is that
very few people park in a space - even if it's for 20 seconds whilst
their kids get out - use a space! I couldn't get out of mine the other
day because a parent obviously couldn't bear to see their child walk
more than they needed to and so blocked me in - nobody could get
past so 2 more cars stopped behind the first one and they let out
their children too (that I can understand!) - all I wanted to do was go
home, but I blocked in by a stream of cars!
On a loosely connected issue, perhaps this new medical centre will
be a blessing is disguise when it comes to yellow line parking
elsewhere in town - more often then not, there are 2-3 cars parked
on the lines outside Brickfields surgery and Rowlands Pharmacy. Any
idea how dangerous that is for crossing the road or pulling out of
Merchant Street?
Name with held
So , if you are going straight ahead, and you see a car on your left as
you get to the roundabout , take care . it might be aiming at the same
piece of road as you .. which is not wide enough for two cars!
Didn’t anyone think to put those road signs up at the same time as
the road markings ?
John Bunyan
Another Loss To Our Town
In response to Carol's letter last week, I had to write in and simply
say that I agree with her 100%.
I was initially shocked to see the fire brigade management launch a
desperate downgrading recruitment drive; One, leading up to
Christmas (never a good time to lose your job/post/get a pay cut)
and two, pretty much a year after our full time firemen and women
risked their lives at the Littlecroft fire. Great timing fire brigade
management. NOT!
What however, I find even more deplorable, is that there are
people/business' in this town that seem totally oblivious to this issue
and are blindly going along with it and even advertising to effectively
lose their round the clock emergency cover from the fire station!
ASDA... Leisure Centre... hold your heads in shame! Appalling!!!
Maybe the favour could be repaid and a few banners put up
advertising the new Sainsbury's or Maldon Leisure Centre/pool?
Unsafe Locking System
Dear focus readers
For those of you like myself choose not to use social media, I am
writing to let you know that there has been a number of car thefts in
South Woodham Ferrers in the past couple of weeks. In the early
hours of Friday 11th October my car was stolen from my drive.
It was a Mercedes GLC and had a keyless entry system.
I contacted the police who did not appear bothered and the only
benefit from the call was to gain a Police report reference.
Nothing heard from the police since the 11th.
A lot of car manufacturers use the keyless entry system on new cars
but it appears that this can easily be fraudulently copied which gives
easy access to anyone wishing to steal vehicles.
When I purchased the vehicle last year, Mercedes certainly did not
advise me that this locking system is unsafe and certainly didn't
advise how to combat this.
I have since learnt that keyless entry should be either kept in a pouch
or a sealed metal box at all times when not in use.
I hope this helps others and hope that you also don't wake to find
your vehicle has disappeared overnight.
Jane Barker
M.