Confusing sign at Market Place entrance
Some time ago, one of S247 readers, wrote to me about an unusual problem he has. I don’t think I have to explain it- you can see it in the picture above. He was one of the many residents who are sick and tired of cars speeding through a road that is clearly closed for normal traffic. He is surprised that the Council ignores this problem for so many years. A problem that can be solved with one simple change.
I stopped there to make the picture and in just 5 minutes I gathered 4 different pictures with different vehicles. I chose one with white Suzuki Swift- for obvious reasons (I don’t want cause problems for anyone even if I don’t like what they did). All of those drivers broke the law- there is no doubt about that. I’m sure that if I stand there for an hour I will gather whole memory card of pictures like that I used to illustrate this article.
I never crossed this road. There is plenty of FREE(!) parking space around the town centre and a short walk to shop or post office is not an inconvenience at all for me. But anyone who lives in Shirebrook will notice very quickly that dozens, hundreds of cars pass this sign on daily basis. Maybe I would not gain any popularity by saying: this should stop. Ignoring little laws in longer perspective teach people to ignore big laws and that leads to chaos…
The funny thing is- this sign itself is very confusing. I have a driving licence since 1999 so when I see something in a red circle, I instantly know- NO GO. Just to be factually correct- I check this sign in UK Highway code. It means NO MOTOR VEHICLES. Clear, right? But then you look below and you see- “except for access”.
From my point of view, this middle part of the sign allows entrance for buses, shop owners, delivery drivers, police and ambulances and service vehicles- no one else. But if you are… creative enough… you can think: “I want to access ATM, so I can enter legally, right??” So you do.
To confuse the situation a little bit more there is the third part of this sign. This little addition in Highway code means NO WAITING. Even if you are veeery creative in finding a way to go around the law you should know that allowing your wife to go to ATM while you wait in the car- is illegal at Shirebrook Market Place. Same with shopping, same with dropping letter at Post Office…
This is not the end of confusion. This sign is (from lack of a better word) changeable (you can see is if you look from close distance). I have no idea who controls it but I saw different information on this sign several times.
Fact is that private cars entering Market Place create danger for pedestrians. Many of them are children and elderly people. Parking in front of Lloyds Bank while buses picking up passengers- very often ends up in traffic, increased noise pollution and unnecessary CO2 emission. Some of the residents treat Market Place as their personal parking. As far as I know, this problem was raised many times but the Labour Party- as usual- prefer to avoid the problem and do… nothing about it. I must admit- they are great at doing nothing. Want another example? Just 3 full council meetings in whooooole 2020. Just one minutes published. ONE! From January meeting! We are well into October now…
We do nothing and we are best at it!- that should be the next Labour Party campaign slogan.
The solution is simply- either open Market Place for traffic or close it for all but buses. There are ways to enforce this law without spending money. Ha! There is a way to solve this problem and at the same time gain extra income for the town budged (access only for paid permit holders). But Labour doesn’t care about the town budget deficit. If they run out of money- they simply will raise taxes again, like they always do.
Residents of Shirebrook must be awful rich to ignore 30% Labour tax rise in the last 4 years. I think I’m doing something wrong because I don’t feel rich and this never-ending tax rises hurt my home budged severely…
But I’m just a working-class bloke. Labour doesn’t care about people like me…
Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com
