Author Topic: Connell Crescent $chunt - Monday 9 November 2015  (Read 3359 times)

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Offline The Bald Eagle

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Connell Crescent $chunt - Monday 9 November 2015
« on: 10 November, 2015, 03:45:28 PM »
Roll call (in order of most distance travelled to get to CC):

Coco
Jonesy
News Shopper Martin
Bald Eagle
Mr Mustard

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With so many of us there, the human blockade we formed was almost unbreachable, but that didn't stop a few from trying. Fortunately we managed to persuade the few that did try to take an alternative route rather than use the £130 toll road known as Connell Crescent.

The number of definite saves seems to be decreasing (about 40 yesterday), but we have it on good authority that when we aren't there the flow of traffic is fairly constant once traffic starts to build on the slip road that comes off the A40 to access the Hanger Lane gyratory system. Or as I prefer to call it the HANGER LANE ROUNDABOUT.

During the quiet periods yesterday we put our heads together to see if we could come up with a solution that would provide better compliance levels than that being achieved by the current rape and pillage method of enforcement. We came up with a few suggestions, but by far the most effective would also be the most expensive, but so what?! They can afford to pay for it out of the money they have picked from the pockets of unwitting motorists, a large number of whom include the local residents who voted for the scheme in the first place (the irony has not escaped us ;) ).

And NS Martin picked the perfect day to break his CC cherry. I will explain. I was chatting with a guy who pulled over to tell us that he had received 3 tickets at CC which he had already paid under protest. He was glad to see us there helping others avoid the same fate as him and he thanked us profusely for devoting our time to what he obviously considered to be a noble cause.

Then he asked the most rhetorical question anyone could ever ask of a NoToMob $chunter. "Do any of you like a drink?", to which I replied "Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?"

It turns out he owns the Ghost Vodka company that produces premium vodkas for the likes of Harrods, and he presented me with a bottle of his Union Jack vodka (pictured below) for us to share between us. A very nice and welcome gesture on his part, but unfortunately not a practical one. A quick discussion after he left established that young Martin was a bit of a vodka connoisseur <drunk>, so it was agreed that he should take the whole bottle, since divvying it up was not an option, nor was drinking any of it before climbing on our bikes and riding home.



We had a long chat with a couple of beat bobbies who had obviously been briefed about what we were doing there, and they had no problems with us doing it. There were the usual toots on car horns, shouts of encouragement and thumbs up in support, so it was with a warm glow inside me that I made my weary way home when our 4 hour shift ended. ;D
WE ARE WATCHING YOU

Offline Mr Mustard

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Re: Connell Crescent $chunt - Monday 9 November 2015
« Reply #1 on: 10 November, 2015, 05:19:21 PM »
and I found the time to pop into Boden and buy another one of their lovely shirts. One must be well dressed for $chunting.

Adam (& his gf Victoria) who had escaped from 5 PCN on Wednesday popped by on his way home to say hello to the team. He remembered to not drive down Connell Crescent when he left. I also agreed to share the winning Appeal wording with a number of other drivers. I'll have to just sharpen it up a little first, the pieces the adjudicator didn't like that is.

Prior to going there Bald Eagle and I popped to Christchurch Ave in Harrow which I have just blogged about
http://lbbspending.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/harrowsignfiasco.html and then went on a world tour of Wembley (The Bald Eagle was completely lost) to get to the New Atlas Cafe Restaurant which is an essential pre-requisite of shunting at ConAll Crescent even though it is 5 miles away.

The local police issued a fixed penalty to a van driver for not wearing his seat belt. Based upon our experiences when drivers think we are the old bill, because we are a sea of high viz, and seatbelts get suddenly fastened and mobile phones put down they could issue fixed penalties all day.

Offline jonesy

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Re: Connell Crescent $chunt - Monday 9 November 2015
« Reply #2 on: 10 November, 2015, 10:28:51 PM »
Yes it was quiet compared to previous days, but still they try!!! I had a good chat with a local resident who was waiting for his wife to arrive from nearby tube. He totally agrees with our findings, and as at least one sign is in the wrong place he was quite keen to point this out to his other half, both of them went on their merry way muttering something about money grabbing councils, surely there must be a better way of dealing with the problem other than making money.!!! I did have a smile when a couple of cars pulled up just before 7pm and we found out that they were waiting until the cut off time so they could go down the road. It was almost like the old fashioned grand prix start when as soon the 7 o'clock chimes rang there were off!!!  so were we but with the warm feeling of a job well done and about £2.600 (prompt payment) or £5.200 in fines stooped going to the council