Fake road works

One might have imagined that the council could have hired a portaloo for a day? Or could the men have gone to the local supermarket for their necessaries? That's what I do when I go for all-day motorbike rides.
Many a successful small business has sprung up by sub-contracting to large businesses because they don't have these inefficiencies. A small business without a union would just send the men to do the job. Where and when they need toilet facilities is up to the men, if they are efficient they don't bother with the Shops and Factories Act requiring coiffeurs, butlers and lavatory attendants to wipe their bottoms for them. The men would have done the job, phoned or returned to base and got the next job, and got on with it. The implication that the men could happily sit in their van for a day and a half without toilet facilities and yet they could not do half a days work is surely self contradictory.
I wish my council would come and cut down a row of leylandii which are towering over my house in the next field. They are aware of the problem but they don't have any money.

groundhog wrote:I have decide the public sector is run by the Government to keep unemployment down not for the efficiency of what it does. I do volunteer work for one of the services involved in traffic management and in the commercial world they would be bust in a week.

So because you volunteer that makes you an expert does it?  What a load of tosh.  Why don't you back your statement up with some facts instead of just spouting off.

Sir
Initially your post left the impression you are just another troll, however after due consideration I will give you the benefit of the doubt. May I remind you this is a friendly and informative forum and not one to insult others of whom you have no knowledge. I respect your opinion please respect mine That is all I will say on the matter, if your comments were intended to provoke an argumentative response they have I am afraid ended in abject failure.


I could go on!!

Well said Groundhog.I don’t know this gentleman either but hardly a prolific poster, three in three years. Can well believe the episode you describe.

gassygassy wrote:One might have imagined that the council could have hired a portaloo for a day? Or could the men have gone to the local supermarket for their necessaries? That's what I do when I go for all-day motorbike rides.
Many a successful small business has sprung up by sub-contracting to large businesses because they don't have these inefficiencies. A small business without a union would just send the men to do the job. Where and when they need toilet facilities is up to the men, if they are efficient they don't bother with the Shops and Factories Act requiring coiffeurs, butlers and lavatory attendants to wipe their bottoms for them. The men would have done the job, phoned or returned to base and got the next job, and got on with it. The implication that the men could happily sit in their van for a day and a half without toilet facilities and yet they could not do half a days work is surely self contradictory.
I wish my council would come and cut down a row of leylandii which are towering over my house in the next field. They are aware of the problem but they don't have any money.

You would imagine so. Interesting about contractors though. With the service I am familiar with contractors have to follow the same rules as employees except they are contracted to do the work through a third party who also takes a cut. The contractor is contracted to an agency who then supplies staff to the authority, absolute nonsense because several of the now contractors were at one time employees so they are doing the same job under the same rules but are now getting much higher pay as well as the agency supplying them earning commission! 100% true!!

Yes that has been true about self employed contractors for years. I started contracting in 1984 in the telecomms / datacomms field. My last proper employment was as a project engineer in Nigeria putting up the first mobile phone network they had. I was on $350 a day and my driver was on $100 a month, but that was 20 years ago so the rates would have more than doubled since then. It was terribly embarassing.
There are business tax reasons and employment law reasons why companies want to employ contractors at twice the regular employees rate. Firstly the employer can get rid of a contractor at a moment's notice, secondly they don't have to pay sick leave or holidays, they don't have to provide company cars or vans etc etc. Latterly I was contracting for British Gas as a central heating 'engineer' but their agencies paid less than the regular staff so as soon as I had got properly trained up by BG I packed that in and went self employed.
Anyway we have done a Fake Road Works drifted off the subject and not put up any diversion signs, just like real road works do. So perhaps we had better talk about AutoSleepers instead.

gassygassy wrote:Yes that has been true about self employed contractors for years. I started contracting in 1984 in the telecomms / datacomms field. My last proper employment was as a project engineer in Nigeria putting up the first mobile phone network they had. I was on $350 a day and my driver was on $100 a month, but that was 20 years ago so the rates would have more than doubled since then. It was terribly embarassing.
There are business tax reasons and employment law reasons why companies want to employ contractors at twice the regular employees rate. Firstly the employer can get rid of a contractor at a moment's notice, secondly they don't have to pay sick leave or holidays, they don't have to provide company cars or vans etc etc. Latterly I was contracting for British Gas as a central heating 'engineer' but their agencies paid less than the regular staff so as soon as I had got properly trained up by BG I packed that in and went self employed.
Anyway we have done a Fake Road Works drifted off the subject and not put up any diversion signs, just like real road works do. So perhaps we had better talk about AutoSleepers instead.

With apologies to Bobskate looks like we were in Nigeria at the same time!

Sorry Bob, back to roadworks!

What were you doing groundhog? I was working for MTN, based in Lagos on VI with sub stations in Abuja and Port Harcourt. Abuja was a wonderful place, because the President lived there it was immaculate. Roads were tarmaced and flat, (with drains, even!), street lights worked, and even traffic lights! No beggars (presumably they were all shipped out or set adrift in any nearby river without a paddle. Or a boat.), no derelict cars - indeed some cars even had lights. I was there for 6 months 2001 to 2002. I don't recall any road works in the rest of the country, I don't think they ever did any.
Reverting to the thread, we were driving out of Lagos one day on a tarmac road. The tarmac suddenly stopped and we bumped along the dirt track. I asked my driver why the road stopped. He explained how roads are built. Mr Road Builder (RB) goes to see Mr Minister of Transport (MT) and the conversation runs like this:
MT: We want a road from A to B. How much, RB?
RB: $1,500,000
MT: And how much for me?
RB: Well, that is the price. What do you mean?
MT: If you want the contract there has to be some for me. Say for example $500,000
RB: But that would make the price $2,000,000
MT: Yes, so it would. Well done, that shows you can add up so you are perfectly qualified for the job. Thank you, here is the contract. You get $1,500,000 and I get $500,000. So you get more than me, you should be happy.
RB: Ah, but I have to build the road, you have to do nothing except give me the contract.
MT: I imagine that you might have used up all your $1,500,000 before the road is actually built, might that not be the case?
RB: Yes, that is entirely possible.

So RB goes off and starts building the road, for which of course he has to buy another Ferrari to test it on. Oh Dear. After building a mile or two of road he has somehow run out of money. The road building stops abruptly and the tarmac turns to dirt track.
So I said to my driver "But then MR RB won't get any more contracts, because he has not completed the road he contracted for". The reply came "Ah, but of course he will get another contract so long as there is plenty dash for Mr MT".

After my time in Nigeria I concluded that it is probably the same in the West but the difference is that in Africa it is not hidden. No one pretends it doesn't go on.

I will PM you gassygassy, 
Some European countries I believe the contractor doing the work have to effectively rent the stretch of road they are working on, thereby making the job quicker and not taking up miles of carriageway when not necessary, not sure how exactly works though.

In BC, Canada it is somewhat different again, although minor roads can be pretty badly marked for roadworks. A crew will turn up with the equipment and normally post a worker each end of the site with a stop/go board. Normally these are First Nations ladies who are so friendly and always wave and smile. No traffic lights to set up and no fuss. Sometimes also use what we call wibbly wobbly inflatable hi viz models. Saw a large hole in the road last winter and someone had painted a bright yellow circle round it and sprayed in large letters "big * Inappropriate Word * hole" on the road, but hey, you got the message!

As the OP and for those of you following this page turner from the beginning.....having travelled the same section today nothing has changed. Nobody turning a shovel, in fact nobody there. The only difference being I am sure there a more signs saying “This sign is not working”

Our council announced that a two mile stretch of quite an essential heavily used road connecting two major routes near us is going to be closed for a month from next Monday. Essential maintenance? No, the Apple TV company are filming...
This is going to mean a long diversion for the many users of the road.
You couldn't make it up.
Al.

Please write to your council asking for proper, adequate and full compensation to be paid to the thousands of road users who will incur extra travel time and expense, and ask them what town improvements they are going to carry out with the excess income over the cost of compensating people who have paid their road fund licences to use that road. What a blxxxing cheek!
tell you what you should do. Gather all the townsfolk who are going to be inconvenienced, and demonstrate to the Council that in order to get to their work and shopping they will have to walk through the film set at times and dates that suit the people. If they get in the way of the filming, tough. They will of course want payment for being 'extras'. Then you might find out what law the pedestrians are breaking, if the Police turn up. If the film people molest you in any way they will be guilty of harassment, perhaps (if you do it right) physical assault - eg if they touch your shoulder whilst asking you to move along.
Does a right of way cease to be a right just because a film crew want to do their thing? I suppose you would have to look up by-laws or 'rights of way'.

bikeralw wrote:Essential maintenance? No, the Apple TV company are filming...
This is going to mean a long diversion for the many users of the road.
You couldn't make it up.

Why not cut your losses and get a job as an extra...nice little earner.

There have been major works at a busy intersection in our town. Many were incredulous that is was scheduled for 18 months in the 1st place but it has had two extensions already of 6 months each.

We do occasionally see work being done but it is either somebody moving barriers so the traffic has to go a slightly different route or perhaps one man driving a mini digger while 2 or 3 others watch. 

One 200m length of road has been retarmacked at least 3 times and the footpath twice. Its now about a foot higher than it used to be. Judging by the height of the kerbstones there is at least another layer to go on.

I thought you would like an update on the 50 mph 12 mile roadworks section of the M23 where I have never seen any activity.

For a large part the 50 mph has been changed to 40 mph. Excellent.
There was an illuminated  sign  saying lane closed due to an incident. It did not specify which lane, nor was one closed, nor was their anything I could see fitting that description.
We have some helpful signs saying “caution overhead structure”. I think it means a bridge. They have been there since the road was built. Maybe I should be prepared to duck. Oh and I am now able to report some activity....well not exactly....a maintenance truck with yellow stripes parked in a refuge....though I didn’t see anyone in it.

I just wonder how many driving hours have been wasted as a result of all this?

All our governments have had no idea of the costs to the country of these hold ups. Not even our commitment to reduce pollution can persuade them to carry out roadworks overnight and clear it all away by 6am as they do in Holland.

Didn't one of our past governments come up with a plan to charge 'rent' for roads/lanes to contractors carrying out roadworks, as an incentive for them to complete the work as quickly as possible? Either I imagined it or it was another election promise that bit the dust.


PS There was of course the equally ineffective 'Cones Hotline':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cones_Hotline

Does anyone know which companies own these cones - I expect they rent them out to the Higways Authority and you can bet your sweet little bippy that rent is charged from the day they lay them out to the day after they collect them.
I want to buy shares in the cone rental companies.
And the flashing light companies
And the traffic management companies
And the 'Ignore this sign" sign companies.
And the " This sign is here for you to read so you miss the speed limit sign hidden behind this sign" companies.
I kid you not, recently I have seen signs deliberately erected directly in front of, and hiding, speed limit signs.

gassygassy wrote:Does anyone know which companies own these cones  - I expect they rent them out to the Higways Authority and you can bet your sweet little bippy that rent is charged from the day they lay them out to the day after they collect them.
I want to buy shares in the cone rental companies.
And the flashing light companies
And the traffic management companies
And the 'Ignore this sign" sign companies.
And the " This sign is here for you to read so you miss the speed limit sign hidden behind this sign" companies.
I kid you not, recently I have seen signs deliberately erected directly in front of, and hiding, speed limit signs.

Steady on Gassy . . . not too much of the conespiracy theory please!! 

That is awful Gromit

A new flashing speed sign went up round here, except they first put it on an existing pole right next to a road junction so it totally blocked the view of any van or hgv driver looking left.
Unfortunately it was also located where it has no power supply so relies on volunteers to recharge and replace the batteries every two days. They should design a system of running the sign on hot air, plenty of that in the local council.

groundhog wrote:That is awful Gromit

I know, sorry.
If wit was sh** I'd be conestipated!!  


Getting me coat!!  

As the OP can I recap. Months ago I started this thread complaining about a 15 mile stretch of the M23 being subject to a 50 mph speed limit due to undetectable  road works...merely lots of cones. It is with a sense of deep joy, which I am sure you will share, I am able to report that travelling down today everything was cleared. Not a cone in site! It’s like losing an old friend!

We've had one for well over two years on a local minor road.

Not a hint as to why there is a problem, and only about once every three months do we see any activity.

Perhaps "activity" is the wrong word, as nobody ever does anything. Workmen can be spotted sitting in their lorry cab tucking into their sandwiches, but the only change is the depth of leaves and debris on the closed side of the road.

Baffled we are. Nobody I've spoken to has a clue what it's all about??

M1 Update:
Someone has been working. The stretch that was 50 with no work happenning and no modifications to the road, followed (going south) by the 60 stretch that did have some work happenning, has now bizarrely turned into one long continuous 60 stretch. I guess the extra work was installing some more (presumably permanent) average speed cameras. They must cost a great deal of money to install so I doubt that they will ever be removed. All the BMWs will have to find some other route, or get different number plates. I don't think BMWs know how to do 60 do they?
Anyway, after 18 months of nothing happenning, they have started to remove the trees by the side of the previously-50 section, now it is 60 whereas nothing was being done when it was 50. I guess the higher speed of the traffic will blow away the virus particles better. That must be the reason, I think I have figured it out!

A local road squad arrived at their work location and to their consternation, realised that they did not have their shovels with them.    They contacted the depot  and the foreman assured them that the shovels would be sent out as soon as possible.   His final remark was
"Just lean on the lorry meantime"  

What's yellow, has four wheels and sleeps four?





No, you silly person it's not an AutoSleeper that someone has resprayed.
It's an Isle of Man road works truck.

gassygassy wrote:M1 Update:
Someone has been working.  The stretch that was 50 with no work happenning and no modifications to the road, followed (going south) by the 60 stretch that did have some work happenning, has now bizarrely turned into one long continuous 60 stretch. I guess the extra work was installing some more (presumably permanent) average speed cameras. They must cost a great deal of money to install so I doubt that they will ever be removed. All the BMWs will have to find some other route, or get different number plates. I don't think BMWs know how to do 60 do they?
Anyway, after 18 months of nothing happenning, they have started to remove the trees by the side of the previously-50 section, now it is 60 whereas nothing was being done when it was 50. I guess the higher speed of the traffic will blow away the virus particles better. That must be the reason, I think I have figured it out!

Ah, BMW drivers, just like Audi drivers only slower and smarter!
(Must be careful what I write the wife has a BMW!)