Cycle shop fined for free pump.

[Cycleops]

Unbelievable but true story about a London cycle shop who left a pump outside for anybody that wanted to use it.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/l...uncil-providing-free-pump-outside-shop-344648

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Nope. Read the whole of the article.

Edit: Adrian beat me to it

 

[subaqua]

Would be so easy to have just inside door on a wire with a big sign.


Another example of people thinking roolz don't apply to them .

 

[PeteXXX]

Ahhh.. the same council that fined a 5 yr old for selling lemonade? A Gareth Hunt handshake in their general direction!!

Halfords, on Riverside retail park, Northampton, has a pump outside and is quite handy (when it's not been vandalised..)

 

[Alan O]

It sounds like the bike shop is being economical with the truth...

"Isambard’s Cycles has not been fined for having a ‘free foot pump’. We visited the shop on 16 July to tell them that they need to apply for a licence to have items on the footpath outside their shop including bicycles for sale and a bench. This was followed up with a letter.

The area outside the shop is narrow and it is already difficult to get a pram or a wheelchair past the shop, without these items being displayed."

As someone who regularly pushes a disabled person round in a wheelchair, I have little but contempt for those who selfishly block footpaths - and no sympathy when they start dishonestly whining about it when they get caught.

Alan

 

[Beebo]

Brick lane is very narrow and the council are very hot on the street vendors and promotions in that area.

 

[chriswoody]

A quick look at Google shows this image of the front of the shop. The article claims it's the bench and bike causing the obstruction, however, in the image they don't look to be too intrusive.

However, I suppose if someone's sat there pumping up their tyres it could cause a bit of an obstruction.

 

[Drago]

What is an item projecting 10" from the store front obstructing exactly?

With all that's been in the news recently about council misfeasance and deadly incompetence you'd think they'd be trying to find something useful to do.

 

[KnackeredBike]

It used to be that it was quite normal for shops to have goods on display outside their shops, this remains quite common among most of Europe, hence the "cafe culture".

Of course here we are increasingly being cultured to believe to buy something you must drive to a big car park and disappear into a faceless retailer, some into a ludicrously faux "market" (hello Morrisons).

The council do not realise that by being officious little nobs they are killing off independent retailers. I gave up my last shop after getting so much rubbish from the council - we had a rear yard that wasn't accessible to vehicles so the bins had to be left out overnight for them to collect first thing in the morning, which drove them nuts - that I realised it was just easier to sell the lease to Dominos pizza.

 

[Slick]

The Google image might be misleading, but all you need for free passage for peaks and wheel chairs is 1.2m. It looks to be that and more.

 

[Alan O]

What is an item projecting 10" from the store front obstructing exactly?

With all that's been in the news recently about council misfeasance and deadly incompetence you'd think they'd be trying to find something useful to do.

Brick Lane is indeed narrow and often congested, and if a licence is required to place items outside a shop then it's only fair on all the other shops who comply that this bike shop should have to do the same.

The council said "We will visit the shop for a fourth time this week to offer help in applying for a licence and, if they do, we can review the latest fine", which seems perfectly reasonable to me (over-generous if they've already visited three times, I'd say).

And if there's no real obstruction, I hope they'd be granted the licence - but that's for the council to decide, not random people on the Internet who have no experience of the actual situation.

Alan

 

[Alan O]

The Google image might be misleading, but all you need for free passage for peaks and wheel chairs is 1.2m. It looks to be that and more.

And the Google image is just one snapshot - the council spoke of "bicycles for sale", so we have no idea of the real day-to-day obstruction from that one image.

 

[Slick]

And the Google image is just one snapshot - the council spoke of "bicycles for sale", so we have no idea of the real day-to-day obstruction from that one image.

I did say the image might be misleading. I have noticed other councils right round the country ignoring their own regulations with their placement of bins and other street furniture.

 

[Drago]

Yet neighbouring councils seem quite happy to create obstructions themselves...

 

[jefmcg]

Seriously, imagine what Brick Lane would be like if councils didn't enforce the rules about what shop goods can be left on the pavement?