I’m reminded of a comment by a lady called Beverley who works for Gerald Eve. They are the company that manages property for Whitbread.
My client takes matters of health and safety extremely seriously…
That was on the 24th March 2009. A couple of years down the line, Whitbread have changed their management in the Premier Inn London Euston twice now, but the same basic problems of safety still exist. The previous manager, Mark, gave us the direct line for reception so we could call if there were any problems. We do that, but we still have to keep calling back because no-one takes charge of the issues and resolves them.
I’ve been banging on at the PILE since 2008 because they have a problem with glass in their car park. When the staff empty their glass bin into their recycling bin, some inevitably falls out, but they aren’t trained sufficiently to know to sweep it up, it gets ground down to small, sharp shards of glass, and I get a puncture.
I had two this weekend, fixed one, then pumped my tyre up again this morning to get me into work, got most of the way in, but I’ll have to change the inner tube at lunchtime.
As a test, if I carry my bicycle out of their car park, I don’t get punctures. As soon as I go back to cycling through it, I get them. I asked myself if I should carry it all the time, but that’s unfair to anyone else who uses their car park. PILE should really sort themselves out in that respect.
Noise
Everyone is affected by noise in their life at one time or another. PILE generate a fair amount with their contracted-out delivery staff slamming cages around the car park, vehicles reversing because the hotel lets cars park where they like which blocks access for their deliveries. The biggest problems, by far, are the garbage crusher and the ‘new’ air-con.
The air-con emits a low-level whirring noise, akin to a helicopter passing overhead. When the fans need to stop, it emits a screech.
The garbage grinder emits a 2kHz tone, which pearces your thoughts. It’s designed to do that, it’s a warning tone, however I have stood in the car park watching the hotel staff operating the machine with this noise emitting. You would not believe how many times the hotel’s number appears on my ‘phone bill. It’s not like I’m calling them to say hello, or have a chat. Each call is a problem.
To help explain the noise, here is a recording of the garbage grinder, with a frequency analysis. That solid yellow line by 2k means it’s a very loud noise, at that frequency.
Coffee, anyone?
Now, we all know what double-yellow lines mean? No parking. And if there are double-yellow kerb markings? No loading (or unloading).
I have referred to that piece of the highway code a few times in this blog. Here it is again:
And here’s the Kuehne & Nagel delivery driver for Costa Coffee parking where he shouldn’t to unload. It’s not like there’s a whacking great car park out the back.
Lets just make sure he is unloading, otherwise he w0uld be allowed to park briefly, say if he had an emergency to deal with…
That looks like someone making a delivery to me. This is a daily occurence, not just a one-off.
It’s not just a hotel…
I’m now reminded of the licensing hearing last year, where the hotel was asking to allow outside drinking (until 1am in the morning!) and their solicitor John Gaunt said:
We’re not a budget chain, this is a premium budget hotel.
I’ve yet to see what’s premium about it. Just remember next time you stay at the Premier Inn London Euston that you’re encouraging the hotel’s management to continue this lacklustre style of dragging the hotel along by the hair.
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