Rule two: If you don’t obey rule one, someone will eventually record your security acting way out of order, and post it on youtube. Your company will be [...]]]> Rule one: If you employ security guards, at least make sure they are trained in what is expected of them, and the law relating to their profession.

Rule two: If you don’t obey rule one, someone will eventually record your security acting way out of order, and post it on youtube. Your company will be embarassed, everyone will see immediately that you’ve tried to save costs by cutting back on training, and it’ll spread from youtube to facebook, google plus and other websites…

This video was uploaded to youtube by the person behind visitscunthorpe.com, as he was out photographing the town. Perfectly legal thing to do.

Golden Wonder which used to produce Pot Noodles, is now owned by Northern Irish crisp firm Tayto, and produces their own brand of crisps.

The Greens set up a website, called onthegotourssucks.com to detail how they felt that by following the advice of the US Department of State and cancelling their trip to [...]]]> Online travel news service TravelMole has reported the story of U.S. Couple Dale and Cathy Green, who felt they were scammed by On The Go Tours.

The Greens set up a website, called onthegotourssucks.com to detail how they felt that by following the advice of the US Department of State and cancelling their trip to Egypt in March 2011 was the right thing to do.

On The Go Tours is a UK company, based in west London, and operates under British law, so when the Greens approached them for a full refund, only a partial refund was offered, and the company stated at the time:

As a company based in the United Kingdom and hence governed by British law we are obligated to follow the travel advice given by that of the British Foreign Office only…we do not follow the travel advice given by other nations so this advice does not apply.

Which is fine, if you’re only taking money from people based within the country you’re operating in. It becomes a slight problem if you take money from foreign nationals, and their Government issues travel advice.

The Pyramids were closed, as was the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which normally sees millions of tourists every year. On 29th January 2011, the UK Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Egypt. The very next day Turkey announced it was evacuating its citizens, and the U.S. embassy in Cairo has advised all Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible.

If I was in the same situation as the Greens, I might be a little pissed off too if some Johnny Foreigner company was holding on to thoursands of dollars of my cash. I’d be a bit pissed off that I hadn’t fully understood the terms and conditions, too.

This does open a whole new can of worms in terms of trading on the Internet. When your customers Government advises against travel, but your own gives different advice, you’re stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place.

The moral of the story, I suppose, is don’t book travel with foreign companies. That’s a little bit of a shame for companies such as On The Go Tours, as their market will suddenly shrink. From the evidence, that seems to be a consequence of the situation.

On The Go Tours haven’t exactly acted fairly, as other tour operators in the UK were offering full refunds, they chose to stick to their policy. When the Greens asked for a full refund, On The Go Tours seem to be indicating they believe they have a legal duty to obey the will of the British Foreign Office. That is not true.

Essentially, On The Go Tours  want to hang on to the Green’s money, so it seems reasonable for Dale and Cathy to say they suck.

Don’t complain publicly about On The Go Tours though, the firm has picked up on the Green’s website – onthegotourssucks.com – and have passed the link to their Director, who’s currently in Australia, so he can take legal advice.

I’m guessing a refund would have been cheaper, and would save some of On The Go Tours’ reputation. Oh well.

According to BBC News, “London Underground (LU) said the strike was illegal as drivers who were not scheduled to work on [...]]]> I’m glad I cycle around London. I’d hate to think that my hard earned cash, paid in tube fairs to TfL, was being used to apply for an injunction on the loosest grounds ever.

According to BBC News, “London Underground (LU) said the strike was illegal as drivers who were not scheduled to work on 26 December had cast their votes in the strike ballot.”

Now, I may be missing something here, are tube managers really that thick that they would listen to their employment law “experts” on this?

Within seconds I figured that just because someone isn’t scheduled to work on Boxing Day this year, doesn’t mean they won’t be scheduled to work on Boxing Day next year. Ergo they have the right to be balloted.

A piss poor show from TfL wasting money in a Court when they could be around the table trying to sort this sorry mess out.

That isn’t to say I agree with the idea that tube drivers deserve triple pay and a day off in lieu for working Boxing Day…

Unfortunately, the European Liberal Democrats decided to vote along with Centre-Right parties in Europe, against the [...]]]> Glenis Willmott MEP, leader of the Labour group in Europe, tabled a proposal calling for an amendment to Europe’s workplace safety directive “to prevent the victimisation, dismissal or the refusal of employment or ‘blacklisting’ of workers or their representatives.”

Unfortunately, the European Liberal Democrats decided to vote along with Centre-Right parties in Europe, against the proposal.

You may remember not so long ago that a vile charicature of a human ran a company which made sure that construction industry employers knew who in their workforce was a union safety representative, so those people could be refused work.

By voting against the proposal, the Liberal Democrats have left those rogue employers free to dismiss, blacklist or victimse their workers who raise concerns about safety.

Brian Higgins, a blacklisted bricklayer and a member of the June Blacklist Support Group delegation, described the actions of the LibDem MEPs as “a kick in the teeth for honest workers prepared to take a stand to protect the lives of their workmates. But we will keep on campaigning against the evil scourge of blacklisting by big business until we finally get some justice.”

Liberal Democrats - Yellow Conservatives.

On the day Dr Fox resigned from Government over the problems with Werrity, Sky 1′s “An Idiot Abroad” had this injection…

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 [...]]]> 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.

Yes, that’s it, you’d sack her, so that it got lots more media attention than you want.

Ross Parry/ [...]]]> If you owned a football club, and the woman who dressed up as your mascot posed in saucy underwear – for charity – in a national Sunday newspaper (okay, the Sport), what would you do?

Yes, that’s it, you’d sack her, so that it got lots more media attention than you want.

Ross Parry/ Jonathan Pow

Just to heap on the embarassment to the club, the charity being rewarded for Tracy Chandler’s hard work is the NSPCC, the same charity that Doncaster Rovers have been supporting recently with many other fundraising events.

So we’ve reprinted the photograph here. It’s not x-rated by any means.

How was the poor dog sacked? No, not sent to the vets, but told not to bother turning up again by email. No right of reply, just a simple sacking.

What nice people they must be at Doncaster Rovers!

Update

Pleased to say that enough people caused a furore that Tracy has her job back!

Imagine you use a traffic route on a daily basis, and find every week you’re having to mention to the person who owns it that there’s a problem with broken glass.

It’s not like they shouldn’t know there’s broken glass there, [...]]]> I last mentioned this problem here last June, but it hasn’t gone away by any means.

Imagine you use a traffic route on a daily basis, and find every week you’re having to mention to the person who owns it that there’s a problem with broken glass.

It’s not like they shouldn’t know there’s broken glass there, as the staff walk by it every time they smoke, sort linen, crush their garbage or take deliveries in.

What is galling is that when I go into the hotel and tell them about it, nothing happens. The glass is left there in the Premier Inn hotel’s car park, the big bits of glass get crushed by vehicles into little shards, with the potential to cause more damage to tyres.

Crushed glass in the Premier Inn London Euston car park

Over the last six months alone, I’ve spent over £30 and four hours of my time dealing with punctures. Maybe I should bill the hotel on. It’s not like they aren’t aware of the broken glass strewn across their car park just where footfall is at its highest, I first emailed them about it in 2008.

Most recently, about six months ago I had a letter from the Premier Inn London Euston, denying that they would ever cause such a problem. It isn’t so much that they wouldn’t ever cause the problem, but when people deal with broken glass they don’t ever clear it up!

Back on the 26th April I popped in and met a chap called Luke from Premier Inn, and told him about the glass, I passed by it three times a day, and noticed it slowly decay to small shards. Luke hadn’t bothered to do anything about it. Common theme.

I popped in on Monday just gone, and told a chap about the broken glass. Here it is on the 9th May:

Glass left in the Premier Inn London Euston car park, 9 May 2011

And here it is on the 11th May:

The glass on 11th May 2011

Seriously, if you’re thinking about driving to this hotel and care for your tyres, stay at a Travelodge instead.

The Premier Inn London Euston manager met with the Council’s health and safety team in 2009, and agreed that they had overall responsibility to keeping the car park and communal access routes clear and safe.

Is glass the only problem with the Premier Inn London Euston?

Of course not. Every morning a Sunlight delivery vehicle parks up on our road well before 8am. Today it was delivering in the car park at 7.30am. Nothing wrong there you might think, except it’s about 20 metres from a conservation zone, and large lorries are banned before 8am.

There’s a garbage compactor in the car park too, and the staff haven’t been trained how to use it properly. When there’s a problem with it everyone nearby hears a loud piercing alarm tone. Several times a week.

This hotel is currently undergoing an external rennovation, which apparently included causing minor damage to some of their neighbour’s plants. When the neighbour pointed this out, the man doing the rennovation work started bawling at the neighbour. I observed it for a while, and when the Premier Inn man began shouting inaccurate information across the street approached him to try to calm him down and put him right. Unfortunately the uncouth gentleman started bawling at me too. Something about me using their lift. I’m still none the wiser, but the moral seems to be not to approach the staff in case they bite.

Yesterday I noticed it land in Central London and tracked [...]]]> Whenever I hear a helicopter in the sky, I look up to see what it is, and this little beauty always makes me smile. The London Air Ambulance is an amazingly small craft that can land in the most awkward of places, including Oxford Circus.

Yesterday I noticed it land in Central London and tracked it down to Gordon Square. I knew I was close because a stranger in the street looked at me as I walked past and said:

“There’s a helicopter in the square, it’s got a big Virgin sign on the side. I didn’t know Richard Branson had his own helicopter.”

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or cry. I just acknowledged her, and said thank you.

I stood well back for take-off, as last time I watched it taking off it was on Euston Road and the rotors blew up a lot of mess into my eyes. Strangely I didn’t get any from Gordon Square – thanks guys.

The London Air Ambulance is funded completely from donations. You can donate online at http://www.londonsairambulance.com