Wayland Van Hildyck-Smith, of Newton Abbot, writes:
Can anyone be better at 'passing the buck' than the county council? I refer to the 'temporary' re-routing of the 75 bus that goes (or went) down Church Road, Newton Abbot, stopping outside elderly residents homes, many of whom use this service daily. Now it has mysteriously vanished to plough a lonely furrow around Forde Park, a considerable extra distance which many elderly and disabled feel unable to manage. Why has the bus been diverted? Because of 'obstructive parking' down the lower end of Church Road, where they had an example of road rage a week ago and two minor bumps since. Due to careless parking on both sides of the road, the width has now been so reduced as to make it impossible for the width of a bus to pass through and the drivers, quite rightly, refuse to risk damaging their buses or parked cars by forcing their way through. I tried to find out why, then it started... the bus company passed me on to the local council, who passed me on to Devon County Council which passed me on to City Hall, which passed me to the police, the only really helpful body which sent someone to inspect the situation and told me that because the highways department had not reinstated the double yellow lines, it was unable to take action as there was now unrestricted parking. On advice, I went back to the bus company which then said it had got nowhere with the highways department which was 'having a meeting in about a month's time to review the situation', and in the meantime the bus would have to stay diverted. The bus company then said it had been told that the lines had been repainted but they had 'washed off'...oh pull the other one, please. Please, highways department, wake up out of your indifferent state and repaint the lines, for heaven's sake. Remember the buck stops here with you.