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If there is one
complaint that even beats the lack of work, it’s why London’s
water main replacement work is taking so long and why - even in
non-residential areas - workers on the Thames Water
replacement pipe program seem to finish work long before the
average 9 to 5 office worker does? We know that over a third of London's Victorian water mains are over 150 years old, with more than half being over a century old and that there is a major problem with leakage. According to Thames Water, they need replacing at a time when London’s water resources are being put under increasing pressure by the effects of climate change and with the population increasing, a rising demand for water. Thames say they are committed to replacing more than 1,000 miles of the oldest water mains and pipes with new plastic ones that are said to be more durable and flexible and told Call Sign that the work had to inevitably cause some short-term disruption, but that the long-term benefits would greatly outweigh those. More importantly, they said, a reduction in future water main bursts in addition to leakages, would minimise the need for more streetworks. |
Call Sign asks Thames Water… How Much Longer? |
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But Dial-a-Cab
drivers biggest moans are why so much work all over town was
being carried out at the same time -
especially where they have those appalling
traffic signals that can only turn green for one street at a
time and where, at a junction with four or more exits, you can
expect to be stuck in a never-ending traffic hold-up? Thames Water did tell us that they appreciated they were causing disruption to both local residents and drivers, however they added that no streetworks could be started without them first gaining permission from the local highway authority. They would then have to commit themselves to causing the minimise disruption through their roadworks. Call Sign ended by asking two important questions: Many areas in the City itself now contain sites where digging is ongoing. Why is this work not being carried out on a 24-hour basis to get it completed in half the time? After all, most premises are offices where any disturbance would be minimal, if at all? Secondly, would rubber pipes last like the Victorian ones have? Thames Water told Call Sign: |
"Generally we are not
allowed to work 24 hours a day by the councils who give us
permission to work on the carriageway. We have to keep a careful
balance between getting the work done as quickly as possible and
being responsible neighbours. Even in areas that are not largely
residential, there can still be people living nearby. On very
urgent jobs, in particular ‘traffic hotspots’ we may
occasionally be allowed to work 24 hours a day. "As for the old cast iron pipes, they are being replaced with more durable and flexible plastic (polyethylene) pipes, which will last for generations to come. This work will be completed by 2010. At that time, the usual London winter scene of a burst water main will all but vanish." But Call Sign cannot help but wonder whether these new plastic ones will outlive the longevity of those cast iron pipes placed into the ground by Queen Victoria’s plumbers. But we will not get an answer until the first of the new mains actually bursts. Anyone take a bet on 2011…? |
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Every issue of Call Sign takes a look back at ODRTS history through the pages of the magazines of the time with a Flashback… DIAL-A-CAB FLASHBACK |
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This month’s Flashback returns to
1978 with an article in Steering Wheel (later to become The Cab
Driver) on the link between ODRTS and the beginning of the
Macmillan Service… From Steering Wheel, November 1978… Can You Help? Taxi driver Alan Fisher devotes his Thursdays to a handful of dying people. Ever since his mother died of cancer last year, Alan has been collecting patients from in and around the East End of London and taking them to St. Joseph's Hospice - which any cabbie will tell you is in Mare Street, Hackney. The St. Joseph's Hospice Home Care Service, which under Dr Richard Lamerton is shortly to be renamed as The Macmillan Service, cares for people with an incurable malignant |
 disease in their own homes. It is the Hospice’s experience that families and friends are well able - and willing - to cope if they are given enough support. Hospitalisation is thus avoided and the patient can die in his own familiar and reassuring home. Since 1905, the Irish Sisters of Charity have been administering care and specialised attention to those dying of cancer; what Alan Fisher does is to help make those patients last weeks more endurable, by taking them to the weekly clinic/social meting which is held every Thursday between 1.30pm and 4.00pm. |
At present, Alan is the only driver that the Hospice has to rely
on and they desperately need more volunteers. The work is
simple; picking up patients from their homes, taking them to the
hospice for a chat with Dr Lamerton, then tea and biscuits
before it's time to take them back home. However, it takes a
special kind of person to be able to cope with the kind of work
it involves. Many cab drivers are well meaning, but you need to
be able to chat and make friends with people whose lives are
possibly close to ending and that can’t be easy. If you think that you are that special kind of person who is prepared to give a helping hand to those who are in need, please contact Alan Fisher. He is Fox 7 on Lords radio circuit.
Al Fresco |
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