Yet again, my travel plans today were seriously disrupted by a march - in
this case, the Sri Lankans. Unwisely (with hindsight), I hopped on a 24 bus
at Victoria for my intended destination - TCR area - from which we were
advised to alight at Parliament Square due to a lengthy diversion. I would
have gladly walked the rest of the way, except that whilst the march
progressed, the police refused to let anyone cross from Whitehall to the
north side of Trafalgar Square. In fact, I had to walk all the way to Temple
station to find a crossing point.

I've no objection to people exercising their right to free speech. Having
said that, the Sri Lankan march today appears to have limited relevance to
the UK, and it seems London is being used as a friendly host of general
protest, which presumably would be unwelcome in other capitals.

If people wish to demonstrate, I would be happy for them to do a few
circuits of Hyde Park, which wouldn't disrupt surface public transport. If
they insist on going through the main thoroughfares of London, they should
be asked to pay the relevant costs - policing, crowd control barriers etc.
They should also be required to pay into a fund, which would allow people on
Oyster PAYG (like me) to travel on the Tube for the price of a bus fare,
when the bus service is stopped due to road closures.

On my travels, I encountered a number of frustrated tourists (and Londoners
alike) whose plans were being disrupted. There is an economic cost to London
in all of this. If it happened three or four times a years, fair enough, but
my perception is that there is some sort of march/demo almost every weekend
at present.

Chris

On Apr 11, 9:14*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
Yet again, my travel plans today were seriously disrupted by a march - in
this case, the Sri Lankans. Unwisely (with hindsight), I hopped on a 24 bus
at Victoria for my intended destination - TCR area - from which we were
advised to alight at Parliament Square due to a lengthy diversion. I would
have gladly walked the rest of the way, except that whilst the march
progressed, the police refused to let anyone cross from Whitehall to the
north side of Trafalgar Square. In fact, I had to walk all the way to Temple
station to find a crossing point.

I've no objection to people exercising their right to free speech. Having
said that, the Sri Lankan march today appears to have limited relevance to
the UK, and it seems London is being used as a friendly host of general
protest, which presumably would be unwelcome in other capitals.

If people wish to demonstrate, I would be happy for them to do a few
circuits of Hyde Park, which wouldn't disrupt surface public transport. If
they insist on going through the main thoroughfares of London, they should
be asked to pay the relevant costs - policing, crowd control barriers etc..
They should also be required to pay into a fund, which would allow people on
Oyster PAYG (like me) to travel on the Tube for the price of a bus fare,
when the bus service is stopped due to road closures.

On my travels, I encountered a number of frustrated tourists (and Londoners
alike) whose plans were being disrupted. There is an economic cost to London
in all of this. If it happened three or four times a years, fair enough, but
my perception is that there is some sort of march/demo almost every weekend
at present.

Chris

I agree with everything you say.
BTW, the 24 bus is affected almost every weekend by these meaningless
demos. What is the point of any of them?
If you are stuck on a 24 bus, and you have a driver who will
(correctly) not allow passengers off anywhere but at bus stops, you
can find yourself on quite a mystery tour of the back streets of
Camden & Westminster.

On Apr 12, 9:59�am, Offramp wrote:
On Apr 11, 9:14�pm, "Chris Read" wrote:





Yet again, my travel plans today were seriously disrupted by a march - in
this case, the Sri Lankans. Unwisely (with hindsight), I hopped on a 24 bus
at Victoria for my intended destination - TCR area - from which we were
advised to alight at Parliament Square due to a lengthy diversion. I would
have gladly walked the rest of the way, except that whilst the march
progressed, the police refused to let anyone cross from Whitehall to the
north side of Trafalgar Square. In fact, I had to walk all the way to Temple
station to find a crossing point.

I've no objection to people exercising their right to free speech. Having
said that, the Sri Lankan march today appears to have limited relevance to
the UK, and it seems London is being used as a friendly host of general
protest, which presumably would be unwelcome in other capitals.

If people wish to demonstrate, I would be happy for them to do a few
circuits of Hyde Park, which wouldn't disrupt surface public transport. If
they insist on going through the main thoroughfares of London, they should
be asked to pay the relevant costs - policing, crowd control barriers etc.
They should also be required to pay into a fund, which would allow people on
Oyster PAYG (like me) to travel on the Tube for the price of a bus fare,
when the bus service is stopped due to road closures.

On my travels, I encountered a number of frustrated tourists (and Londoners
alike) whose plans were being disrupted. There is an economic cost to London
in all of this. If it happened three or four times a years, fair enough, but
my perception is that there is some sort of march/demo almost every weekend
at present.

Chris

I agree with everything you say.
BTW, the 24 bus is affected almost every weekend by these meaningless
demos. What is the point of any of them?
If you are stuck on a 24 bus, and you have a driver who will
(correctly) not allow passengers off anywhere but at bus stops, you
can find yourself on quite a mystery tour of the back streets of
Camden & Westminster.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I also agree with every word you wrote, Chris.

Marc.