A first in the country?
A 'bus stop pull-in' is what we all know as a 'normal' bus stop - a pull-in from the main road where the bus loads and unloads it's passengers while letting the traffic flow past it. This council has invented something which we certainly have never heard of before and which we think is a first in the country - a 'bus stop pull-out'!

In April 2002, on Stanhope Road, South Shields, three normal bus stops have been modified to be 'bus stop pull-outs'!. This involves the council spending a considerable amount of our 'council tax' money to extend the pavement 6 feet into the road. This of course means that the bus will have to stop in the middle of the road to pick-up and set-down, and Stanhope Road being a busy main road, means that there will be lots of traffic trailing behind the bus that can not get passed.

One of these 'bus stop pull-outs' is outside the Ashley Pub, when the bus stops there, it only takes a few seconds to cause a tail back of traffic which extends across the Temple Park Road roundabout, so grinding traffic flow along Stanhope Road and Temple Park Road to a halt.

This of course will result in drivers getting frustrated by the continual stopping and starting of the traffic, they will then be more inclined to take unnecessary risks to overtake slow moving buses along Stanhope Road, increasing the chance of an accident for both drivers and pedestrians.

If we can see the problem with 'bus stop pull-outs' how come neither the 60 strong council members (who are looking for a 50% increase in they 'wages') nor the numerous employees of the Planning Department picked it up?

Why does this council continue to make our borough the laughing stock of the country?

We noticed this one in January 2002 and this has to be one of the silliest ideas we have ever see! To try and stop people smoking outside the 'outpatients' at South Shield General Hospital the authorities have erected an external smoking room! Seemingly patients (who are not allowed to smoke inside) are expected to exit the building, walk past the benches (filled with people having a fag) and stand in a 6 foot by 3 foot cubical and have a smoke!

No Smoking on the Concrete

Staying with the theme of people being nurotic about smoking, have you noticed the 'No Smoking' signs on the Metro station platforms. Now let's see if we can get this right, you are standing on a concrete platform facing another concrete platform with a set of steel rails between. There is no roof to give you cover from the elements, both ends are obviously open and alowing a gale force wind to howl through the station. There is no chance of anyone receiving secondary smoke from you, and there is not a chance in hell of you setting fire to the concrete.

Fire Brigade Slow Down