What's Llandudno Like Right Now?

[Tom Davidson]

Fester - could you email a copy of those pictures if possible, might be better quality that way! I'm at tom.davidson@trinitymirror.com

Appreciate the help,

[Fester]

Done Tom.

Now perhaps YOU would be good enough to pick up on the subject of the Litter Enforcement Gestapo, which I requested of you on here a few weeks ago.
It is a serious issue, and one which has already prompted many 'regular' visiting families, to declare that they will NEVER visit Llandudno again.

[Tom Davidson]

The same litter enforcement gestapo who are, if rumours to be believed, getting a larger remit as part of Conwy Council restructuring their work force?

I'll be sure to work on it .

[Hugo]

I may be imagining it but actual driving seems in more need of attention at the moment. Some of the overtaking on the A470 between Glan Conwy and Llanrwst has to be seen to be believed and the correct use of signals and roundabouts seems to have escaped quite a few of the car drivers.

I witnessed it for myself today Ian when two cars, an Audi TT and a Toyata Celica  were overtaking when they were coming up to blind bends.
Luckily no other cars were coming the other way or it could have been a fatality.

[SDQ]

I may be imagining it but actual driving seems in more need of attention at the moment. Some of the overtaking on the A470 between Glan Conwy and Llanrwst has to be seen to be believed and the correct use of signals and roundabouts seems to have escaped quite a few of the car drivers.

I witnessed it for myself today Ian when two cars, an Audi TT and a Toyata Celica  were overtaking when they were coming up to blind bends.
Luckily no other cars were coming the other way or it could have been a fatality.

I saw a similar incident earlier. Numpty in a van overtaking a car opposite Nev's Garage with little space in front to pull back in. The car in front & myself had to brake to allow him time to barge his way back in before he hit us head-on!
I regularly drive up and down the valley and the speed some people go is shocking. It's no wonder there have been so many accidents. I must admit though, the number of cars dawdling at 30mph are just as bad in my opinion, frustrating some drivers to the point they pull off a stupid overtaking manouvre. Short of making it a dual carriageway all the way I'm at a loss to how they will resolve the situation.

[Hugo]

Like I have mentioned before,  one of my cars has a video camera on it just in case I become a victim of these drivers.    A few years ago my previous car was written off when a driver came out of a T junction without looking.   I was able to stop but his didn't  and my car became an economical write off.
We exchanged details and addresses and he came to my house the following day and asked me to say that his girl friend was driving the car as he wasn't insured to drive it.
I was quite blunt with him and told him that there was no way that I would lie about it and apart from that I had already told my insurance company the facts and a Police sergeant in the North Wales Traffic.
The camera is there in case anything happens again or if I was a witness to any other accident.  Why should the guilty party get away with bad driving.

[Merddin Emrys]

That would have been perverting the course of justice!  Very serious offence! 

[Ian]

And around here that could have led to a short spell as a guest of her majesty, almost certainly made your insurance in the future extremely costly and led to many other porbem9s, such as it becoming near impossible to get other forms of insurance.

[Hugo]

Honesty is the best policy, certainly in the cases relating to insurance companies as I've found out, hence the video/audio camera I've got now.
After the crash I phoned the North Wales Police and spoke to a sergeant there and explained the situation to him and told him that I had cleared all the broken glass and debris from the road so there was no need for the Police to come up and do it.
At the time of the phone call I was unaware of the fact that the driver was uninsured as he had spun me a story about his father who was ill or otherwise I would have got the Police there immediately.
It cost me my excess of £250.00 on my insurance policy but at least I didn't lose my no claims bonus because I wasn't at fault for the accident but it made me wary of a similar situation in the future.

[DaveR]

I regularly drive up and down the valley and the speed some people go is shocking. It's no wonder there have been so many accidents. I must admit though, the number of cars dawdling at 30mph are just as bad in my opinion, frustrating some drivers to the point they pull off a stupid overtaking manouvre. Short of making it a dual carriageway all the way I'm at a loss to how they will resolve the situation.

The simplest answer is to widen it slightly (as it already is in the newer sections), to allow for the width of three vehicles. That way, even an idiot overtaking when there was a car coming the other way would have space to pass in safety. At the moment, certain sections are so narrow that overtaking when someone is coming the other way at the same time can only result in a crash, as the drivers have nowhere to go.

[Fester]

The same litter enforcement gestapo who are, if rumours to be believed, getting a larger remit as part of Conwy Council restructuring their work force?

I'll be sure to work on it .

Thanks Tom.
I now have firm statements from 2 of my customers (whilst ordering over the phone), that they are no longer coming to Llandudno due to the intimidating and vulture-like litter enforcement officers.
I watched them in action again today, (whilst talking to Nomon08), as they kept a young girl in the cold wind and rain, for an inordinate amount of time in the street... whilst fining her.

[Merddin Emrys]

I still wonder why people do not just tell them to b****r off? Or do they only choose defenseless victims? 

[born2run]

They have cameras and will threaten you with arrest. They are very scary and there are loads of them. Whilst walking the street from the Chippy opposite bog island right up to Gregorys the jewellers I passed 4 pairs of them last summer!
The irony, on that whole stretch there was ZERO bins. That's why I passed them all looking for somewhere to throw away my chippy paper. ££$ - 'Parasitic bullying gangsters'. You can quote that in your article.

[Merddin Emrys]

For once we agree!   D) I doubt their powers of arrest go beyond an ordinary citizen's arrest, if they try to restrain you then it would be an assault. I still say better to employ litter pickers than  these council paid bullies! 

[Fester]

They have the power to threaten you with arrest,  they cannot arrest you.

What they 'threaten' to do, is call the police if you fail to comply with their demands for a fixed penalty.

Now, given that they are paid in relation to how many people they fine, and given that the Police custody suite is in St Asaph, I am sorely tempted to put them to the test.
Wouldn't it be great to tie them up all day in St Asaph, making statements etc.... thus ensuring that they earn a non-viable amount for the entire day.