Did anyone else have fun in the strike-related chaos yesterday?
I was unfortunate enough to have to attempt my 30 mile commute across Newcastle city centre. This was made 100% worse by the Tyne bridge being closed due to some looney climbing up it!
In total it took me around 3 hours to complete my normal 1 hour journey and I was slighty miffed to say the least.
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Loons climbing up cranes and bridges, traffic halted, Health & Safety invoked, human rights violated, fire and police called out! With what in mind? If they go up there let them stay and starve, or jump and end it - I don't care which and meanwhile the rest of us can get on with our own lives.
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I'm not going to comment on the strike itself, but the loon certainly didnt help matters!
Although I heard on the local news he was arrested, presumably cautioned and then let off.
Perhaps he should have been released to the hundreds of fuming motorists stuck in the queue!
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I hope all these local gov. employees get a day docked from their service, and hence their pensions - but would put money on it not happening. Why should I pay for their inflated pension when I am struggling to save for mine.
"Loony on Tyne Brige" reminds me of a story told by my father (ex policeman) about a potential jumper on the Transporter Bridge in Middlesborough (Now of Auf Wiedersien fame). He had to climb up and talk him down, when he got close to the jumper he said "It's too cold up here, either get on and jump or climb down." He climbed down.
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What strike traffic? Quiet as half term in Derbyshire with a lot of the schools being shut.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Derbyshire isn't quite as densly populated with militant civil servants as Newcastle!
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If it's unofficial absence then they will lose a day's pay and a day's pension contribution.
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Inflated pension? For the majority of them it is currently worth about £4000 a year assuming they put in 6% of their salary for 25 years minimum. Their employers put in about 3% or 4% for the time they're working. Pensions are knackered due to one G Brown taking from them. If he left them alone then we'd all be able to afford to have a decent car in retirement with public and private pensions alike rather than making do with an old banger.
teabelly
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Things could be worse. You could be in France where they seem to strike over the time of day.
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Things could be worse. You could be in France where they seem to strike over the time of day.
Like my folks, who had to drive up from Carcassonne to see us in Frankfurt when the ground staff walked out at the airport, leaving Ryanair in the lurch. Got through safely though.
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You don't get paid for being on strike, you also lose the pension for the day (with an option to buy it back). LG employees are also saving for their pension - it's not free!
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I made money. The Humber Bridge was free. Saved myself a fiver for the round trip.
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Snakey, that's a result! This what they should do during public transport strikes. Just open the barriers and don't sell or check tickets; the trains run, the public aren't incovenienced and train company gets hurt; assuming that this the effect that a strike is meant to have.
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I would have been very happy if the Tyne Tunnel was left open for free - but it was closed!
As was the Tyne Bridge for a while, rendering the A1 and Newcastle city centre gridlocked for several hours
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That wasn't the picture that was painted by the local BBC news! When I watched, I seem to recall that they thought traffic (in the morning at least) was not as bad as was expected. Seemingly then, the afternoon rush hour was a different matter.
Because my Uni was shut due to this strike (even though I wasn't supposed to be in anyway) I worked from home. A mate came over by bus in the afternoon, and because my car is currently paralysed I couldn't give him a lift home, so he had to catch another bus. This was when I was made aware something was wrong, because it took 50 minutes for a bus to turn up, and it wasn't the one it was supposed to be. A bloke rang Nexus (Tyne and wear PTA technically) and was told Newcastle is a standstill. In other words all the buses that had gone to Newcastle were stuck and thus hadn't come back!
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