March 2009 Archives

In the latter half of last year more passengers were paid refunds for journeys delayed by late-running trains on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines than on any other underground lines.

Figures obtained by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act show Tube bosses doled out £118,447 for 26,273 claims relating to the Met line between June and November. Jubilee Line passengers received paybacks totalling £73,907 for 19,369 claims in the same period.

Travellers can apply to Transport for London (TfL) for a reimbursement equivalent to a single fare if their journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes.

Performance figures for roughly the same six months reveal the District line suffered the most late-running trains, an average of 28 a month.

The Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines held the second poorest record with 24 delays each a month, followed by the Central line's 22.

Those using the Jubilee line experienced an average of 13 services a month in which arrival was more than a quarter of an hour overdue.

However, these are absolute numbers and do not take into account the total number of services run on each line.

There may be a number of reasons why TfL pays out more to Metropolitan and Jubilee line passengers than any other.

Statistics show travellers using the Met have the longest average journey time of any line - around 41 minutes.

This, combined with the fact the line stretches from zone 1 to zone 9 and therefore a typical fare may be more expensive, could explain why a Met passenger would be more inclined to seek a refund than someone who hops on the Northern line for a handful of stops within two or three zones at relatively low cost, for instance.

Furthermore, long sections of the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines run on the surface, especially in north-west London, so are susceptible to the impact of bad weather compared to, for example, the Victoria line, which is entirely underground.

Anthony Wood, chairman of the Harrow Public Transport Users' Association, attributes the large number of claims on the Metropolitan to three factors.

He said: "One, the average journey on the line is longer for each person, so the fare is higher. Two, the line has the oldest trains on the system so there's more failures, and three, the signalling system is the oldest on the network, so there are more faults.

"These are the main failures but these are being sorted within the next seven to eight years - a much longer period than we were originally told."

He added: "There are a large number of passengers who know the customer service charter and are quite rightly making claims."

Parking measures will be imposed on the streets of Harrow's County Roads estate, Harrow Council has controversially decided.

Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative), portfolio holder for environment and community safety, provisionally signed off the plan on Thursday, March 12 despite residents earlier handing in several petitions against the idea.

The original postal consultation, held in September last year, showed that in the County Roads area 50 residents supported the idea of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) - but 89 did not, with 11 having no opinion.

The CPZ will be introduced to the whole of Devonshire Road, Dorset Road and Oxford Road, the eastern sections of Pinner Road and Sussex Road, the southern sections of Rutland Road, Bedford Road and Pinner View and part of Neptune Road.

It will mean that drivers must display a permit to be able to park their vehicle within the CPZ between 11am and 12 noon on weekdays or risk attracting a parking ticket.

Extra short-term pay-and-display parking bays will be created at the southern ends of Devonshire Road, Oxford Road, Rutland Road, Bedford Road and Pinner Road.

In addition, certain junction throughout Headstone South ward will be painted with double-yellow lines as part of the scheme.

Ms Hall was recommended to approve the plan by the council's Traffic and Road Safety Advisory Panel which met to consider the issue on November 26.

Traffic officers at Harrow Council will now publish the legal notices required to confirm the introduction of the CPZ and, if there are no legal objections, the measures will come into force.

Six months after implementation, further consultation will be held to see if residents support an extension of the area covered by the residents-only parking.

To celebrate the opening of its new Harlesden store, Specsavers has teamed up with the Observer to offer four lucky readers the chance to each win £150 worth of eyecare.

The competition is part of the store's two-week celebration to mark its launch.

Each prize includes a free eye examination and a pair of designer specs up to the value of £125.

The four winners can chose from well-known brands including Jasper Conran, Quiksilver, Red or Dead, Missoni and Specsavers' own best selling range of designer glasses - Osiris. A trained store stylist will be on hand to advise on the best frame style and shape to suit their face.

To enter email your name, address, and daytime telephone number to or on a postcard to Specsavers competition, Gazette House, 28 Bakers Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1RG.

The closing date is March 27.

Pinner residents have begun an anxious seven-week wait for a decision on a major housing development after a four-day public inquiry came to an end on Friday.

For the past two years hundreds of villagers have been campaigning against plans to build a number of houses on the site of Eastglade and Woodpeckers, off Moss Lane.

Village Homes, the company behind the scheme, has had numerous plans rejected by Harrow Council in the past including a four-house, a three-house and a two-house scheme.

But in a last ditch attempt to get the go-ahead for one of the proposals, they called for a public inquiry.

In the two years that the controversial saga has dragged on Village Homes and a lumberjack employed by them have been convicted and fined for illegally felling a protected tree while protests were mysteriously sabotaged when placards put up against the plans were stolen and dumped in the River Pinn.

The council, Village Homes and Save Pinner Gardens - a group which has led the protests - all presented their cases with the key issues including road access and the impact on parking and the safety of residents.

The result should be delivered in seven weeks and Edwin Lucas from Save Pinner Gardens said: "We hope we win because we don't agree garden-grabbing is the way forward to enhance the beauty of many historical sites in the borough.

"We do not want the lovely houses and gardens in Moss Lane, Paines Lane, Waxwell Lane and many others changing beyond recognition just to satisfy the greed of developers."

A wanted criminal was given nearly two years in prison after he went on the run for eight months following a double stabbing in Pinner.

Phillip Wilson, 44, of Hemel Hempstead, fled the King George IV pub in Marsh Road, last January, after stabbing one man in the stomach and slashing another in the ear.

The attack, on men aged 52 and 20, left the pair needing urgent treatment at Northwick Park Hospital, where at first the older man's injuries were thought to be life threatening.

Fortunately they both recovered, but it was later discovered there was no security on the door of the pub when the stabbing took place at about 7.30pm on January 11.

But the weapon, a, kitchen knife with a four-inch blade, was found at the scene by forensic teams and the search for Wilson began.

He was then hunted by police for eight months before he was finally caught, thanks to an appeal on BBC television programme Crimewatch UK. The programme showed pictures of Wilson on September 11 and within two days he was arrested by Bedford Police and transferred back to Harrow.

Originally he pleaded not guilty to all charges and was set to stand trial this week.

However, he changed his plea at the 11th hour and was convicted of grievious bodily harm (GBH) and actual bodily harm (ABH) at Harrow Crown Court last Tuesday.

Judge Ronald Moss ordered Wilson to serve 20 months in jail for GBH and six months for ABH to be served concurrently, meaning he could be out in less than a year.

Ruth Boff, a spokeswoman for The Pinner Association, a group which looks after the interests of the residents in the village, said: "The Pinner Association congratulates the authorities on finding the man and we hope that this will act as a deterrent against violence in Pinner.

"It's a shock that something like this happened in the pub, but fortunately there has been no trouble there since and its reputation has improved vastly since the attack."

Alloys wheels were stolen from a BMW left overnight on a driveway.

The 40-year-old owner of Parkview, Pinner, awoke last Friday to find his blue car without wheels. The theft is believed to have occurred between 10.30pm on the Thursday 26 and 8am on Friday 27.

Five friends in their sixties from Pinner facing ageism on top of the current recession, turned the situation to their advantage by starting their own business.

Garry Scanlan, a former IT salesman from Barrowpoint Avenue, Pinner, said of their new logging venture: "The idea came about from our weekly socials really."

Brainstorming how to use the one resource they did have - a lot of time - they got wind of a local tree-pruning business which had to pay to have its wood taken to landfill.

The friends saw an opportunity and started taking the wood away without charge, to collect, split, dry, store, sell and then deliver as logs to people for home burning.

Starting with what Mr Scanlan described as a "30-year-old chain saw and an ancient axe from the back of the garden shed" they were soon able to buy up-to-date equipment.

"Not only is our product carbon neutral, but it can be a much cheaper way for people to heat their homes" said John Hammond of South Drive, North Harrow, who has turned from the world of international exhibition stands to the outdoors.

He added: "The beauty of it is, that just as the demand for logs dies down, the gardening season picks up."

The business's success allowed them to take on a gardening franchise from Haste Hill Nursery in Fore Street, Pinner.

The men usually work in pairs, sharing the work, van, equipment and insurance.

Former management consultant Bernard Morgan of Evelyn Drive, Pinner said: "We endeavour to care as much about people's gardens as they do."