I cycle past 'fitness instructor 'vans parked on the meadows, sometimes on the grass, sometimes on the hard top. I was wondering if everyone is permitted to park there now or is it just if you are hard enough?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
parking on the meadows...
(26 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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@ragingbike, nah, you have to be able to Witness The Fitness to park illegally like that.
I was in my favourite wee stage set Edinburgh new town boozer Hogmanay. The mighty if tiny Kay's Bar. The bar staff were incredibly interested in my shirt but it turned out my brother in law had bought them both a drink. He had got there first.
Anyway, I arrived and was somehow immediately mistaken for a merchant banker by guy called Guy who is a gentleman farmer. He had a massive and incredibly clean four by four parked outside the bar. I assume illegally as he was out often enough checking for the wardens and smoking tabs. I am guessing once they clocked off for Hogmanay the parking would be free for several days. Guy also claimed that the four by four had been on the farm at 5 a.m. And had just been cleaned. I admired the cleanliness tremendously. Guy starts chatting about a bloke I know who works for RBS big tall skinny cyclist. (Last person to have a fight in Kay's bar). Turns out just same occupation and same name, different bloke as my cycling buddy is not landed gentry.
About 25 years ago in the Oxford Bar I was mistaken by a group of small business people as the person responsible for developing the Gyle Centre. Maybe the same guy? That night I kept up the pretence for a long time and ended up with various business cards for people who actually wanted a space in the gyle shopping centre, you cannot give them away now. Maybe I am a bad person? Not as bad as my doppleganger tho.
Posted 5 years ago # -
works for RBS big tall skinny cyclist. (Last person to have a fight in Kay's bar
A razor fight with balaclavas?
Posted 5 years ago # -
No, apparently the skinny banker spilt the pint of the prop forward who props up the bar near the door. The skinny banker being landed gentry did not feel inclined to replace the pint given general hustle and bustle in the bar but the prop forward insisted.
@iwrats let us sit by the fire and plot revolution one winter's night in Kay's.
The bar has those handy wee hooks fur yer jaiket which the Young ones with me were most taken with. This was lucky as I was boiling in my cold weather tweed suit. It is lined so warmer but less itchy than my regular tweed suit which would have made me suffer terribly for my art. As it was too hot even for the itchy one. I did have some success in persuading the lovely bar staff to switch off the feckin heater above the door given the heat emanating from the coal fire.
The bar was open until one am on Hogmanay. I could have stayed but had to pick up the tab at chez Jules where I also picked up the terrible priest/Xmas tree joke which was so bad my rubbish French was able to comprehend.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I see we're getting early entries for the "the most CCE thread of the year award"
Posted 5 years ago # -
Thread "drift" implies a certainly meandering separation from the original topic. Even "derailment" implies the train of thought is at least near the tracks. This was more of a thread "space launch", blasting as far and as fast away from the original point as possible.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I was lost half way through my own post ...
Posted 5 years ago # -
I thought there was a link between the illegally parked fitness instructors on the meadows and the illegally parked gentleman farmer outside the boozer? Maybe not.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“Maybe not”
No no, you were right first time - everything links up in your mind.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"the most CCE thread of the year award"
CCE Rule 9b excludes threads where gembo is implicated in deviation.*
*This is because impartial judges can’t be expected to rule on whether the deviation is deliberate or inevitable.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I thought it was IWRATS who derailed the thread then
Posted 5 years ago # -
CCE Rule 9c applies.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Gembo is the type of person who could play Mornington Crescent and probably win, if it weren't also for chdot who could play Mornington Crescent and outmanoeuvre Gembo by way of actually knowing all the rules and using them to advantage.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@arellcat, yes rules beyond rules 1 and 2, rules that nobody else knows.
I did like when we played Morningside Crescent
Posted 5 years ago # -
I realise the thread derailment has a significant tailwind, but I'm interested in the original question...
Who is responsible for enforcement of parking on the Meadows paths? Police?
Posted 5 years ago # -
There is a degree of irony in the very existence of "fitness" instructors who are too bloomin' lazy to carry their gear a few hundred yards from a legal parking place to the bit of public space they want to temporarily co-opt for their business.
Although I do rather wonder whether these folks aren't at least supposed to operate there under some kind of permit?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Well played Frenchy.
Sensible question.
I don’t know if police can be involved unless asked by CEC.
Even then I’m sure they would be reluctant.
It’s possible CEC has given permission.
Might be worth contacting http://www.fombl.org.uk/ they will know what ought to happen, and will be unhappy/concerned about unauthorised parking - and some of the permitted events.
Membership is only £5 - http://www.fombl.org.uk/FOMBLleaflet.pdf
Posted 5 years ago # -
I don't think it's the carrying of the gear that's the issue.
It's the "I can park here for free" instead of paying £2/hr (a cost which they should really pass on to their customers)
Posted 5 years ago # -
@chdot, friends of the meadows? Very against barbecues but never heard them on illegal parking before?
I would have thought the army simulators would force you to carry the kit from their vans. The issue is less in the carrying and more in the fact they will have to pay to park.
A better thing would be for them to cycle using an urban arrow or similar and then we would be happy. Friends of the meadows might be less happy? They are mostly concerned with the vegetation or the keeping of the space as a green area (both concerns of which I am supportive).
Widening the discussion only very slightly, I find it dispiriting that any time there is any chance of a bit of illegal parking then someone will do it. So the little pavilion cafe had multiple vehicles for a time at the meadows and the leamington lift bridge had regular repeat offenders. Widening slightly further we get my gentleman farmer outside the boozer and then slightly further we get all the vans illegally parked at roseburn.
This cheeky parking is often ignored or even admired by some. Whereas I would want clamping or towing for repeat offenders?
Posted 5 years ago # -
I don’t know if police can be involved unless asked by CEC.
Even then I’m sure they would be reluctant.
In theory, I'd've thought they should be able to respond to a complaint from any member of the public. In practice, they can't be bothered/don't have the resources*.
Perhaps better to complain to the council, who may hope to get an extra few pounds/week by convincing the fitness folk to park in a Pay & Display bay?
*Delete as appropriate.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Parking a motorised vehicle in an Edinburgh park, without Council permission, contravenes the Park Management Rules. Enforcement is a matter for the Council, although the powers available under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 are feeble.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sounds like a job for the twitters if the van has a logo on it.
On a similar theme, the dog walker van at Seafield/Porty seems to have a key for the vehicle gate*. How? Why?
*I did not witness them go through but they stopped smack in front of the gate (blocking the right hand gap), I tutted and weaved round. When I looked a few mins later, they were on the other side of the closed gate. Perhaps it was never locked or maybe they apparate. They still should not be there.
Posted 5 years ago # -
two or three years ago, my new year's resolution was to count and report all the vehicles i saw in the meadows on my commutes through. I gave up after 4 months. too much. too depressing. no action.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Morningsider - Ta!
Posted 5 years ago # -
I see that the sugary-palm-fat-emporium has taken to parking in the middle of the Meadows, engine running continuously...
Instead of the usual spot on the hardstanding behind the cafe / playpark, which was bad enough for poisoning children with fumes and sugar.
Posted 5 years ago # -
The cricketers were all parked on the grass too. Sponsored by the excellent restuarant Roti.
Posted 5 years ago #
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