the Ten Commandments has been
removed from a park after one
complaint. (A reminder that’s one, as in
“fewer than two.”) A group of atheists
protested to Steubenville Town Council
that the plaque in Murphy Park was
“unconstitutional.” The Freedom From
Religious Foundation said the display
“violates the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment” and it should not be
displayed as it “prohibits the worship of
other gods.” Christian groups have urged
the Council to reconsider, arguing that
the Ten Commandments, “were assumed
to be the basis of morality, and not an
endorsement of religion by the State.”
Residents from Columbia Road in the
Tower Hamlets district of London are fed
up with the presence of drug dealers on
the street. They claim users congregate on
street corners, mopeds and cars are
driven erratically causing accidents, and
despite numerous calls to the police
nothing is done. So, last month they took
action to highlight the problem. A parking
area delineated by broken white lines was
labelled “Drug dealers only,” and signs
were fixed to lampposts reading, “Crack
pick-up points.”
Tower Hamlets council blamed a lack of
police on the streets and said they
understood the “frustration” of residents,
but quickly ordered their workers to
remove the signs. However, as one
resident later Tweeted, traffic lights which
were taken out by a speeding drug dealer
several weeks ago have still not been
replaced, but the “art work highlighting
the issue” disappeared within hours.
Yellow Perils
services at the Macmillan Cancer Centre
in Bloomsbury, has racked up thousands
in parking tickets in almost two years. It
appears that private ambulances and cars
are being given the penalties for leaving
their vehicles near University College
Hospital’s unit in London while they
change shifts or take in non-emergency
patients. G4S has labelled the fines
“ridiculous” and say they “lack common
sense.”
Bird Cage Walk in the Staffordshire town
of Hanley is six feet three inches (1.9
metres) wide, yet it has double yellow
lines on each side of it along its entire
length. The local council say they were
painted there 30 years ago but can’t
remember why, but thinks they were
necessary to keep the road clear for the
use of emergency vehicles. Is there a fire
engine or ambulance less than 1.9 metres
wide? Just asking ... Camden Council claims not to issue
tickets to emergency vehicles, but has
asked Univeity College and G4S to discuss
the parking of non-emergency vehicles.
G4S drivers, meanwhile, say they get
three or four tickets a day for assisting
“vulnerable people, some of whom are at
the end of their lives.”
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old from
Edinburgh has been widely mocked after
complaining he had been given a £60
ticket for parking on double yellow lines
when he hadn’t parked on them at all. To
prove it, Stephen Divers posted a picture
of his car of Facebook, showing it parked
neatly in parallel with the double yellows,
but not actually touching them. They
walk amongst us ... Outrage in Driffield, East Yorkshire, after
a traffic warden slapped a £35 ticket on an
ambulance parked on double yellow lines.
Passers-by who protested were fobbed off
by the female warden with the usual,
“He’ll have to appeal it.” The fine has
since been cancelled but we don’t know if
the Jobsworthess has been made any
more appealing by training her to
recognise emergency vehicles.
It was also revealed last month that G4S,
which has a contract for ambulance
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