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Mail investigation of "red van invasion"

"In one Dulwich neighbourhood the ‘ugly van’, as it has become known, is a hot topic of conversation, not least at the Porcini restaurant in Croxted Road, where it dominates customers’ view of the street."

:D:cool:
 
One of the Dulwich vans is right round the corner from me.

I have to say that I'm absolutely furious. I'm not sure about what, exactly, but I'm really bloody angry :mad:
 
hendo said:
"In one Dulwich neighbourhood the ‘ugly van’, as it has become known, is a hot topic of conversation, not least at the Porcini restaurant in Croxted Road, where it dominates customers’ view of the street."

:D:cool:
Click to expand...

i could see that van from my front room window for years and knew a few of the traders round there and it never came up in conversation once.

besides that Porcini is right next to the Tesco's Metro thingy and has cars coming and going at all hours all day outside it!
 
Restaurant manager Hicham Choukr said: ‘These vans are everywhere. It’s disgusting. Nobody wants those things in front of them. We don’t want it. Customers don’t want it. People who’ve spent a lot of money on their homes around here don’t want it. It’s terrible. But there’s nothing we can do.’
Click to expand...

that's just :D:D:D
 
Why wouldn't they get through an MOT? Lots of scruffy vehicles pass (otherwise, I wouldn't have a car because my old banger would fail!), and the MOT doesn't measure the quality of the signwriting on the side of the vehicle! :D
 
There used be a cheap van hire firm called Banger Hire in Cardiff and all their vans had just scraped through MOTs but looked an utter state.
 
Guineveretoo said:
Why wouldn't they get through an MOT? Lots of scruffy vehicles pass (otherwise, I wouldn't have a car because my old banger would fail!), and the MOT doesn't measure the quality of the signwriting on the side of the vehicle! :D
Click to expand...
I didn't mention signwriting. To my eye they look like 20 year old, unmaintained, unused, emission test failing rust buckets.
 
Guineveretoo said:
Why wouldn't they get through an MOT? Lots of scruffy vehicles pass (otherwise, I wouldn't have a car because my old banger would fail!), and the MOT doesn't measure the quality of the signwriting on the side of the vehicle! :D
Click to expand...

Given that our built environment is packed with vehicles, perhaps aesthetics should be an essential component of the MoT.

It would be good to have better regulation of vehicle signwriting overall, much of which is dreadful. I've seen vans with spelling and grammatical mistakes, let alone those with a ridiculous mix of typefaces, etc.
 
I suppose it's just capitalism in action. Businesses do whatever they can to promote, society - through the mechanism of local/Govenment - defines the rules by which capitalism can operate.

I'm prob quite extreme in my dislike of advertising - it's invasive pollution for me - and this red van stuff isn't great for me; I remember driving back into London a few times and fantasising about setting ablaze those mobile advertising boards placed in farmers' fields beside motorways, this red van stuff seems like that.

If it was on the side of vans used for the purpose I'd prob feel a little different, but these aren't removal vans, they're advertising hoardings.
 
se5 said:
There were further revelations in last Sunday's Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ce-rusty-red-vans-blighting-suburbia-ads.html - it turns out the man behind them lives up the road from me in Denmark Road. Shock horror he sometimes leaves trailers or vans outside his house.
Click to expand...
I read the article last week and it really reeked of fucking desperation didn't it... Trying to slag off the man for parking commercial vehicles outside his warehouse... er, hello??

I'm starting to suspect the editor of the MoS lives somewhere in South London and can see one of the red vans from his front window.

"Menace" my arse... :rolleyes:
 
Builders on Tulse Hill had a big red van with "just married" in shaving foam on the side today.:hmm:
 
untethered said:
Given that our built environment is packed with vehicles, perhaps aesthetics should be an essential component of the MoT.

It would be good to have better regulation of vehicle signwriting overall, much of which is dreadful. I've seen vans with spelling and grammatical mistakes, let alone those with a ridiculous mix of typefaces, etc.
Click to expand...

Yes I quite agree. A van with a misplaced apostrophe was parked in my street yesterday. That's the neighbourhood gone. :mad:
 
Pretty funny. The guy in the photo helped me move house. Top chap - even more highly recommended now the MoS don't approve.
 
yes the Mail seems to have forgotten basic news values. this is a local newspaper story for the SLP, not a national paper. do people in north London (let alone Newcastle) care about this? no - back to journo college kids!
 
editor said:
It's still parked outside my block and I'm positively incandescent with rage.
Click to expand...

Why not take some direct action? Even just persisently obscuring the phone numbers on the van might be enough for him to park them somewhere else
 
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