Half a job :-(

In the opinion of this writer, Bletchley station car park has "issues".  London Midland are aware, and they have recently done work to resolve one of them.  It's a shame that they didn't take advantage of the opportunity to do a couple of others...

When sections of the upper deck of the car park were removed earlier in the year (see Slimmed down) the exit ramp was relocated.  Unfortunately, in the new location the angle of the slope was steepened and drivers found they were grounding their cars.  The work done a couple of weeks ago involved levelling out the bottom of the slope, reducing (if not removing altogether) the risk of a car striking the ground when it reaches the bottom. 

Unfortunately London Midland didn't address another issue introduced with the relocation of the ramp - the road markings...



The view from the top of the ramp.  This probably exaggerates
the gradient, but note that from this point there is very limited
visibility of traffic coming out from the ground level

Usually cars on a car park ramp have priority as they reach the next level down.  This makes sense as it reduces the chances of accident caused by having to brake on the way down (either slipping or through another car following too close behind).  In its original position the road markings did give priority to cars on the ramp.  In the new position there are no road marking indicating which line of traffic has to give way. 

Two photos showing (a) how little room has been allowed for
vehicles to stop and wait at the bottom of the ramp and (b) the
absence of any give way markings (the solid line is part of the
"do not park here" hatching)

To make matters on the down ramp worse, a car descending is faced with a very short run-off - Only three bays have been hatched off to provide space for vehicles to come down and turn so a driver coming down to ground level has only a few feet to brake and stop  if another car is going past at ground level.

The view coming out from under the car park.  Again, note the
absence of any give-way signs or road markings and the
limited view of vehicles coming down the ramp

It would surely have been possible while London Midland had workmen on site to put up signs and paint road markings making the give way/priorities clear...

The other problem that London Midland could have dealt with was putting measures in place to enforce the one-way system (see one way?).  The problem of drivers coming out of the entrance against the one-way system has been acknowledged, but it was first raised with London Midland in May last year and there's no sign of any action being taken.

Both of these issues increase the risk of accidents.  As car park customers we are paying a significant amount of money into London Midland's coffers, and it would be nice to think that some of this could be used to fix the problem before something serious happens.

Action is needed now please! 

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