Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson gets done for speeding.

['The Gaffer']

George Ferguson, who has been instrumental in introducing new 20mph speed limits across Bristol, was caught on camera breaking the speed limit last month.

The city mayor admitted he had been guilty of speeding and said it was "inexcusable".

The 67-year-old mayor of Bristol was caught driving at 35mph on the Portway by a mobile speed camera which is believed to have been parked near the entrance to a park and ride site where the speed limit is 30mph.

Read more at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-mayor-George-Ferguson-caught-speeding/story-26033610-detail/story.html#OBvh6IRdsm3CgoVH.99

[Daley Down Under]

Let me be first in feeling very sorry for him 

Cheers Adrian

[benchmark51]

Dozey old git must have had 3 weetabix for breakfast

[sanzomat]

To be fair 35 on the portway near the park and ride does seem very slow. Anyone who travels that route frequently will know its a frequent spot for the camera vans though as they know its easy pickings.

[dikkie]

I thought the camera's were calibrated to 110% of the speedlimit + 2 mph, so 35 in a 30 must've been right on the cusp. I wonder if they spotted it was him and just couldn't resist...

[Hairy Santa]

now this would not have happened if he and his co workers had been push biking on the cycle paths he has filled this great city with - what a joke this man is -- I want you all to ride bikes but I will car it

he is prepared to pay the fine he has stated, but not a mention of the 3 points that should be placed on his licence as would happen to every one else,    I do hope justice is seen to be done

have you seen the cyclepath/pathment between Temple meads and Bedminster- it is wider than the road and very few cyclist use it, it beggers belief that they have done it,  the sooner this red trousered wally is out of office the better 

['The Gaffer']

To be fair 35 on the portway near the park and ride does seem very slow. Anyone who travels that route frequently will know its a frequent spot for the camera vans though as they know its easy pickings.

Got done there myself

[SPAXIMUS]

The man is an idiot  and sums up the do gooders who tell us all what to do but do the opposite. His comments are class, he admitted to careless driving as we was not paying attention.

This is part of a wider problem, limits all around the area have been reduced as a knee jerk reaction to the likes of Brake who have systematically brain washed every council into thinking that reducing speed is some utopian answer to all the accidents.

This man has been responsible for overseeing the ruination of decent roads, with stupid cycle paths and one way systems designed to hamper commerce and free movement. He has overseen an inefficient, ineffectual council in all the key areas that matter to all but lentil eating yogurt weaving idiots.

Those who voted him in should hang their heads in shame and hopefully not do so again.

By reducing limits he is criminalising people who for years have driven safely on roads design for higher speeds. He is one of many that have been caught speeding whilst professing to others how dangerous it is. Next he will get a chauffer so he cannot get caught.

But all residents need to make their voice heard, not just those who do not want to drive. In Yate all the roads have been reduced, I have objected to everyone of them and am involving the MP to try to stop the latest one. If everyone objected and filled their MP's in box especially coming up to the election, this madness might stop.

[Iancider]

Yes, well that is justice isn't it.  He did graciously say:

Mr Ferguson said: "It serves as a sharp warning to me and I have blemished an otherwise clean licence and shall be paying the penalty charge willingly from my own pocket."

Well, I am glad about that because charging his personal penalty to the council might just have been a criminal fraud! No, I will correct myself - it is shame he didn't because we could have seen the end of him!

['Mendip Wurzel']

I well deserved fine.... I am against all these speed cameras but in this case they did a brilliant job.

[longtimecoming]

Back in the day, it used to  be 10% +2mph off the actual speed you were snapped at. So he could have been doing in excess of 40mph. I have been in and around St George area of Bristol today and I was gob smacked at the shear number of 20mph signs at the end of loads of side streets, but with no apparent method to it, some did have them and some did not.
How much is all this costing?   

[SPAXIMUS]

apparently it is costing just £2million pounds. The problem is getting the truth. That £2m is in the form of a grant from central government, it does not include all the staff working on it and let us be honest, when the mayor is overseeing care homes closing service being reduced in all areas, there are better things to do with the money.

when it comes around to elections, I hope that we get a better candidate for those in Bristol to back. I am still unsure how he got elected in the first place.

[benchmark51]

Here's the other numpty, on walkabout with a similar message.

[Bulldog Bri]

Hopefully this is the sign that will be replacing all the 20's once he's gone

[Hairy Santa]

is it possible to ensure he has been given the 3 points that go with this offence, can it be checked anywhere ?

or is he above the law !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because of his position and red trousers 

[Camber Dave]

I talk from the countryside admittedly but a car based fraternity taking a pop at the mayor (or me) is an easy target.

Up till 12 years ago I lived close to Hicksgate roundabout.
When I worked at Cathedral Garage (remember them) in '78 to 1980 I took my tool box in my car on Mon and found it was quicker to cycle to work on other days. (40 to 50 Mins)
After that I worked in Weston, Wells, Westbury and Chippenham all about 40 min away.
About a year ago it took me an hour to get from Hicksgate to the paint works (near HTV) to get supplies mid morning.

If you have a centre based office economy, how do you get 10's of thousands of people into the city for 7 till 9 and visitors all through the day?
The bus or a city population with restricted car ownership perhaps?

Any positive suggestions?

[SPAXIMUS]

There are many way to have thriving economy which still features cars. When I moved to Bristol 28 years ago, they were building a rapid transport system, but the arguments went on and on and we still have not got one. This has now degraded to rapid bus lanes.

Around temple meads we had a flyover that worked, it was demolished to improve things. Not really improved.

The easiest way would have been an underground system, expensive to build at first but less problems and if they had done that 20 years ago we would have a city that had a transport system that worked.

There is a place for walking and cycling but the Mayor has one tendency to bash car use and make it awkward. did you know they tried to buy the M32 off the Highways authority to turn one lane of each carrigeway into bus lanes, even the government saw that as lunacy.

The other thing is to finish off a proper ring road and stop then building on it. The uk is a car based economy we need joined up thinking not a one club solution

[benchmark51]

I agree, the Temple meads roundabout worked well and was a template, good for other areas of Bristol.
I'm not a great fan of the underground in London but the Paris one is really good. Using it is far preferable to driving in Paris. The Bristol ring road just isn't is it? I haven't been there for a long time but I have used the ring road in Coventry and found that pretty good. The Bristol ring road is more like a slow moving car park at times!

['The Gaffer']

Congestion is getting worse and worse in Bristol. I remember the day when I could actually drive through the city at 5.30pm. Now with bus lanes, cycle lanes and pointless islands taking up valuable tarmac in an attempt to bully the motorist onto public transport, all that is happening is the ever increasing amount of traffic is funnelled into less space. The council are quite happy to keep building housing estates but care very little about the road infrastructure around them. Result? Gridlock.

Case in point will be the the abandoned Filton Airfield, where no doubt there will be permission to build 1000's of houses on or around it, what will happen to the roads around it, probably nothing.

It's about time the people who create these ridiculous housing plans, stupid road schemes, pathetic traffic calming, speed camera's, not to mention unbelievable new 20mph speed limits are made accountable. They may hate motorists but the motorist will not give up their cars, fact.

Public transport is still a joke, its expensive, inefficient, and quite frankly horrible. Who wants to sit in a bus in this day and age and have to wipe condensation from a window just to see out, antiquated or what - It's like cattle class. Now if there was serious investment in our transport system I would more likely use it.

Lets get back the people who pioneered the Temple Meads flyover, at least they had sense.

[Iancider]

Lets get back the people who pioneered the Temple Meads flyover, at least they had sense

Well that would be the Royal Engineering Regiment.  Set up in days to straddle the rubble from Hitler carpet bombing Broadmead and missing Temple Meads - the target.  That quick fix did a brilliant job for over 60 years.

It's a similar story to Coventry.  Hitler bombed the hell out of Coventry but failed to destroy the city.  It wasn't until the 1960's that the architects moved-in and managed to finish the job!

[SPAXIMUS]

Planners are not the worst it is the councillors we elect that make decisions. In Yate we are having 3000 more houses built, the artist impressions are wonderful, but the reality is not. The road infrastructure is not up to an increase, everybody who has objected knows this, yet the developers have convinced the council this will only lead to at most 1500 cars per day increase, you do not need to be a mathmatician of Stephen Hawkins class to see that ones does not fly.
At Filton the area is going to have 5000-10000 new homes, where is the work? Where are all those cars going to go. As I have said before the reason the developers get away wit it is our woeful councillors. There may be some good ones, but in the vast majority of those I know, they ran nothing in business whilst working and suddenly they are in charge of multi million pound budgets, up against the best lobbying money can buy

[Iancider]

Spaximus you make a good point,

Road capacity is measured in vehicles per hour which is dumb.  Namely the more vehicles per hour the busier it is?.........      Errr nope!

If you attempt more journeys on a fixed infrastructure the journey times go UP. SO the more you add the SLOWER it gets and the vehicles per hour actually DECREASES.  The next building application points out that traffic is actually decreasing SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?!!!

Next add some buses to relieve the traffic.  Nope that doesn't work either because pedestrians insist that the bus has to stop to get on-board and so one bus will stop 40-50 cars which will stop the junction behind which will stop another 150 cars each carrying two passengers because we are Green now.  Two people get on the bus without the right money and the bus driver gives them a good ear-bashing for another minute to enable another set of traffic lights (two back) to congest as well.

Motorbikes and Cyclists will proliferate in this chaos encouraged as healthy policy - they then discover what it is like to be the meat in a sandwich as the gaps get smaller.

Oh yes and dig all of the roads up for good measure and allocate one parking space for a whole new estate!!!!

[benchmark51]

You don't have to dig up the roads, they are falling apart on their own. Someone is doing an Asda on parking bays, you pay the same but they are getting smaller. I think the plan is for everyone to drive 3 foot cars.

['Mendip Wurzel']

What I can't make out is why is George Ferguson still the Lord Mayor. I have yet to hear from 'one' supporter of his policies and he has been the Mayor since 2012. Is there some sort of vote rigging going on here...

[Iancider]

What I can't make out is why is George Ferguson still the Lord Mayor. I have yet to hear from 'one' supporter of his policies and he has been the Mayor since 2012. Is there some sort of vote rigging going on here...

Or to put it another way....at the next election he is history.

[SPAXIMUS]

What I can't make out is why is George Ferguson still the Lord Mayor. I have yet to hear from 'one' supporter of his policies and he has been the Mayor since 2012. Is there some sort of vote rigging going on here...

GF is not the Lord Mayor, that is a ceremonial position and still exists chosen from councillors. The Mayor is an elected position separate to the council, elected for a fixed period of 4 years. Short of getting caught stealing once elected you are stuck with him. The next election is May 2016 when he can run again and when a good strong alternative candidate will emerge.

I think he got elected because he was not seen as representing any particular party and to be honest most people thought it was a waste of time and money. These have been proved right but by being disinterested they got GF. Hopefully they will take more interest.

[dikkie]

His speeding even got a mention on Top Gear last night...

[benchmark51]

His speeding even got a mention on Top Gear last night...

So your the one that watches that!

[Hairy Santa]

It's clowns leading clowns

Take the main Bath Road at Totterdown bridge, they say they want to keep traffic from the centre of the city, what have they done, they have taken away the right turn enabling entry into St Philips, this therefore has  made all traffic go all the way into Temple meads and come back out again just to go over the bridge, well done the moron's who decided this - it must be quite a few thousand vehicle's per day having to do this

then the Cattlemarket Road was shut and still is closed and to compliment the whole fiasco  the slip Road actually on the 2 bridges has been shut all last week  ----      what a complete cockup

might be something to do with the fact they want us all to ride push bikes 

anyone know of a better one than this ??