Getting my local MP motivated to do something.......
Discussion
Would appreciate your input Folks....
We live in a nice area of Glasgow (yes they DO exist
) and I've been trying to get road repairs carried out properly here for over 8 months now. Have called the Roads Department 6 times regarding this and each time they send up a couple of workers in the middle of the night who basically just fill in the deep potholes with small rocks and then drop a bit of tar over the top. It's always sloppily done and the potholes reappear within a short time. It's reached the stage that our sturdy, Victorian-built building actually shakes when anything bigger than a transit van thumps over the potholes.
So this morning I call our local MP's office (Anas Sarwar) and ask them to get involved. Conversation goes like this.....
Me - ''Could I speak to Mr Sarwar please''
Them- ''Mr Sarwar is in Africa on a Trade Mission and not back until a week on Friday (24th)''
Me- ''OK, <explanation of the ongoing problem>''
Them- ''Oh yes we have heard about the problem. We'll have to ask you to come in to one of Mr Sarwar's weekly sugeries between 3 and 5PM on Friday afternoon to discuss the issue''
Me-'' I'm sorry but I'm self-employed and it will cost me money to be out of the office. I think the best approach is for someone from Mr Sarwar's office to come up to the area and see the severity of the problem 1st hand''
Them- ''That's not the normal procedure. We would need you to come to a surgery''
Me- ''But I've explained why that is difficult for me. Surely Mr Sarwar has an obligation to respond to the problem without further inconveniencing any of the Constituents? I've reported this to the Roads Dept. 6 times....is that not enough?
Them- ''Well as I explained, Mr Sarwar is in Africa on official business and not back until next Friday''
Me- ''Yes fair enough but can no-one else come up here to see the problem?''
Them- ''That's not within our remit. You'd have to come to a surgery''
Me-'' Sorry but why should I do the running when he and you work for me/us? It's not complicated surely to send someone up to assess the problem 1st hand and then get it fixed properly. I've reported it 6 times and you admit to being aware of it so what's the point in me attending a surgery in my own time?''
Them- ''That's not the process we follow. You'll have to come to a surgery on a Friday afternoon between 3 and 5PM''
I then asked them politely but firmly to consider a more proactive approach and the response was ''We'll speak to Mr Sarwar on his return and be in touch''
What the f
k is wrong with these people?!
Any further ideas as to how to get some action and a solution? Short of stopping our Council Tax payment in protest (that'll get me far, NOT!) I'm a bit stumped with the next move. I COULD go to one of his surgeries but will probably just get really fking angry, ask him why he's dicking about in Africa at the taxpayers expense and end up shouting at him for being a corrupt and useless tt......
..and breathe....
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Al
We live in a nice area of Glasgow (yes they DO exist
) and I've been trying to get road repairs carried out properly here for over 8 months now. Have called the Roads Department 6 times regarding this and each time they send up a couple of workers in the middle of the night who basically just fill in the deep potholes with small rocks and then drop a bit of tar over the top. It's always sloppily done and the potholes reappear within a short time. It's reached the stage that our sturdy, Victorian-built building actually shakes when anything bigger than a transit van thumps over the potholes.So this morning I call our local MP's office (Anas Sarwar) and ask them to get involved. Conversation goes like this.....
Me - ''Could I speak to Mr Sarwar please''
Them- ''Mr Sarwar is in Africa on a Trade Mission and not back until a week on Friday (24th)''
Me- ''OK, <explanation of the ongoing problem>''
Them- ''Oh yes we have heard about the problem. We'll have to ask you to come in to one of Mr Sarwar's weekly sugeries between 3 and 5PM on Friday afternoon to discuss the issue''
Me-'' I'm sorry but I'm self-employed and it will cost me money to be out of the office. I think the best approach is for someone from Mr Sarwar's office to come up to the area and see the severity of the problem 1st hand''
Them- ''That's not the normal procedure. We would need you to come to a surgery''
Me- ''But I've explained why that is difficult for me. Surely Mr Sarwar has an obligation to respond to the problem without further inconveniencing any of the Constituents? I've reported this to the Roads Dept. 6 times....is that not enough?
Them- ''Well as I explained, Mr Sarwar is in Africa on official business and not back until next Friday''
Me- ''Yes fair enough but can no-one else come up here to see the problem?''
Them- ''That's not within our remit. You'd have to come to a surgery''
Me-'' Sorry but why should I do the running when he and you work for me/us? It's not complicated surely to send someone up to assess the problem 1st hand and then get it fixed properly. I've reported it 6 times and you admit to being aware of it so what's the point in me attending a surgery in my own time?''
Them- ''That's not the process we follow. You'll have to come to a surgery on a Friday afternoon between 3 and 5PM''
I then asked them politely but firmly to consider a more proactive approach and the response was ''We'll speak to Mr Sarwar on his return and be in touch''
What the f
k is wrong with these people?!Any further ideas as to how to get some action and a solution? Short of stopping our Council Tax payment in protest (that'll get me far, NOT!
) I'm a bit stumped with the next move. I COULD go to one of his surgeries but will probably just get really fking angry, ask him why he's dicking about in Africa at the taxpayers expense and end up shouting at him for being a corrupt and useless tt........and breathe....
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Al
voicey said:
Try your local councillors - they have always been more keen to help me than my MP. These days I just email all of them in one email - it's quite funny to see each party trying to outdo the other (we have a 50:50 split of Labour and Tory councillors for our area).
OK cheers, I'll try that. Did you blind copy each of them or leave the recipients displayed for all to see?Al
I have just had a 3 month battle to get a section of dodgy road works put right. Some work was done in March on a road that I use regularly for work. The contractors left sections in a worse state than before the work was completed.
Anyway, I contacted the council and it dragged on and on. I only managed to get the corrective work carried out by making a formal complaint to the council. OP, have you been through the formal complaint process for your local council's highways department?
Anyway, I contacted the council and it dragged on and on. I only managed to get the corrective work carried out by making a formal complaint to the council. OP, have you been through the formal complaint process for your local council's highways department?
Sorry, but I'm having a hard time getting round the fact that your local MP is called Anas..
I sympathise with you though, as there seems to be far too many areas of the country affected badly by road problems, with potholes getting bigger and the sound of my wheels smashing through them all the more painful.
I sympathise with you though, as there seems to be far too many areas of the country affected badly by road problems, with potholes getting bigger and the sound of my wheels smashing through them all the more painful.
funkyrobot said:
I have just had a 3 month battle to get a section of dodgy road works put right. Some work was done in March on a road that I use regularly for work. The contractors left sections in a worse state than before the work was completed.
Anyway, I contacted the council and it dragged on and on. I only managed to get the corrective work carried out by making a formal complaint to the council. OP, have you been through the formal complaint process for your local council's highways department?
No I've not. TBH I fAnyway, I contacted the council and it dragged on and on. I only managed to get the corrective work carried out by making a formal complaint to the council. OP, have you been through the formal complaint process for your local council's highways department?
king resent having to jump through any more hoops after calling them on 6 separate occasions over the last 8 months. It's completely soul destroying...especially when the local MP already knows about it! 
Victor McDade said:
wtf is an opposition backbencher who has only been in parliament for 5 minutes doing on a trade mission in Africa 
bring in the ethnic minorities innit brovs?maybe show them an asian can go to SA without planning the murder of his missus?
maybe he's kenyan origin? *edit: no he's born in scotland.
maybe he's showing the africans there's places even more worse than theirs? show them Govan!
Edited by MadMullah on Wednesday 15th June 12:18
I would agree that your local councillor is often the best route to take.
A utility company dug a large hole in the pavement at the bottom of the road; the repair was absolutely awful. This was less than 6 months after the council had resurfaced the pavement at great expense as it was an excellent job with top quality materials.
I entered a complaint on the Council website which fell on deaf ears, but I emailed both local councillors with the result that a survey was carried out within a fortnight and subsequently repaired within a further fortnight
A utility company dug a large hole in the pavement at the bottom of the road; the repair was absolutely awful. This was less than 6 months after the council had resurfaced the pavement at great expense as it was an excellent job with top quality materials.
I entered a complaint on the Council website which fell on deaf ears, but I emailed both local councillors with the result that a survey was carried out within a fortnight and subsequently repaired within a further fortnight
That really is not the attitude for a Parliamentary Secretary to have, they do have the ability to do case work. Admittedly they don't really have the time to come see it. They could have asked you to provide some pictures or video or something. However if you were to send photos of the potholes to your councillor, and the opposition political party offices and then write a letter to the local paper. I am sure you will see results.
Edited by elster on Wednesday 15th June 12:48
Just for the sake of Devils advocate here, why not just go to one of the surgeries - or indeed prime someone else in the street to be as bothered about it as you are to go. I know you are self employed and it would be a ball ache to get there, but if this is a priority for you, try to diarise something in a week/2 weeks/a months time so you can rearrange your workload to allow time to do this.
I really dislike MP's, councillors and pretty much all politicians (all born liars) so am not condoning the actions, but they are incredibly busy people (when not on African jollies!) and, in teh nicest possible sense, a badly prepared/repaired road is probably going to be pretty low on the agenda unless someone puts in some serious face time with him and makes it something other than a stat on their phone call KPI's!
I really dislike MP's, councillors and pretty much all politicians (all born liars) so am not condoning the actions, but they are incredibly busy people (when not on African jollies!) and, in teh nicest possible sense, a badly prepared/repaired road is probably going to be pretty low on the agenda unless someone puts in some serious face time with him and makes it something other than a stat on their phone call KPI's!
OP, You live in a decent area, have a job and can read write and speak English / Scottish to a decent standard . . . . Do you honestly think that any member of the labour party, gives a flying F*** about you, have you been in a coma for the past 14 years? 
My suggestion for a solution is to contact your MP, councillors and the local press, asking the MP & Councillors to attend a press conference that you are holding, to find out what is happening to fix your roads.
The local press love this sort of local interest thing and the MP/Councillors will have to turn up or face being ridiculed in front of the people they'd like to vote for them, come contract renewal time.
My suggestion for a solution is to contact your MP, councillors and the local press, asking the MP & Councillors to attend a press conference that you are holding, to find out what is happening to fix your roads.
The local press love this sort of local interest thing and the MP/Councillors will have to turn up or face being ridiculed in front of the people they'd like to vote for them, come contract renewal time.
Jonboy_t said:
Just for the sake of Devils advocate here, why not just go to one of the surgeries - or indeed prime someone else in the street to be as bothered about it as you are to go. I know you are self employed and it would be a ball ache to get there, but if this is a priority for you, try to diarise something in a week/2 weeks/a months time so you can rearrange your workload to allow time to do this.
I really dislike MP's, councillors and pretty much all politicians (all born liars) so am not condoning the actions, but they are incredibly busy people (when not on African jollies!) and, in teh nicest possible sense, a badly prepared/repaired road is probably going to be pretty low on the agenda unless someone puts in some serious face time with him and makes it something other than a stat on their phone call KPI's!
There should be no need to go to a surgery, case work is more often than not done from a letter or phone call.I really dislike MP's, councillors and pretty much all politicians (all born liars) so am not condoning the actions, but they are incredibly busy people (when not on African jollies!) and, in teh nicest possible sense, a badly prepared/repaired road is probably going to be pretty low on the agenda unless someone puts in some serious face time with him and makes it something other than a stat on their phone call KPI's!
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