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Pimlico Plumbers: blog post is toned down significantly following backlash



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 31st 20, 05:49 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Simon Mason[_6_]
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Posts: 2,244
Default Pimlico Plumbers: blog post is toned down significantly following backlash

QUOTE:
Originally, the blog post (link is external) talked of "cycle fascists" and was accompanied by a mocked up TfL image that said cyclists were "taking f**king liberties", with a drawing of a cyclist struggling to carry plumbing equipment. The image has now had the text and mocked up logo removed, and the blog post is now titled: "It's illogical to expect businesses to thrive on scraps of roadway when the blue bike-lanes are empty". Some of the more inflammatory language (you can read it in full further down this page) is also toned down.

This comes after the Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins - who reportedly had a net worth of £70 million in 2018 - had a 40-minute telephone conversation with Carlton Reid of Forbes.com, who published an article on the blog post tirade (link is external) yesterday. Mullins revealed that he instructed his PR team to craft the blog post, written in the first-person as if it was Mullins himself.

Complaining about delays his plumbers face getting to jobs, he told Forbes: “I just don’t feel that the way the TfL have dealt with it is the correct way.

...."There is no such thing as a quick journey anymore. Journeys that used to take an hour to get somewhere in London now take another half hour longer..

“You know, if you go to Park Lane or Euston road, or the Embankment, no one is using the blue (bike) lane and yet you’ve got massive traffic jams.”

CONTINUED
In an, erm, 'bold' move that appears to have ruffled a couple of high profile feathers, the owner of the London plumbing company has took the time (SIC) to commission the above image accompanied by an extraordinary rant against cycle lanes. It says:

"I’ve had enough of cycle fascists whining about their precious road space when what they really want is to run all non-cycles off the road; and I’m also sick of the bike bureaucrats who have taken over TFL, and who as we speak are painting great swathes of Central London's roads blue, making it next to impossible to run any kind of service business.

"Businesses like mine, and many others that rely on the transport of large amounts of equipment, tools and goods about the city cannot operate on bicycles. It is a ridiculous proposition. Any fool can figure out it doesn't work. And please don't tell me to get a cargo bike because unless they are the size of a van or a lorry and can be made secure they are exactly as useful as a chocolate teapot.

"London is a city of commerce but that cannot continue if we hand the roads to these freeloading helmet heroes who believe they have a god given right to the roads to the detriment of all other users.

"The level of stupidity at play here is unbelievable. But then we are dealing with people who care about nobody but themeslves (sic) and where they can go, at the expense of their fellow Londoners, in their precious blue bike lanes."

The person behind the Pimlico Plumbers Twitter account claimed they actually have "nothing against" cyclists, replying to one comment: "As a cyclist there's no animosity towards you here & as a customer the issue is that increasingly we cannot get to you in reasonable time because of jams caused by allocation of space for cycle lanes that are often empty."

Anyone wanna tell them?

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling...ly-2020-276085
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  #2  
Old July 31st 20, 06:35 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
JNugent[_12_]
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Posts: 805
Default Pimlico Plumbers: blog post is toned down significantly followingbacklash

On 31/07/2020 17:49, Simon Mason wrote:
QUOTE:
Originally, the blog post (link is external) talked of "cycle fascists" and was accompanied by a mocked up TfL image that said cyclists were "taking f**king liberties", with a drawing of a cyclist struggling to carry plumbing equipment. The image has now had the text and mocked up logo removed, and the blog post is now titled: "It's illogical to expect businesses to thrive on scraps of roadway when the blue bike-lanes are empty". Some of the more inflammatory language (you can read it in full further down this page) is also toned down.

This comes after the Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins - who reportedly had a net worth of £70 million in 2018 - had a 40-minute telephone conversation with Carlton Reid of Forbes.com, who published an article on the blog post tirade (link is external) yesterday. Mullins revealed that he instructed his PR team to craft the blog post, written in the first-person as if it was Mullins himself.

Complaining about delays his plumbers face getting to jobs, he told Forbes: “I just don’t feel that the way the TfL have dealt with it is the correct way.

..."There is no such thing as a quick journey anymore. Journeys that used to take an hour to get somewhere in London now take another half hour longer.

“You know, if you go to Park Lane or Euston road, or the Embankment, no one is using the blue (bike) lane and yet you’ve got massive traffic jams.”

CONTINUED
In an, erm, 'bold' move that appears to have ruffled a couple of high profile feathers, the owner of the London plumbing company has took the time (SIC) to commission the above image accompanied by an extraordinary rant against cycle lanes. It says:

"I’ve had enough of cycle fascists whining about their precious road space when what they really want is to run all non-cycles off the road; and I’m also sick of the bike bureaucrats who have taken over TFL, and who as we speak are painting great swathes of Central London's roads blue, making it next to impossible to run any kind of service business.

"Businesses like mine, and many others that rely on the transport of large amounts of equipment, tools and goods about the city cannot operate on bicycles. It is a ridiculous proposition. Any fool can figure out it doesn't work. And please don't tell me to get a cargo bike because unless they are the size of a van or a lorry and can be made secure they are exactly as useful as a chocolate teapot.

"London is a city of commerce but that cannot continue if we hand the roads to these freeloading helmet heroes who believe they have a god given right to the roads to the detriment of all other users.

"The level of stupidity at play here is unbelievable. But then we are dealing with people who care about nobody but themeslves (sic) and where they can go, at the expense of their fellow Londoners, in their precious blue bike lanes."

The person behind the Pimlico Plumbers Twitter account claimed they actually have "nothing against" cyclists, replying to one comment: "As a cyclist there's no animosity towards you here & as a customer the issue is that increasingly we cannot get to you in reasonable time because of jams caused by allocation of space for cycle lanes that are often empty."

Anyone wanna tell them?

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling...ly-2020-276085


More illiteracy at road.cc?
  #3  
Old July 31st 20, 07:46 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Simon Mason[_6_]
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Posts: 2,244
Default Pimlico Plumbers: blog post is toned down significantly following backlash

On Friday, July 31, 2020 at 5:49:52 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
QUOTE:


..."There is no such thing as a quick journey anymore. Journeys that used to take an hour to get somewhere in London now take another half hour longer.


No wonder!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeRpOCoW...pg&name=medium
 




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