After the latest events today in Streatham, do you worry about driving/delivering in this place, or any other large city come to that, Birmingham, Manchester etc.
You hear about drive by thefts, acid attacks by thugos on mopeds, drive by shootings, stabbings.
I must admit, that I do actually lock my doors whilst driving in certain areas of the capital.
Worry about drivng in London …[emoji848]
Only in so far as getting stuck in crap hole and not making it home [emoji6]
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I’ve always got doors locked anywhere vaguely dodgy even just a built up area, i did 20+ years abroad and I’ve never been robbed/gassed [emoji57][emoji57] but cab always locked when i leave it no matter how long for, nothing blatantly on show, as for bombings etc if it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen…c’est la vie
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Nope, can’t stand the bloody dump and there isn’t enough money in the world to pay me to live there, but not worried about this crap.
Just a habit, now. Seat-belt, central locking, job done.
Worried about being trapped in an accident because of locked doors? If its that serious, there wont be any glass left in one piece anyway, so not a problem.
Terrorists?
In the past 50yrs there have been 3,500 terrorist deaths in the UK, mostly due to “The Troubles”.
(Worst terror problem in Europe).
But in 25 years of the lottery there have been over 5,500 millionaires.
Much better chance of becoming a millionaire, than being topped !
You don`t buy lottery tickets? That makes little difference, you have the right to buy them…
youtube.com/watch?v=R79yYo2aOZs
We do a night run to Smithfields, some of the areas we drive through to get there and then back down to Portsmouth after, look very very dodgy, probably nothing to worry about, but when you hear about this sort of thing happening and in this case in broad daylight, you start to wonder.
We deliver all over London etc and no things like that don’t bother me although out of habit I keep my doors locked.
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Jeez now you’ve done it. Never thought about it before but now…
THANK THE LORD I NEVER GO SOUTH OF SHEFFIELD
but that is bad enough!!!
I worked in London during the height of the troubles on security . Harrods and Regents park happened when I was on duty and I have been on the wrong end of a Special Branch fire arms unit , twice !
Basic awareness will keep you out of trouble , anybody that has done the training for high value transport will have most clues on what to look out for .
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I was in London near Kings Cross on the 7 July 2005, this was the day London was hit with terrorist attacks and went into lockdown for many hours, I witnessed the chaos caused and saw the devastation one of the bombs caused that resulted in the death of many innocent people. I had to park up my truck overnight until the police released the traffic the following morning, luckily I had a sleeper cab and enough kit for a night out and the police made sure I had food and drink…
I was reluctant to go into London after that experience and actually took the opportunity to take early retirement a few months later, even now I only go into London if I really have no other option.
This latest incident in Streatham is a long way from central London and not in an area that I would have previously considered to be “High Risk”, I have a cousin that lives less than a mile from where this incident occurred which is really very worrying.
Only time I worry in London is when I deliver to our place at Vauxhall, have to park right outside a gay nightclub 
Three times I’ve been in London in the lorry when murders/terrorist attacks have happened, being anything from 100 yards to 1 mile away, or passed somewhere just minutes before. The first time I ever took an artic into London I was parked round the back of Homebase Swiss Cottage waiting for their night team to start. As I lay on the bunk the cab swayed, and a couple of lads were hanging onto the mirror peering in. They legged it when I sat up. Another time during the 2012 riots I was near Peckham, and had to stop my lorry because a gang of hooded looters were walking towards me in the middle of the road. They didn’t bother me, and just walked round the lorry. But for one heart-stopping moment I thought I was about to be hijacked.
One night last year I took a 5 minute walk through a couple of back streets by Euston from a pub to my hotel around midnight. Somebody was stabbed to death in that backstreet the next night. Another bloke tried to mug me and my mate outside the Charlie Chaplin pub at the Elephant & Castle in 2014. We were onto him, and he started to get quite angry when we told him to eff off. I detest London, and always lock my doors when I drive through.
wing-nut:
Only time I worry in London is when I deliver to our place at Vauxhall, have to park right outside a gay nightclub
Under the arches at Vauxhall?
ArcticMonkey:
wing-nut:
Only time I worry in London is when I deliver to our place at Vauxhall, have to park right outside a gay nightclubUnder the arches at Vauxhall?
No round the back up a dark narrow passage. 
No, driving in London has never particularly concerned me. However this latest incident has struck home since I have a very personal connection to the exact location. The Boots in Streatham High rd is opposite Pinfold rd and Streatham Library. In the 1950s and early 1960s my great Aunt lived in a top floor flat in the large brick-facade building on the southbound side of the street, overlooking the scene which can be seen in some of the pictures. I used to walk along Streatham High rd with my mother to visit her regularly. I remember vividly, looking out of her window at the road below fascinated as a small child by the buses and lorries. By 1960 ‘Daisy’, who I loved dearly, would have been in her late 70s, she was blind and suffered from arthritis so needed sticks to walk. Her flat was reached by a series of external flights of steps (visible on Google) and a further staircase inside her door. The skylight used to leak every time it rained and the whole place was damp. My mother fought long and hard for years with the council to get her rehomed somewhere more suitable. Daisy had been a nurse from before the time of WW1 in the local hospitals, St James’s & St George’s, up until her retirement. Eventually after a series of falls in the street and with the assistance of the RNIB and the local MP she was allocated a ground floor flat in newly constructed sheltered accommodation. Daisy lived to be 98.
Apologies for the ramble.
I used to love staying in London when you could actually park in a choice of at least half a dozen designated truck parks, I’ve had some cracking nights out there.
In 79/early 80s, I used to go in many East End pubs including The Blind Beggar where Ronnie Kray shot Jack Cornell.
It was told to me that the Krays despite them being violent murderers they ‘kept the peace’ in the area, unlike today where the place is a free for all cess pit of every type of foreign and home grown gang scum running around as if they owned the ■■■■ place.
I thankfully don’t do London anymore, I used to know my way around and right through it from all directions, when you had no choice pre M25 days…guess what, without a sat nav 
(had to get that in for today’s drivers )
I was last there 10 yrs ago, and hadn’t a ■■■■ clue where I was. 
So yeh London does ‘‘worry me’’ (not really ) but nothing to do with terrorist pieces of ■■■■, more from a point of view that it ‘‘worries me’’ ever having to do it again, because I hate the ■■■■ hole because of what I’ve said, and that I’d have to face finding somewhere to park for the night.
Cav, that poignant tale of your fine Gt Aunt shows just how unimportant the real genuine backbone of the country are to those in command, how this has always been the case, and always will be the case.
The working class, us, had better get our shop back in order, we only have us, it’s high time so many stopped thinking of themselves as middle or better class and realised that the state is not, never has been, never will be, a friend of the working classes, and we should endeavour to get our looking out for each other solid caring communities back.
Does driving in London worry you ?
Absolutely not .
First thing I tell any new employer - "I do not under any circumstances go inside the M25- not negotiable " I used to do Smithfield markets and up to another 7-8 drops round it twice a week when I started driving nearly 20 years ago . I absolutely hated the place and the attitude of the general public who I came i contact with . I firmly beleive deliveries to London should all be done with a tipping trailer and left at any available point on the hardshoulder of the M25 with the paperwork left on top of it .lol
Doesn’t bother me.
I go at least once a week. Long as work leave me alone to get it done.
Which they do.
Way I see it .
don’t matter where I go am.paid hourly and all.brings finishing time.
If wasn’t crawling through London id only be on the m6/m1 in roadworks or some other city.
Personally id never park up overnight anyware inside the m25.
Part because there’s not many places to park.and part for safety reasons.
edd1974:
Personally id never park up overnight anyware inside the m25.
Part because there’s not many places to park.and part for safety reasons.
Thing is though where do they expect you to park (rhetorical question btw, I realise that they couldn’t give a ■■■■. 
)
It just ain’t good enough to ignore the fact there is nowhere, and admit there is nowhere to park, there ■■■■ well should be…end of.
Especially when the law demands you need to park up overnight.
Organisations like the ■■■■ poor RHA 
, should lobby the local councils or even the Govt, but same old same old, nobody gives a flying one, and we are just expected to deal with it.
Pleased I only do the SW these days, I have a mate who does regular Essex, Kent, and London, and he reckons it’s a bloody nightmare parking.