I would like to apologise for several inaccuracies on my blog this year, all of which have been pointed out by readers, but none of which have been retrospectively amended.
Yesterday I stated that within the ULEZ a 13 year-old petrol-driven car pays nothing, whereas in fact "it's the driver or keeper who pays, not the vehicle. There's a horrible tendency to blame the machine, not the person in charge." My apologies.
On 2nd April I used an official online portal to compare the area of London's lakes, whereas in fact one of my readers would have measured the area of constituent lakes using a different rationale, but it was "an interesting list and website, nonetheless!" My apologies.
On 31st March I concluded that Brexit might save the UK from a Summer Time choice affecting all of us forever, whereas in fact "it's a bit of an exaggeration to say 'forever', when the EU could decide to reverse the decision in decades to come, if it proves unpopular." My apologies.
On 30th March I described Chertsey's Sainsburys as enormous, whereas in fact "compared to most out-of-town supermarkets nowadays, it's quite bijou." My apologies.
On 29th March I incorrectly named a first aid group in a post about Brexit, whereas in fact "because DG never gets things wrong I am sure his use of St John’s Ambulance is a deliberate mistake instead of the correct St John Ambulance." My apologies.
On 28th March I suggested there were too many royal names on the Beckton branch of the DLR, whereas in fact "you can hardly have a surfeit of regal titles in the old Royal Docks. It is the Royal Docks." My apologies.
On 20th March I listed both the 11th century and time immemorial in a list dating UK cities, whereas in fact "in English law 'time immemorial' means before the start of the reign of Richard I, 6 July 1189", so it was improper of me to have provided the additional categorisation. My apologies. I was also unadvisedly unspecific when defining a cathedral city, whereas in fact "there are Roman Catholic cathedrals in several places you have listed as not having one". My apologies.
On 18th March I insinuated that Bombardier were the first recipients of TfL's 4LM signalling contract, whereas "the Bombardier contract was the 2nd attempt. The original contract was with Invensys (Nee Westinghouse, now Siemens Automation) for a system very similar to that on the Victoria line. This contract was part of the Metronet PPP. LU chose to let the contract 'die' when bringing Metronet out of administration." My apologies.
On 13th March I incorrectly hinted that the entire contents of the The Museum of British Transport shifted to Syon Park in 1973, whereas in fact "the collection was actually split. The London stuff going to Syon Park and most of the railway stock like Mallard going to the extended York museum." My apologies.
On 12th March I referred to the marker on top of Pollards Hill without specifically mentioning the metal disc on top of it, which isn't how one particular reader would have written things. "Pedestal? Don't you mean toposcope?" My apologies.
On 10th March I listed numerous features visible from the route of the number 54 bus, whereas in fact "You forgot to mention how Beckenham's Three Tuns used to host David Bowie and his Arts Lab music nights in the '70s." My apologies.
On 7th March I mistakenly stated that Verde in Victoria was a 21st century building, whereas "Verde is not a new building but a refurb/minor extension of an already very large '80's? Government building (last home to DCMS I think)." My apologies.
On 6th March I said that Legible London maps were enamel, whereas in fact I was wrong because "the map panels of the Legible London signs are glass with the map printed on a sticker on the inside, to allow for easier updating. The direction panels at the top and bottom are enamel, as they don't tend to need changed as frequently." My apologies.
On 2nd March I gave a false reason to explain why Bus Stop M's bus stop bypass did not originally feature a mini zebra crossing, whereas in fact "they weren't built in 2015 because they only became legal after with the introduction of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016." My apologies.
On 27th February I rounded off my Independent Local Radio post by referencing the imminent arrival of a Toby Anstis show across the network, whereas in fact "all of these stations already have Toby Anstis. Shame, your summarising sentence lets down an informative and mostly accurate post." My apologies.
On 21st February I suggested that Citymapper's Smart Ride service used black cabs, whereas in fact "the Smart Rides aren't in a black cab, but in a people-carrier minicab", coincidentally black in colour. My apologies.
On 14th February I postulated that a raindrop falling in Barnet might reach the Thames at Staines, whereas in fact "your reasoning falls somewhat though thanks to man-made waterways. Most of the water goes via the Grand Union Canal to Brentford or via Little Venice, Kings' Cross & your own neck of the woods to Limehouse (or via the Lea) then the Thames. The water travels perhaps fifty, sixty or seventy miles rather than the 100 miles you specify." My apologies.
On 11th February I mentioned the northbound platform at West Ham, whereas in fact "interesting post, but in the interest of accuracy West Ham's Jubilee platforms are eastbound and westbound. The Jubilee is officially west and east until Green Park where it becomes north and south respectively!" My apologies. I also referred to a map as fireproof, whereas in fact "nothing's 'fireproof' - raise the ambient temperature enough and anything will ignite. 'Fireproofing' is raising the ignition point higher than the expected range of events - melamine burns at too low a temperature which is why that excellent material is no longer used on the Underground." My apologies.
On 6th February I asserted that OpenStreetMap was copyright free, whereas in fact "OSM is not free from copyright, but it's licensed under a very permissive copyright licence, specifically the Open Data Commons Open Database License which basically ensures anyone who modifies and then distributes the map must release their modifications under the same licence, as well as attributing OpenStreetMap." My apologies.
On 5th February I used an inappropriate collective noun when describing vehicles pouring off the Woolwich Ferry, whereas in fact "I don't think the collective noun for traffic is 'hordes'. Nevertheless, an excellent piece of reporting." My apologies.
On 3rd February I mislabelled a disused feature on the Grand Surrey Canal, whereas in fact "a 'swing bridge' is one that pivots horizontally, and that magnificent red bridge is a rolling bascule bridge." My apologies.
On 28th January I was disparaging about the success of a West London football club, whereas in fact "I wouldn't say that Yeading FC's merger with Hayes was a complete failure. After all, they managed to get promoted to the Conference National in only their second season and managed to spend 3 seasons there. It was when they started groundsharing that the decline set in." My apologies.
On 14th January I over-confidently stated that someone in a control room must be responsible for defining service status on the Underground, whereas in fact "I wonder how automated this process is, because the only condition requiring human input is whether a train is in operation or cancelled, from what I can see the rest can be derived from network data, theoretically, therefore no human would be needed for escalation other than monitoring and organising response actions. But I haven't the slightest idea how control rooms work." My apologies.
On 8th January I selected an inappropriate verb when describing boat crews on water, whereas in fact "eights and fours would be rowing, not sculling. Octuples and quads might be sculling." My apologies.
On 7th January I described a school in Upminster as being formerly in Mile End, whereas in fact "the school was never actually in Mile End (as I understand it's boundaries in as much as they have any definition) but was formed by the merger of a girls' school in Bow (where a street, or rather a square, is named after its founder) with a boy's school latterly in Stepney", and thus my own hyper-local knowledge was deemed to be inadequate. My apologies.
Finally on 6th August 2017 I stated that the former Post Office depot opposite the former Camberwell station was now Camberwell Bus Garage, which I believed to be true until a reader took time out this week to email me because my post had confused him, whereas in fact "while the Post Office has a delivery depot in Camberwell Staton Road close to the bus garage, Camberwell bus garage has always been a bus garage. It was opened in 1914 but was immediately requisitioned by the War Office for the duration of WW1 and has been a bus garage ever since 1919. Significantly damaged by bombing during WW2, it was repaired during 1950 and this section can be identified by the yellow stock bricks used at the time." How obvious it all now seems. My apologies.
I accept that I was entirely wrong, excessively vague or technically incorrect in each and every case specified above. I apologise for ignoring your corrections and leaving false information on the web. I acknowledge that you would have written things differently had you written a post on the same subject. Please be aware that this factual inaccuracy will inevitably continue.
