Re: Bus route in Ramilles Road. I'm a mum who does a school run and now and then I travel down this road in question. I feel that this bus route should NOT be stopped.

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It can be hard to travel through this road but I don't think that the bus is the sole cause. I think the parents should look closely at themselves. These parents that travel by car when they could walk.

Our school around the corner has the same problem. No-one gives way to anyone else, everyone is in a rush. Both vehicles keep travelling down each side even though they can see that they cannot go anywhere, then no-one can get through.

I have seen a few mums that travel both morning and afternoon by car and only live about 15/20 minutes' walk away.

At our school the children/parents can give numberplates of offending vehicles to the school office so they can be printed on the school newsletter. Parents think that because they are waiting in their vehicles it's ok to park over people's drives etc. Come on parents, have some thought for others. Blaming the poor bus for your own actions. Come on, a bit more commonsense and all problems solved.

Are you trying to get it banned so you can get that little bit nearer to the school gates? The residents think all the parents are the same. The good parents are being tarred with the same brush, it's not fair. Don't stop the bus route.

By Vicky, Sidcup

Having lived on the B13 route at the end of Ramillies Road for over 20 years I have seen the traffic increase dramatically.

But the only problems I have ever witnessed have occurred during school drop-off and pick-up times and on the odd occasion that a large van or lorry has been parked in the road.

Over the past few years, the size of the buses has increased from the 'hoppas' we began with when the route was introduced, but they are not the sole problem.

I attended Sherwood Park Primary in the 80s, and my son recently and my daughter will in September. We call the beginning and end of the school day the 'mad mum time', the parking of many of the parents is absolutely disgusting, the lack of respect for the Highway Code, other people's driveways, yellow lines and the hazard lines outside the school itself!

How many of these parents can really say that it is impossible for them to walk to and from school? Of course a number of these parents do work and drop off and collect on their way to and from work. Has anyone considered undertaking a survey of the traffic problems during the day? I doubt it.

In my opionion, and it is only an opinion, the problem is a common one, of far too many parents driving when they can walk, or even use the bus they are complaining about. Children travel free these days!

By DP, Sidcup

I agree that the road is too narrow (now that cars are not allowed to park on the pavement) for the bus to pass through and agree that the bus route should be slightly altered so that the bus goes along the main Blackfen Road.

I myself have personally witnessed two buses passing each other a number of times while I have been walking out in the street and even where no cars are parked at the side of the road, one of them has to mount the kerb to get past! How can this be considered as safe?

The main (or only as far as I can tell from your readers' comments) argument against changing the route seems to be that the elderly rely on this bus service to get them to and from the shopping centre in Bexleyheath and how can they be expected to walk up to the main road to catch the bus. My anwser to that is how come they are able to walk around the shopping centre, but they are not able to walk a few yards to the top of the road?

I would have thought that the elderly would find it a lot more daunting to walk around the shopping centre at Bexleyheath (where all the gangs hang around and intimidate them) than they would walking a few yards up a quiet residential street.

I recently received a letter through my door from the president of Lamborey Residents' Association to the effect that he has written to the mayor to ask if we could have the smaller hopper bus back, but it was rejected. If too many people are against the idea of the B13 being re-routed, isn't that a more sensible compromise?

Claire Moy, Sidcup

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