Freeloaders etc.
Hi everybody, Hi Airbedane - just back from a weeks sailing in Turkey (MMMmmm!!)
What an excellent idea of yours Ab to 'ask the punters' via PPrune - a very useful thread so far that will undoubtedly result in improvements.
OW has a huge potential - so few people I speak to have ever heard of the place or indeed have any idea what they are missing.
Freeloaders - Isn't it galling for a Charitable Trust to be ripped off in such a way? I regularly cycle down to 'chat' with them.
The majority line the public footpath and are unaware of the fact that they are trespassing simply by stopping to watch. A footpath is just that. It is provided for A-B access. Stop and you are a trespasser.
We plan to install signs to this effect next season.
Others congregate at the road/ footpath in the vicinity of the 21 threshold. Not the most sensible place to be. Warning signs are simply ripped down. It is a fairly busy road at weekends. Damage to the fence by cars is indicative of the road dangers yet people would rather risk their lives (and those of their families) to save a few bob.
There is a further plan to install a taller fence from the road to the windsock.
We then get to the 'I know my rights' hard core freeloaders who line the road.
These are downright sad, scummy people who are rude, abusive and threatening. I cannot print what has been said to me in the past. However, as an ex-cop, I have been insulted by experts in the past so it doesn't phase me.
THere is of course nothing to stop people standing on the verge of the highway. In the case of the adjoining fields (owned by the Trust but leased I believe) the deliniation between verge and field is impossible to determine.
Tenant cooperation, supported by proper fences and signs, will leave those freeloaders a much narrower strip alongside the highway. Very unpleasant but free all the same.
We can only reduce the problem. We can never eradicate it.
Any input from lawyers here will be appreciated.
HP