To think schools will close, rubbish will rot and bodies won't be buried

[bananacake2134]

‏Local authorities making emergency plans for March 29th onwards 2019 for Crash Out Brexit (Leaving without a deal)

@faisalislam
NEW: Extraordinary Kent County Council No Deal Brexit document detailing “Operation Fennel” next month to hold 10,000 HGVs “on a routine basis”

-administration GCSEs/SATS

• waste services “delayed and disrupted”
• “difficulties with transport of the deceased”

Looks like there's a serious possibility of 1000s of our kids having wasted years of education as GCSE and A level exams could be cancelled.

And that's bingo! We've had a Y2K reference. Do I get a prize now?

Clavinova you don't bring facts here you've brought unrelated examples

I'd trust Kent't analysis over yours, in fact they are linking to facts and using their expert knowledge of their county and the previous impacts of operation stack, which would be far smaller than this.

Actually KCC are usually pretty useless in many areas of life... but they do have experience (thanks to operation stack) of trying to manage country gridlock. I think they're actually being quite restrained in their analysis. And yy to the pp who wants to teleport the doubters back to summer 2015, that was a bloody nightmare. I honestly dont think those outside the county understand the geography, and the fact that much of Kent is still so rural. The Dover-Ashford-Maidstone section (and anything in pretty much a 30 mile radius either way) is particularly vulnerable.

Since I live in Oxfordshire, I can definitely tell you that parts can become impassible when we have winter snow. And no, the pupils can't just go to the local primary school - there is a good chance that the snow would shut that too. Fortunately, the winter is not prime exam season.

Someone I know tried to persuade the rest of us to join in his plan for a Y2K nuclear shelter - oh how we laughed!

I suppose those people who were shut out of their TSB accounts when the botched IT systems port went wrong so they couldn't draw money or pay their mortgages, laughed like drains and all thought it was a joke.

I got caught up in one of those Kent gridlocks about 30 years ago, when the French ports were on a go slow. It took us five hours to travel a mile. We were going to catch a ferry. In the end as long as you had a ticket for the boat, once you got into the queue they just shoved you onto the next one.

Peregrina I'm in Oxfordshire too and nearly all schools were shut in our area last/this year due to snow. My dd would've been delighted except she was year 13 and really needed to get to school, the buses however couldn't deal with the rural roads.

I had a think about the idea of everyone being able to get places by train in Kent and considered it's feasibility.

Trains stations are marked in coloured dots. (colour not important for this) The ring around canterbury is a 3 mile radius to indicate walkability. Of course this takes into no consideration of the fact that rural roads are less densely clustered and unless people are going to plough through fields and across housing estates an actual walking 3 mile circle is much much less than that indicated on the map.

Also bear in mind that trains and schools aren't necessarily close to each other etc etc. But even with all of that, you can see that vast areas of Kent simply aren't served by walkable railway stations. It's not a tiny number.

OYBBK's map shows the shape of the county... huge swathes are NOT served by railway lines within walkable distance - whether for students, or posties, or nurses, or or or.

I think when people from out of the area think of Kent they think of bits like Bromley - which is effectively London. Out here in the wilds, it's not quite the same. I used to drive my DDs 8 miles to school (sec mod not grammar in case you think I am being entitled) because the buses were not reliable, and our nearest train station is the one just a few miles from their school. Deepest darkest Kent is very rural, farming communities etc - we are a world away from yer London Kent.

I suppose those people who were shut out of their TSB accounts when the botched IT systems port went wrong so they couldn't draw money or pay their mortgages, laughed like drains and all thought it was a joke

Equally though - these events didn't result in a civil emergency and 1000s of kids didn't waste years of their education as is being suggested - people coped.

Deepest darkest Kent is very rural, farming communities etc - we are a world away from yer London Kent

In which case - why would residents in deepest Kent open their front doors and find a long line of juggernauts blocking the road? Much more likely is that they would be able to drive to the nearest rural station - even part of the way.

*OhYouBadBadKitten
But even with all of that, you can see that vast areas of Kent simply aren't served by walkable railway stations

Not all of Kent's stations are shown on your map - Kent has quite an impressive selection of heritage railways;

www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/destinations-and-offers/popular-kent-destinations/heritage-railways

Tenterden (amongst other places) doesn't have a station on your map - but I have spent the day travelling around parts of Kent from Tenterden station;
kesr.org.uk/your-visit/timetable

! You are proposing people travel by steam and vintage rail now?! Is that what Brexit is relegating us to? You are clearly taking the piss now.

You are really very obtuse, Clavinova. Tenterden station and railway is a tourist attraction.

Who to listen to? People who live in Kent? Someone who loves googling shit?

I’m loving the idea of using a rural light railway as a viable commuting alternative for numbers of people

Flying carpets would be a possible solution 😂

😂 thank you Clavinova I've had a thoroughly shitty day but your suggestion of hoping on a steam train has made me laugh.

Tenterden station and railway is a tourist attraction

Indeed - but nevertheless - the route covers 10 miles with 3 trains, stops at 5 heritage railway stations and runs up to 16 departures a day (8 in each direction).

I thought we were talking about a short-term civil emergency?

You are proposing people travel by steam and vintage rail now

No, I am proposing that most people get in their cars and drive to the nearest mainline station - but apparently every country road in Kent is going to be lined with juggernauts

Clavinova - the juggernauts will be parked on the motorways, displacing the usual motorway traffic into the already overloaded non-motorway road system. At the best of times, approaches to Kent’s train stations are log jammed at peak times.

The selective secondary system in Kent plus the rural, dispersed population means that many children have long commutes to school by road.

Fair play to @Clavinova , she/he knows how to use google and read tourist timetables.

@Clavinova , could you check what events are on at Chatsworth House over Christmas? And, maybe, the times of the London Eye. Obviously if you could check the Hogmanay event timings in Edinburgh, that would be fab.

To be fair to Clavinova, until very recently a number of children on the Kent Coast used to use the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway as their school transport - Kent Council laid on a School Train. So jealous.

Still a serious problem though. Ashford station at rush hour is quite bad enough without introducing Operation Stack Squared..

I think Clavinova has been reading too much Harry Potter. First she's suggesting kids get to school via the Hogwarts Express, next it'll be owls from the two birds of prey centres in Kent to deliver exam papers. Presumably, Teachers, HCPs and other essential staff will travel on the Knight Bus?

The Knight bus would be great. As would Disaparation. And the Accio spell. Wow! I've just solved No Deal.

user1499173618
As you didn't answer my earlier post - I am assuming that you were not actually eligible to vote in the referendum - having lived abroad for so many years?

It was yolofish who said she was stuck down a country road for 2 hours when an articulated lorry ended up in a ditch.

Ifailed

next it'll be owls from the two birds of prey centres in Kent to deliver exam papers
Considering that over 50,000 examiners were able to mark 99% of GCSE and A level scripts electronically this year I can't see the need. Exam contingency plans allow for exam papers to be sent to centres electronically - they could also be sent by rail and/or by motorbike courier - this problem is the easiest one to overcome.

YesThisIsMe
Thank you - I see that the school train ran on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway from 1977 until July 2015.