now id just like to state that im no engineer 😉

so genuine question is the flyover safe, i live not too far away and ive taken some pics of the concrete supports, running for at least a km they all have some of the rusting steel reinforcing exposed
asyou can see theyve strung up netting to stop chunks of concrete landing on the road beneath

this is a couple of km before the boston manor bit thats more metal than concrete and was recently closed closed but theyve restricted weight to 7.5 tonnes, but its still insanely busy!

any structural engineers in the house? would want to be accused of scremongering….. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/roads-minister-slams-m4-safety-scaremongering-7942175.html

you may well expect a kicked in door as taking pictures of important national transport infrastructure is deemed a terrorist threat.

Ask train spotters, who are now stopped from taking pictures of trains.

Well presumably the highways agency structural engineers are happy with it.

____________
Pies.

project – Member

you may well expect a kicked in door as taking pictures of important national transport infrastructure is deemed a terrorist threat.

Ask train spotters, who are now stopped from taking pictures of trains.

Utter nonsense – and proved to be time and time again.

You have a right to take photos of anything if you are in a public space

in the pictures above why are the street lights stil on.

in daylight, what a waste of energy.

Utter nonsense – and proved to be time and time again.

You have a right to take photos of anything if you are in a public space

that is unless some member of the public, police or anyone else says or thinks ou are acting suspiciously, then its up to you to prove what the pictures are for, and theyre not terrorist related.

pics were taken about 8pm this evening

project – Member

Utter nonsense – and proved to be time and time again.

You have a right to take photos of anything if you are in a public space

that is unless some member of the public, police or anyone else says or thinks ou are acting suspiciously, then its up to you to prove what the pictures are for, and theyre not terrorist related.

Nope – still nonsense. its been proven again and again in court. You can take any photo of anything if you are in a public place.

Freedom to photograph/film

Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.
http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/21/photographer-films-anti-terror-arrest

Tj the difference between what you think and believe and what actully happens in real life, are about as far part as cameroon from the working classes of the uk. 😯

mrs vader is a civil engineer who has vast experience (more than the majority of the rest of us) in bridge stuff…. and she says…. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. she is also looking in nce for meaningfull explanation…

project – Member

Tj the difference between what you think and believe and what actully happens in real life, are about as far part as cameroon from the working classes of the uk.
Or conversly I do not believe the myths created adn perpertuated by people like you.

See that quote from me above – thats the official guidence from the Met.

Your example from the guardian – read it thru. He was arrested for failing to provide his details. Nothing to do with the photography at all and also because of a number of incidents with over zealous cops and security guards the advice has been hardened and updated as I point out above.

its a simple fact. In the UK you can legally photograph anything if you are in a public place.

Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.

Or conversly I do not believe the myths created adn perpertuated by people like you.

Or the Guardian apparently.

Quote :

“Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

its a simple fact. In the UK you can legally photograph anything if you are in a public place.

Or conversly I do not believe the myths created adn perpertuated by people like you.

see works bothways, happy snapping.

Ernie – he was arrested not for photographing but for refusing to give his details and released without charge

Project – just read the updated advice from the MET which includes this

Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.

Have a read of this

http://www.urban75.org/photos/photographers-rights-and-the-law.html

Ernie – he was arrested not for photographing but for refusing to give his details and released without charge

I haven’t commented on the reason why he was arrested, I simply copied and pasted what the Guardian printed.

Presumably the Guardian read their own article, and the conclusion they came to was : “Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

The new Home Office guidelines end with a reminder of police powers, which reads: “The police have a number of powers relevant to the use of photography for terrorist purposes, however these cannot be used to stop people legitimately taking photographs. It is not an offence for a member of the public or journalist to take photographs/film of a public building. They do not need a permit to photograph or film in a public place, and the police have no power to stop the photographing or filming of incidents or police personnel.”

Yes, I think project has already dealt with what “actually happens in real life”. And he seems to have the Guardian on his side with this one.

QUICK QUICK call the doctors – Sense of Humor fail, joke missed on STW

Oh hang on it’s them two looking for arguments again

running for at least a km they all have some of the rusting steel reinforcing exposed
asyou can see theyve strung up netting to stop chunks of concrete landing on the road beneath

A lick of anti-mould paint and it will be good for another ten years.

Getting back on topic, and attempting to deflect TJ Against the World again 🙄 surely it depends on how far the carbonation front has progressed in the concrete. They’ve been doing works on and off on the elevated section and will get round to those bits at some point. However, it will cause disruption to all the deteined car drivers which is obviously disruptive.

Hopefully they’ll just get rid of it altogether and replace it with a road suitable for an urban area.

Hopefully they’ll just get rid of it altogether and replace it with a road suitable for an urban area.

Like?

Take photo’s now, ask questions/ collect your free £140 compulsory compensation/ speak in court later when you are cleared of yet another bogus section 44 stop.

I used to poke my nose/camera in all sorts of places and have met MANY uninformed police, generally the actual written text/meaning/spirit of the law is not known by average jo cop, they tend to make it up on the fly (don’t tell me this doesn’t happen, because it does, much more regularly than you would like), although sometimes it is necessary for the greater good of mankind lol!

Anyway, back on topic, the concrete structural analysis machine inside me says to me that structure has been degrading for years, but only because of the relentless spending spree ahead of the olympics, someone in the right place managed to shove the right bit of paper in front of the right person with the readies to actually do something about it**

** same has happened ahead of the olympic torch, every road its travelled on has had emergency repairs, even when some of the holes have been there for 6months+ and received a lot of complaints, and the verges cut etc. Magic eh!

Yes, I think project has already dealt with what “actually happens in real life”. And he seems to have the Guardian on his side with this one.

And you’re prepared to take the word of a journalist on this? Someone who’s looking for a sensationalist angle in order to sell papers? Per-leeeeese!
Certainly there have been a number of examples in the past where rent-a-cops have far exceeded what little authority they have to try to stop photographers taking pictures in public places, around The Gherkin in London being one such, and managing to rope the police in, hence the clear instructions from the Home Office and Met top brass.

Back to the point, there’s **** all wrong with that. But of galv paint and resi patch and no one would even know there was a problem! How much steel in that bridge? I say it was an original problem with the form work and lack of coverage has caused the problem but it ain’t going anywhere fast!!

And you’re prepared to take the word of a journalist on this? Someone who’s looking for a sensationalist angle in order to sell papers? Per-leeeeese!

What I am prepared to accept is that project has the Guardian on his side with this one, which I believe was the point that I made.

And which puts into some perspective TJ’s “the myths created and perpertuated by people like you” allegation against project. It would appear that a broad spectrum of opinion shares project’s view on the matter.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the article, although I doubt whether the journalist who wrote it was merely lying in order to sell papers. The Guardian doesn’t target the “sensationalist” niche of the newspaper market, it very wisely leaves that to others.

ernie_lynch – Member

What I am prepared to accept is that project has the Guardian on his side with this one

He really doesn’t. His own links counter his argument never mind anyone else’s.

Yes, some people get harrassed by the police for taking pics. This is because sometimes the police get it wrong, not because:

project – Member

<You have a right to take photos of anything if you are in a public space> that is unless some member of the public, police or anyone else says or thinks ou are acting suspiciously, then its up to you to prove what the pictures are for, and theyre not terrorist related.

Yet weirdly some people seem to be blaming TJ for Project’s ridiculous troll.

“What I am prepared to accept is that project has the Guardian on his side with this one”

He really doesn’t.

I need to decide for myself whether I am prepared to accept that project has the Guardian on his side, you obviously don’t have to agree with me. This quote is sufficient for me :

“Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

Yet weirdly some people seem to be blaming TJ for Project’s ridiculous troll.

I’m merely backing project’s ridiculous troll. I am not blaming TJ for anything.

At the age of the bridge and with the spalling of the concrete, it could well be alkali-silica reaction (ASR) which is blowing chunks of the cover concrete off.

Of course, it could be the good old rusty rebar expanding and taking the cover off.

I haven’t read all the stuff above.

I think it’s dealing with road salt which has made its way into the concrete and started corroding the steel rebars. There’s two sorts of electrodes, one set the parallel wires, the other is the mesh. Big current, low volts carries the chloride (?) to the mesh, where it soaks into foamy-looking stuff. Or something like that.

The elevated M6 in Brum was done a few years ago.

Highways Agency would probably love to permanently close many of the elevated bits of the M4 into London and rebuild them, but the practicalities of doing so are quite scary – especially where the motorway runs above other roads – so the politicians over the last few decades have avoided making the difficult decisions . . . . hence the need to occasionally make emergency repairs. Solution will be very expensive, very difficult to build and very disruptive to everyone in the vicinity. Expect to see more lane restrictions and weight limits soon.

How stupid are project and ernie?

“Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

Is not

“Man held in police station for eight hours for taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

Was he even charged?

Give up the TJ hating FFS 🙄

BrickMan – Member

** same has happened ahead of the olympic torch, every road its travelled on has had emergency repairs, even when some of the holes have been there for 6months+ and received a lot of complaints, and the verges cut etc. Magic eh!

Way of the world these days it seems. Have you seen how much beautiful new tarmac the Tour de France is riding over!

Matt

Waits for dark skinned man or a woman wearing a burka to be arrested for taking pictures at a railway station or transport hub.

or middle class male doing the same.

^^ yes, happened already. Both of them.
I take pictures at these sorts of places all the time. Never have a problem. I guess it depends whether your attitude winds people up or not.
Anyway there’s 100,000 cars a day using this section of the M4 which obviously has a catastrophic effect on the surrounding area as the other east/ west roads are not able to take the increased traffic.
On a side note there’s quite an interesting history of this section of M4 here.

cynic-al – Member

How stupid are project and ernie?

“Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

Is not

“Man held in police station for eight hours for taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington”

Was he even charged?

Give up the TJ hating FFS

Priceless 🙂

❓

im guessing the M4 flyover here is controlled by the highways agency so not listed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20533457

report warned of a small risk it could collapse at any moment.

Small risk of collapse or could collapse at any moment, which one is it then? I hate that sort of attention grabbing, almost made up headline reporting.