Bracknell Computer Fair canned because of dayglo road signs

hollydays

It reminds me of when local shops complain they have had to close due to the locals not giving them enough business.the truth is usually that they weren't great at running a business but need to blame someone else.

PZH

prowla wrote: »

They've been running it 2nd Sunday of the month here for maybe 20 years....

prowla wrote: »

But do we really need "legal" signs for ad-hoc/occasional events?...

Not exactly ad-hoc or occasional ?

hollydays wrote:

Isnt that a bit childish though to say they are going to find a different venue because they can't put their signs up? Who are they trying to punish?
Why didn't they just run the fair anyway.

hollydays wrote:

...the truth is usually that they weren't great at running a business but need to blame someone else.

Totally agree on both counts

ThumbRemote

peachyprice wrote: »

Or just not use dayglo colours to print their cards.

There's nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I suspect the issue is not just the colour of the signs; I suspect it's the fact they'll be attached to traffic lights, road signs, roundabouts etc for miles around.

Maybe 'Jims computer shop' who pays business rates and pays commercial fees for advertising is the one who has complained?

Adverts for car boot sales are somewhat different, as long as they are displayed on private land.

hollydays

Having read the article again I've decided it's just a cynical bit of spin to advertise for a new venue , without paying( pattern here)-

"The group is currently looking for an alternative venue for advertising and holding the events"

What group... It's like he's talking about a charity.
Heres my version

Computer fair organizer Paul Driver today let dozens of small businesses down by pulling the plug on his own fair in Bracknell .

After 20 years of getting away with avoiding paying event signage fees, it was brought to his attention that he was going to have to start paying, or not put the signs up.

Rather than do so, he got all grandiose and stomped off leaving let down stall holders and customers.

Nilrem

I suspect the problem is the colour of the signage, and possibly the positioning...

IIRC all road sign age should adhere to certain things, including location, colour and how they affect the drivers view.

Certain colours tend to be reserved for certain types of sign.
Position and size should be such that they do not affect the view of the road.

Our local council has a notice in the paper every now and then warning people that putting up such temporary signs without permission can be illegal, and that the people putting them up could be liable for prosecution under various things (I think the common one, probably because it's easiest to get a conviction/fine upheld relates to fly posting/littering).

Most of the small events round here moved to using small wooden signs that they stick in the ground near the place (with the land owners permission), with plain white/black.

Some signs used to be quite big cardboard/plastic backed things which were both obscuring due to where they were fitted (on things like lamp posts, and railings), and often quite loosely fitted as they flapped about (causing a distraction to the driver, and possibly about to break loose).

prowla

hollydays wrote: »

Thanks but that didn't really answer any of my questions!

Sorry - I mis-read; I thought you were talking about them running the Croyden one next week. My mistake.

By different venue, I've interpreted that to mean that it might be another nearby town.

hollydays wrote: »

It's the law.

Sometimes laws are put there not for the general good, and sometimes to specifically benefit the lawmakers.

prowla

PZH wrote: »

Not exactly ad-hoc or occasional ?

Once a month is what I would call occasional.

prowla

ThumbRemote wrote: »

I suspect the issue is not just the colour of the signs; I suspect it's the fact they'll be attached to traffic lights, road signs, roundabouts etc for miles around.

Maybe 'Jims computer shop' who pays business rates and pays commercial fees for advertising is the one who has complained?

Adverts for car boot sales are somewhat different, as long as they are displayed on private land.

I think the signs are fairly localized, as opposed to being for miles around.

And they are quite diligent in taking them down after, so it would take them quite some time to post them and take them down on the day.

In particular they are displayed on the fencing and noticeboard at the (Council) Sports Centre where they are held, on the day they are held, and I suspect that those may have been the ones targeted.

Regarding local shops being disgruntled about the competition, the only local computer components shop is an over-priced national chain whose name begins with "M".

The end-result of this will be to force people to use the Internet, or to go to other towns.

hollydays

This thread is getting rather silly-

"Sometimes laws are put there not for the general good, and sometimes to specifically benefit the lawmakers."



Restrictions on where signs are put in public places is for my benefit as I don't want to see the landscape any fuller of dayglo carp than necessary.( ps I hate dayglo sign btw they are tacky)

The payment will benefit the council , businesses have to pay their dues .

You can't say because he refuses to pay sign fees-totally his choice- the public will be driven out from the leisure centre into cyberspace.

I saw a thread Paul driver had posted on , someone said ,if the traders kept their prices down and the organizers did away with entrance fees, that would encourage people to shop there.


" One of the main reason i think Fairs are closing it that they still feel customer are silly and try to rip you off with some prices. People do their shopping online to find prices and then go to computer fairs only to find things much cheaper online. You have to make a profit, so just lower your prices a little and people will come back.
Stop charging entrance fees as this also keeps people out."

prowla

hollydays wrote: »

This thread is getting rather silly-

"Sometimes laws are put there not for the general good, and sometimes to specifically benefit the lawmakers."

Restrictions on where signs are put is for my benefit as I don't want to see the landscape any fuller of dayglo carp than necessary.( ps I hate dayglo sign btw they are tacky)

The payment will benefit the council , businesses have to pay their dues .

You can't say because he refuses to pay sign fees-totally his choice- the public will be driven out from the leisure centre into cyberspace.

I saw a thread Paul driver had posted on saying if the traders kept their prices down and the organizers did away with entrance fees, that would encourage people to shop there.

It's not silly to say that some laws are not there for the benefit of people in general.

Anything which drives business away from the town is a bad thing; without going off at a tangent, there's plenty of separate threads about parking restrictions and fines stopping people going to towns, so that's specifically a law which does nobody any good except for the people who levy the fees & fines.

Thinking dayglo signs are a bit tacky (and I agree they are) is not really a justification for taking them down. We don't suffer from loads of them clogging up all of the lampposts and obscuring the road signs; there are also other events who post signs, and I've also mentioned car boot sales, bonfire nights, there are even school fairs (though I suspect they've already been got at because I don't recall having seen them for the past couple of summers). Are we to say that all of those signs are to be removed, or do they just add to the variety?

It seems to me that this is just officialdom under the guise of "the greater public good", and I don't think it benefits anybody.

I can precisely say that the monthly computer fair not coming to town will drive people into buying things in cyberspace.

And those people who don't come to it won't be buying the snacks, lunches, whatever from the local shops and they'll lose out too. (I've already said I'm off somewhere else next weekend, so we'll probably eat out whilst we're there.)

Of course the Computer Fairs people are there to make a profit, and they've had to take stock of their costs and profits; whatever their business model is, my guess is that this has been the straw which broke the camel's back.