No Water in Waterloo Station

The draft South Bank and Waterloo Cycling Strategy, written by The South Bank Employers Group (SBEG), aka POMT (Purveyors of Mindless Tat), under the guidance of its members has this sad comment about Lambeth Council's Road User Hierarchy which puts walking first, cyclists next, then buses, rail, taxis, motorcycles, then freight transport with cars last:

...representatives of the larger businesses that rely on HGVs to transport goods to site raise questions about its specific application to the South Bank area.

Network Rail, owner of Waterloo Station, was a member of the report's steering group. Clearly it is important to keep all the retailers in Waterloo Station stocked with essential products.

Just look at the window of that fine newsagents, W H Smiths. Full of essential water driven in by bloody great lorries.


and on the other side


I stopped counting the number of places flogging bottled water in the station when I ran out of fingers, thumbs and toes.

I didn't spot a single tap or water fountain for the thirsty traveller so I asked at Station Information.

Nope I was told, not one. Nowhere.

Network Rail is a non-profit distributing company set up by the Government. So they needn't whinge about needing to screw the planet to appease their fat-cat shareholders.

So WTF can't they ditch the bottled water, get rid of shedloads of HGVs and simply install taps to the pipes I'm sure they already have in the station. (And likewise at Victoria Station which also hasn't drinking fountains or taps .... and probably all the rest they own)

As for the River Walk - there's clearly no rush to fix an existing fountain when the planet killing landowners can extract rent from planet killer stalls and narrow the walkway with yet another A-board into the bargain.