Thursday, August 13, 2015

Dreamland evacuated

Rain stops play at dreamland, due to heavy rain and possible lightning, about 1.50 pm today security bods removed the public from the amusement park, and into the entrance area.

Still on the plus side is been a great day so far, with a test train on the scenic railway, I assume punters such as myself and grand kids will be back in the park shortly.

No refunds are available the park is technically open although visitors have been turfed out and not allowed back in at this stage. 14.26

Sun is out and so are paying guests , outside the amusement park with still no concrete information, when or if it will open.

@15:01 the sun has been out for ten minutes and Dreamland park is still not open and still no news as why or when the park reopens.

With no information left the park @15:20.

In my view this situation was badly handled, it may well have made sense to evacuate the park during heavy rain for safety reasons but not informing
customers what is happening and when the park might reopen is inexcusable.

I visited the park at the weekend and was very impressed with everything, the staff were very professional and helpful, the mood was good enhanced by various entertainment, facilities clean, the rides in good condition, overall I thought the experience as pleasurable as any park.

32 comments:

  1. demand compo - free food or vouchers if you are going again.

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  2. I take it this was an aberration , went last weekend and very impressed, I've updated my blog while you were posting your comment.

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  3. If only Arlington House was demolished and the High St improved Margate would look only half-destroyed

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  4. With the District audit we can now see the tdc and kcc costs for dreamland and manston and the port and macgonigal payoff

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  5. The District Audit is for TDC accounts 2014/15 and nothing to do with KCC. The accounts are posted on the TDC web site.
    I think you will find that the Macgonigal payoff took place after this financial year and should appear next year under payments to staff.
    Port costs and income can be found in the report as can those for Margate and Broadstairs Harbours. You may also be able to find the payments TDC had to pay because of the live exports ban being deemed to be
    illegal. Its difficult to find any of the costs relating to the reports order by the council to see if Manston airport was worth saving.
    As to the reported £18 millions spent on Dreamland £12 millions came from external funds and although TDC has set aside the amount needed to compensate the owner under the CPO I cant find the exact sum but maybe they are still negotiating - nearly 4 years after the CPO was started. maybe there is a lesson here for how long a Manston CPO would take. What you can find on the TDC web site but not in the accounts is the contract for the restoration work under invoices over £25,000. For example the cost of restoring the scenic railway itself was nearly £5 in a single contract and the rides £1.7 millions.

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    1. That should say £5 millions to restore the scenic railway and not £5!

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    2. The macgonigal payoff would be available immediately under foi? Which ukippers approved that?

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    3. Speaking of Arlington House every uk tower block is supposed to have sprinklers fitted to every flat since 2013 and the Lakanal House fire and 6 deaths.
      Has it? Accident waiting to happen and corporate manslaughter...

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  6. We have paid £18m for dreamland! ! How is it then owned by Fort Hotel?

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  7. Another success for manston with rescue choppers....at lydd

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  8. Top man closing at WC and no ships ... and Shonk blaming TDC. Does he not realise he is tdc and kcc

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  9. What can Trev do that he already hasn't done for years?

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  10. Neither Wells nor Shonk after 3 months of being elected have specified how they will improve TDC or the towns. If they can't then they should resign.

    Even if you don't believe Manston is a dead duck then the few dozen jobs there - eventually - would be irrelevant.

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    1. Well for a start TDC have invested in a invested in new machine to tackle dog mess, no truth in the rumour that it will be used after council meetings.

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    2. They already had a dog mess machine it just wasn't being used. Its too cumbersome to drive around the streets. A non policy to be seen to be doing something

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    3. Why not sack staff? TDC is overstaffed and overpaid and incompetent. 750 staff could easily be halved with tax cuts too

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    4. Tdc don't do anything for expensive wages and pensions.

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  11. Mcdonalds and Morrisons closing too. Apart from dog dirt and flowerbeds what will ukip do?

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  12. Why do the councillors tidy flowerbeds they're supposed to get TDC to do it on a regular basis or sack them

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  13. Tdc salaries of £90-130k don't look viable. What is Homer doing for that and why is Wells paying it?

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    1. TDC are paying less than the top local councils. Considering the problems in Thanet not many quality council execs would take the job for the current rates of pay when they can have an easier life elsewhere for more money.

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  14. What rubbish 20:20 the tdc ceo is paid more than the prime minister and tdc is one of the worst uk councils. And if homer is such high quality what has she done at tdc?

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    1. According to the accounts the chief execs rate of pay is £104,936 including pension, he PM's rate of pay is £142,500.

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    2. And pension , expenses and car? Are you really saying Homer is underpaid and more capable than the PM?

      And what has Homer done for this lavish salary?

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    3. What I am saying is if TDC offered top dollar for a job that was going to be very challenging then maybe they would have had some decent applicants when the position was vacant earlier this year. Not only was there a lot to sort out but also the elected council had been labelled as toxic. Under the circumstances maybe Homer was the only one willing to do the job.

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    4. There was another internal candidate: who was it? But it seems not to have been widely advertised for external candidates.

      So how would you ensure Homer performs? And what has she done so far? What did Macgonigal do?

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    5. The KCC CEO is paid £190k should we pay that?

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    6. The role of CEO as a staff member of KCC was abolished in 2012 as part of cost savings. The role is performed by the elected leader of the council who has to make do with about £60k of allowances. Maybe the time has come to set up 4 unitary authorities in Kent.

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    7. Strange bevause the Kcc Ceo role is David Cockburn on c.£190k unless you kean the electef Leader Carter on c. £60k?

      And you now want 4 of these ? When will u answer the point on what Homer has done?

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    8. More interesting is what KCC UKIP have done?

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    9. Why not cap public sector jobs at £75k to keep tax down and review perform ance every 3 months to prevent overstaffing or incompetence

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  15. Have ukip ended animal exports yet - its in their national manifesto as a sop to Farages failed election bid

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