I DO wish that people who write to the Review in favour of a large Tesco in Cinderford would give a little more thought to the matter.
In the Review (August 14) 'Cinderfordian' writes that Tesco will not kill Cinderford, it died years ago. Alan G. Fieldhouse writes about the number of Co-operative stores, in Coleford, Mitcheldean, Newent plus nine more in various districts in Gloucester.
1: Cinderford is in the process of being 'regenerated' which means businesses, shops etc. I really do think it means just having a very large Tesco store and to hell with the rest.
2: The Co-op, to my mind, and I have been around forever, have been in business for many, many years. In my area in the Midlands I remember horse and carts. There was a Co-op in Cinderford when I came to Ruardean Woodside in 1971. Shoppers were glad to have the Co-op then before the likes of Tesco, Morrisons etc arrived with their massive stores and petrol stations.
Cinderford is not big enough for a large supermarket and petrol station, no matter which one it is.
On Thursday, August 13 I was with my husband, who was driving his Saab from Cinderford towards Steam Mills. Just past the Esso garage, which was on our right, I saw a six-axle articulated vehicle (my husband's description) travelling from the direction of Steam Mills. It was a left hand drive so presumably it was a foreign vehicle. There was a car in front of us trying to carry on despite this very heavy vehicle trying to negotiate the parked cars on its left.
My husband left plenty of room for the driver of the car in front to reverse to allow the very heavy vehicle to pass. This driver remained stationary for a few seconds, obviously able to see the driver of the heavy vehicle having difficulty in negotiating the obstructing vehicles parked on its left, then the car was driven onto the pavement to continue its journey.
My husband remained some distance away to enable the heavy vehicle to pass. A car, driven by someone who had obviously not looked ahead to see this massive vehicle struggling to pass, overtook us and tried to continue down the road. Fortunately the driver of the car had the sense to stop to allow the heavy vehicle through.
At the moment there is not a vast amount of traffic in Cinderford in comparison to other towns but just wait until, and if, Tesco arrives. It will be hell.
If motorists cannot see a six-axle articulated vehicle struggling to drive along the narrow roads into Cinderford now then what are they going to do with the amount of various vehicles that will be using the roads if Tesco is built?
God help us from these people who think Tesco is the answer to regeneration. – Janet P. Pennock, Ruardean Woodside.
PS: Before anyone writes that the obstruction was on the heavy goods vehicle side, once it had negotiated the chicane there was insufficient space between the parked vehicles for the HGV driver to pull in, the vehicle was too big.