Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2006, 08:19:34 pm »
Hi Everyone,

I always try my best not to enter debates, however, some people out their need a reality check.

Yes I am a WFP user, however if drought enforcement was set in place, every window cleaner would be affected, WFP and traditional.

Yes I have made massive investments in my business; I have just ordered two new vans and also an Ionic pro 5, which has cost me an arm and a leg. If the drought enforcement was passed. I would go under in a matter of weeks.

I have seen on a few of the forums, that people just want to put their heads in the sand and pretend this will not affect them. Well I am sorry it will. Someone asked above, how will they enforce it and how can they prove it is not stored water. Very easily, the police and council departments will enforce the law and they can inspect your home or premises to see where your water is coming from.

If you want to live in ignorance and denial, carry on thinking that it does not affect you. However, if we cannot stop this drought order from happening and it is down to a lack of support from fellow window cleaners. Don’t come back here in two months complaining you have gone under……..

One more important factor everyone needs to realise also, this may not affect you because you do not live in these areas. However, if these three water authorities get away with this and one of them already has its water supply at 97%. The rest of the water authorities up and down the country will follow their lead, then everyone is for the high jump so to say.

Sorry to be blunt people, but that’s it laid on the line. Wake Up and Smell the Roses….


Many Thanks

Andrew

Sir Squeaky

  • Posts: 8341
Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #21 on: March 21, 2006, 08:25:57 pm »
Squeeky

Ladders are certainly more dangerous to wfp uses than before.

The simple reason is you forget everything you learned of how to stay safe.

When you use ladders everyday you get tuned to them and they become an extension of your body.

When you have not used ladders for a while it is like learning all over again, since i changed to wfp  i do not feel the same up a ladder as i did before and i tend to make more mistakes.
Fair comment Dave, never thought of it like that, sorry. :)

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #22 on: March 21, 2006, 08:31:41 pm »
this thread is great

lets look at the number of people who use the forums and will act on this

under 100 people

do you really think the water companies will give a toss what 100 window cleaners have to say ?? ?? ?? afterall they will still have the "image" of "window cleaners who do a bit of work to top up the old dole money"

i know a PA to a exec of a water board (not in my area) and ive spoken about this to her about all of this, and she told me a few things that are amazing

it seems a water company has added the "window cleaner bit" in BECAUSE some1 from a union/fed/organisation has contacted them and drawn attention that they only use 300 L a day of water, if it wasnt for this person, then the bit wouldnt have been added, they just drew attention to it


matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #23 on: March 21, 2006, 08:32:56 pm »
oh and watch for the next installment of the water board and WFP sage

it aint pretty  >:(

im all for action, BUT water companies work on profits, they are not interested in the man on the street, look at the costs of water that continue to rise

Helen

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #24 on: March 21, 2006, 08:35:10 pm »
Here's a link to all members of parliament.
Pick your own MP and let them know. If every MP had a load of e-mails on the same subject I'd bet on it making PM's Question time normally on a Thursday.
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alcm.cfm this lists all MPs and their e-mail address

williamx

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2006, 08:36:51 pm »
When Paul French, the window cleaner from Lichfield, died the other week, there was a very strong support and offers of help to his family, from all members of the window cleaning community.

Although this drought order is not the same as what his family have gone though, it is still important to our fellow window cleaner out there who it does affect.

It doesn't matter whether your are trad or wfp, or whether you come from the North, West, East or the central parts of this country, what matters is that our colleagues need our help.

We should be there for them.


williamx

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2006, 08:44:35 pm »
this thread is great

lets look at the number of people who use the forums and will act on this

under 100 people

do you really think the water companies will give a toss what 100 window cleaners have to say ?? ?? ?? afterall they will still have the "image" of "window cleaners who do a bit of work to top up the old dole money"

i know a PA to a exec of a water board (not in my area) and ive spoken about this to her about all of this, and she told me a few things that are amazing

it seems a water company has added the "window cleaner bit" in BECAUSE some1 from a union/fed/organisation has contacted them and drawn attention that they only use 300 L a day of water, if it wasnt for this person, then the bit wouldnt have been added, they just drew attention to it



If they can just put in so easliy, then its just as easy to remove it.

Do you think that the wfp users would have escaped their knowledge for long.

Remember the poll tax was removed only because a few people at first, stood up and said THIS IS NOT FAIR.

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #27 on: March 21, 2006, 08:48:46 pm »
this thread is great

lets look at the number of people who use the forums and will act on this

under 100 people

do you really think the water companies will give a toss what 100 window cleaners have to say ?? ?? ?? afterall they will still have the "image" of "window cleaners who do a bit of work to top up the old dole money"

i know a PA to a exec of a water board (not in my area) and ive spoken about this to her about all of this, and she told me a few things that are amazing

it seems a water company has added the "window cleaner bit" in BECAUSE some1 from a union/fed/organisation has contacted them and drawn attention that they only use 300 L a day of water, if it wasnt for this person, then the bit wouldnt have been added, they just drew attention to it



If they can just put in so easliy, then its just as easy to remove it.

Do you think that the wfp users would have escaped their knowledge for long.

Remember the poll tax was removed only because a few people at first, stood up and said THIS IS NOT FAIR.
your right, it only took a few with the poll tax, BUT it needed the mass's to get behind the action, and window cleaners dont have mass's behind them

i dont want a arguement on this, good luck on trying to force water companies who only see the £££ sign and nothing else




matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2006, 08:50:21 pm »
i spoke to a customer about this today as it happens

he said "well you will have to just do downstairs by hand for a clean or 2 till the summer is over"

he might have a point

Helen

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #29 on: March 21, 2006, 08:54:00 pm »
i spoke to a customer about this today as it happens

he said "well you will have to just do downstairs by hand for a clean or 2 till the summer is over"

he might have a point

You got there first. I thought that a few moments back. Not the perfect solution but it would keep us going for a while

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #30 on: March 21, 2006, 08:56:37 pm »
i spoke to a customer about this today as it happens

he said "well you will have to just do downstairs by hand for a clean or 2 till the summer is over"

he might have a point

You got there first. I thought that a few moments back. Not the perfect solution but it would keep us going for a while

i have a 6 week turnaround, so twice would last me 3 months, i know its not ideal, but customers would have to understand

caught between a hard rock and a stone to be honest

first off  -- cannot use ladder due to EU directive (thats what i told em all, they were happy with it)

then

cannot use WFP


Moderator David@stives

  • Posts: 8829
Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #31 on: March 21, 2006, 08:58:18 pm »
Matt

The water authorities are fully aware of wfp operators and have done so for a long time.

It is there job to know ,these people are not stupid, they know exactly who is using what.

In the scale of things wfp are classed as very low users of water.

So you are saying somebody phoned them up to see where we stand and they suddenly said

 "ah wfp we never thought of that, thanks for letting us know because we were unaware of them"

I dont think so.

I reckon most of there head offices and plants have been cleaned with wfp for a very long time.

Dave

Sarah Sarill

  • Posts: 1537
Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #32 on: March 21, 2006, 09:02:12 pm »
The point is surely we are an easy target when there are many, many industries that use and waste much more water than we do, irrespective of if its for wfp or traditional.

To put things into perspective as to just  how small our contribution is to water usage I have hijacked a thread by Justine Ruggles (hope you dont mind Justin) as it shows how small a fish we really are.  But I bet these corporations dont get a ban imposed on them.

It takes 5 litres of water to produce 1 litre of Coca-Cola.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola
 
Paper mill
 
Water is a key element and much used in the production of paper. It is used in nearly every stage of the pulping and papermaking process. Pulp and paper mills consume 75-225 m³ of water per tonne of paper manufactured.
 
Thats alot of water for 1 ton of paper.
 
http://www.sustainpack.com/aap_water.html
 
 
Another good one, Look at sugar.
 
http://www.cseindia.org/dte-supplement/industry20040215/misuse.htm
 
GlaxoSmithKline
 
Only used 23.5 million cubic meters of water, equivalent to the amount of water used in one year by approximately 92,000 UK households.
 
So thats ok then?
 
http://www.gsk.com/financial/reps03/EHS03/GSKehs-45.htm


Its not just about who and how the water is used but about being fair across the board of every industry hence the letter to MP's is a good one.

My opinion only.

Sarah

Sarah

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #33 on: March 21, 2006, 09:03:01 pm »
Matt

The water authorities are fully aware of wfp operators and have done so for a long time.

It is there job to know ,these people are not stupid, they know exactly who is using what.

In the scale of things wfp are classed as very low users of water.

So you are saying somebody phoned them up to see where we stand and they suddenly said

 "ah wfp we never thought of that, thanks for letting us know because we were unaware of them"

I dont think so.

I reckon most of there head offices and plants have been cleaned with wfp for a very long time.

Dave


Dave thats exactly what i am saying

this water company was contacted by some1, and the person on the phone asked for a answer from some1 "in charge" it was asked in a meeting and this exec said " the decesion was made by the board / people making decisions, who didnt know what WFP was till this question

i am sure the safety people knew about the building being done by WFP,

BUT the people upstairs didnt know about it


DASERVICES

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #34 on: March 21, 2006, 09:05:35 pm »
 This has got me thinking, would the water company ban the cleaning of the
  London Eye or any other tourist hotspot. These places bring in millions
  so I think the likelihood of this happening is slim.

  I've mentioned this in the past, the likes of the BWCA should be seeking
  some sort of compensation for their members. If you start throwing
  compensation at the water board then you may see the cracks appearing
  in the water ban for commercial users.

  The likes of British Gas and all Electric suppliers have a compensation package
   if you go x hrs without supply. They won't tell you that but I have claimed
   in the past when we have gone a day without electricity.

   The water board may have something like this in place, they won't tell you
   but instead you have to find out the small print. Someone needs to look
   into this.

   Just a thought.

   Doug

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #35 on: March 21, 2006, 09:05:57 pm »
once the water meters are in place the droughts will stop
profit
profit

chris@c.m.s

  • Posts: 1556
Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #36 on: March 21, 2006, 09:08:24 pm »
For southern water region it is quoted in tonights evening Argus under The bans southern water wants,
(The cleaning of the exterior of  buildings other than Windows)
surely most of the other regions will follow suit.  
Sussex by the sea

jouk45

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #37 on: March 21, 2006, 09:11:39 pm »
Been reading all the threads about water bans.and seems to have everyone in a panic. iv never thought of this or asked,can we purify sea water with our di tanks and ro systems if real desperate. just a thought.jouk45

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #38 on: March 21, 2006, 09:12:02 pm »
a point to think on

how many WFP users and paying "comercail / business water rates"

matt

Re: Mid Kent to ban all Window Cleaning
« Reply #39 on: March 21, 2006, 09:13:17 pm »
Been reading all the threads about water bans.and seems to have everyone in a panic. iv never thought of this or asked,can we purify sea water with our di tanks and ro systems if real desperate. just a thought.jouk45

yes but the kit is mega bucks to buy, think they do it in some of the dry countries (dubia etc etc)