Richmond upon Thames Council own the car park land which is leased to East Sheen Waitrose for parking purposes. The Council is responsible for the maintenance and signage. If you have been there today you may have noticed that the fading No Entry signs were repainted last night and other lines will be painted tonight.

The question arises as to the purpose of the signage. You might hope that drivers would obey them to ensure that they do not run over unsuspecting pedestrians looking in a different direction. Or avoid a clash with cars coming in the correct direction, while both race for a space. Or avoid a car backing out of a space where the driver does not see the car ignoring the No Entry sign.

Standing at the window with one of the Waitrose Partners this morning, we observed a black convertible with top down driving in the wrong direction across the freshly painted No Entry sign.

I asked the blonde lady driver whether she had seen the sign. Her response was interesting.

“What’s it got to do with you, you interfering old busybody?” Old is probably accurate, although the phrase is somewhat abusive. “It’s not against the law.” Probably also correct, but why does the Council think it is repainting?