An Accident Waiting To Happen

Like many local residents, we are all really fed up seeing parking marshals from the Hamptons Mosque, operating on the public highway, who unlawfully create dangerous conditions for both road users and pedestrians.

And this isn’t an occasional occurrence, this is every Friday, some Saturdays, and for an increasing number of religious events held on Sunday. That’s before we also consider Ramadan and Eid.

With the prospect of an ever increasing number of worshippers at the Chelmsford Muslim Society’s flagship mosque, we take a hard look at the actual marshals being deployed,

Are They Trained ?

And the answer is no ! Most Fridays, you’ll see marshals operating in the road without even ID badges or hi vis vests. Clearly CMS have no respect for the safety of their own volunteers or the residents..

There are accredited training schemes being run by a variety of companies, some of which are approved by the Government. But these are for either parking marshals who operate at large public events on private land, or marshals who control access to large construction sites from the public highway, sometimes called “banksmen”.

Now these aren’t security guards, who are certified and regulated by the Security Industry Agency. Displaying an SIA badge, doesn’t make that individual a qualified parking marshal.

And there are companies who supply qualified parking marshals (at a price), for large events, like we see at Hylands Park, during the summer. Perhaps CMS should hire some competent marshals.

Are They Acting Lawfully ?

And again the answer is no. We did contact Essex Police last year, and their response is in the photo above. The mosque marshals aren’t police officers, traffic officers, DVSA officers or fully accredited parking marshals with powers delegated by Chief Constable of Essex under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS):

Any parking marshall operating lawfully under CSAS on the King’s Highway, is required to wear on of these.

The Traffic Management Plan recently supplied the South Essex Parking Partnership gives the mosque marshals no additional powers or legal rights to operate of the King’s highway, or to stop and obstruct the free flow of traffic.

DO I have to obey Hamptons marshalls ?

You’ve guessed it, the answer is also no. Only if it is fully safe to do so, and obeying the Highway Code, pull round them and continue with your journey.

If the marshals surround your car and start shouting at you, call the police on 999, if you fear for your safety. We have reports of a number of incidents like this from last year and this year.

Most importantly, dashcams on !! But please do not whip out your mobile and start filming while you are operating a motor vehicle. If you have a passenger, ask them to hold the phone.

We’d like any footage you shoot, and despite what the marshals will claim, you do not need their permission to film them, or anything you can see from the public highway. Public photography is not a crime. You can email any footage to us at: savethehamptons@hotmail.com

Who’s Liable if the untrained Marshals Cause An Accident ?

Volunteers acting in any form or capacity, are treated as employees, who would be covered by vicarious liability by the Chelmsford Muslim Society. Hamptons may have public liability insurance, but that would only extend to the boundaries of their property, and not onto the King’s highway.

We are concerned that the Traffic Management Plan from SEPP, clearly instructs marshalls to operate on the King’s highway, somewhere they have no lawful right to be.

the impact on the local area

Having watched the number of worshippers at the Hamptons Mosque, grow year on year, we fear that Ramadan this year will be awful for residents.

Remember that CMS have no planning permission to operate a full blown mosque and madrassah, and laughably the council claim this is allowed as part of the original planning permission for the Marconi Club.

We all saw the chaos on Good Friday last year, with cars parked all over the estate and on the pavements, and the marshals just standing around watching, but doing nothing.

Then there was Eid, when the estate went into lockdown for 4 hours, as worshippers fought to access the site, with cars parked all over adjoining roads, including Westbourne Grove. Dorset Ave, Avenue Rd, Sawkins Ave and Duffield Rd.

The use of untrained marshals creates dangerous road conditions for road users and pedestrians, and it has to stop, before someone is injured, or there is significant public disorder.

It is an accident waiting to happen.

KBO