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Mark

@markvauxhall

Ex-Vauxhall, now Raynes Park. Tweets on transport and economic nerdery. Tweeting in a personal capacity. Same username as on the other place.

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09.11.2023
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Latest posts by Mark @markvauxhall

Personally I'd be quite happy with bank notes being regularly redesigned, precisely for this reason.

It feels like the grey economy in the UK is flourishing and honestly I can't stand all the people doing cash in hand business to dodge tax.

11.03.2026 16:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Exchanging old banknotes There is no deadline to exchange old banknotes with the Bank of England. But it is usually easier and quicker to exchange notes at your own bank or at the Post Office.

Willing to bet part of the reason "cash is king" folk are so upset is that people will eventually have to exchange their hoarded, undeclared and withdrawn from circulation notes for the new notes.

And for large amounts that requires ID and proof of funds.

www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/ex...

11.03.2026 16:14 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Given that they were being quite belligerent, I wouldn't bet on it.

09.03.2026 08:36 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Quite satisfying to know that in these cases revenue protection will pull a person's entire online purchase history and calculate the value of any settlement / prosecution based on all journeys where a person short fared, vs just the one where they were stopped.

09.03.2026 08:35 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Person stopped at Waterloo gateline by Revenue Protection indignantly waving around his QR code ticket from Vauxhall insisting that he really did only travel one stop, that buying a QR ticket via an app is easier than contactless, and he has no idea why it's not showing as scanned in at Vauxhall

09.03.2026 08:32 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Charge fees -and- only issue annual permits to residents of the immediate area who can demonstrate that their vehicle is owned by them and registered to their address in NYC.

05.03.2026 18:43 ๐Ÿ‘ 21 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Ahh I wondered when you were going to start to quote him.

Doesn't address the issues caused by significantly increasing taxes on people earning 50K+, which acts a disincentive to people to seek promotions / work extra hours etc, and is a drag on our economy and productivity.

05.03.2026 11:57 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

This opinion is so wrong I'm convinced it's just engagement bait.

04.03.2026 21:09 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I guess getting ratioed on this yesterday wasn't enough for you.

04.03.2026 13:29 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

If the government charged everybody income tax at 99%, do you think total income tax take would be more or less than it is today?

If your answer is "less", then you are accepting that the Laffer curve exists.

How you draw it and where the peak is is up for debate - but the principle is sound.

04.03.2026 10:25 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Please tell me which parts of "Increase NI from 2% to 8% from ยฃ50K" "Increase CGT from 24% to 40/45%" and "Wealth tax of 1% over ยฃ10M" I don't understand.

04.03.2026 10:21 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

We're arguably already getting to the peak of the Laffer curve, and raising taxation by 6% for anyone over ยฃ50K is "bold"; doubling tax on capital gains will result in a lot of capital flight.

Their tax policy will arguably end up being a drag on productivity, and risks lowering total tax take.

04.03.2026 09:41 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The principles - not borrowing money to fund day-to-day expenditure - are pretty sound. We already spend 8% of our tax take on interest, we shouldn't be allowing it to grow further.

My main issue with green economic policy is that it's a bit of a simplistic "tax the rich" (1/2)

04.03.2026 09:41 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Personally I think the Green economic policy is way off-base.

But I agree that people voting for them now clearly aren't bothered by that and aren't changing their vote any time soon.

04.03.2026 07:49 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Oh please, this is getting ridiculous.

Any time the party gets vaguely close to an overarching vision of a better tomorrow for our country, it gets undercut by near-term electioneering and NIMBYism.

Find it increasingly hard to stomach a stakeboard in my front garden for the upcoming locals.

03.03.2026 13:01 ๐Ÿ‘ 42 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

What's curious is that this is still not yet reflected in the travel alerts published on state.gov

03.03.2026 12:52 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Cyclist on painted cycle lane, approaching a segregated segment. A flatbed truck is parked in the segregated cycle lane.

Cyclist on painted cycle lane, approaching a segregated segment. A flatbed truck is parked in the segregated cycle lane.

...which Google has captured successfully in all its glory.

02.03.2026 12:48 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Don't forget the "peak hours only" cycle lane that becomes car parking bays outside the shops after the Elm Road junction.

When there's cars parked, I make a point of always riding in primary on the road through there...

02.03.2026 12:46 ๐Ÿ‘ 7 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

I don't know who needs to know this but there is a bucket of full size tube maps for ยฃ5 each in the LT Museum shop

01.03.2026 15:17 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's been my first set of power meter pedals and I've been delighted with them.

01.03.2026 13:11 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Firmware update screen for a Favero pedal. Says battery life upgraded form 60 hours to 160.

Firmware update screen for a Favero pedal. Says battery life upgraded form 60 hours to 160.

Someone found some serious code optimisation opportunities on my power meter pedals. 60 hours to 160 hours of battery life.

It's a sad state of affairs in modern tech that I'm surprised they rolled this out to older devices rather than launch a "new" product with improved battery life.

01.03.2026 12:52 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Recover your removed vehicle | Southwark Council What to do If you think that your vehicle has been removed.

Southwark do it, and they have pounds in Enfield and Purfleet, Essex, which are delightfully inconvenient to drivers.

www.southwark.gov.uk/parking-stre...

But not every London borough does. We had people parked in a suspended bay for moving in Merton, all the council could do was ticket them.

01.03.2026 11:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I'm a strong believer that every London borough should operate a car impounding service for any illegally / obstructively parked vehicles.

Preferably with the pound in a distant hard-to-get-to corner of the borough.

Owner should have had that vehicle recovered immediately after the collision.

01.03.2026 11:48 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

You can still take her on a pod to a car park and back next time you're at Heathrow T5

28.02.2026 12:27 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

However there are situations where greenfield development makes sense. Lots of commuter stations around London, for example, that have agricultural land next to, or within walking distance of the station. Housing should be built as mid-density, walkable communities though.

27.02.2026 06:56 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
 Screenshot of travel alert email:

Travel Affected - Warning Alert - UK - Rail Disruptions Feb. 12 - London 

  

Disruptions to rail services to persist in London, UK, through late Feb. 12. Reconfirm transport arrangements. View Alert

Screenshot of travel alert email: Travel Affected - Warning Alert - UK - Rail Disruptions Feb. 12 - London Disruptions to rail services to persist in London, UK, through late Feb. 12. Reconfirm transport arrangements. View Alert

I feel like it's pretty bonkers that my company's travel safety provider (crisis 24) felt the need to blast everyone with an urgent travel safety advisory following the delays on SWR yesterday.

13.02.2026 15:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Merton - not ruled out but on the back burner. Introduced one last year, lot of vocal opposition from usual groups, council thankfully held firm.

11.02.2026 15:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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South London half marathon event planned by Merton Council The event, held in Merton will offer 9,000 places in its first year to 20,000 in its third year.

Awesome to see Merton may get a closed road half marathon.

I genuinely love the stuff Merton has done over the past few years under "Civic Pride" / "Borough of Sport". Easy to be cynical, but I think it's making the borough a better and more interesting place to live

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

11.02.2026 15:07 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Painted mural in a station. "Thames link" written on the side, with the caption "you are the strongest link"

Painted mural in a station. "Thames link" written on the side, with the caption "you are the strongest link"

Love this mural paying homage to Thameslink in Wimbledon Chase station: "You are the strongest link"

07.02.2026 19:05 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Putney High Street was a deeply unpleasant traffic sewer long before Hammersmith Bridge was closed.

Reopening Hammersmith Bridge won't fix it.

03.02.2026 18:55 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0