Albert Barber
I remember fondly those guys on the gates at various BBC buildings that would let you park your car in the central reservation of TVC for " just a couple of minutes".
They were considerate and understanding and you never took advantage of their generosity. They used something that is lacking now it seems, initiative and thinking for themselves. Now, management, not just the BBC, has job descriptions as though that’s all they should do and, in my view, an insulting way of implying that they weren’t very bright and this is what they were supposed to do and no more and no less.
It applies to shops too but a recent altercation at NBH highlighted the hoops you have to go through to go through to get things done.
It was only after several phone calls and several people, that I was finally allowed to go into the building where I had booked the room I was trying to get into. I realise security is an issue but with an old BBC pass and a photo of myself plus driving licence and a BAFTA membership card it was still a good 15 minutes wasted.
There are, dare I say, older commissionaires who have been doing the job from our days and thanks to them and without them I doubt if anyone would be attending meetings without the "correct" details, sir!
Barry Bonner
Ah! Yes, the famous car park jobsworths…
I did a play in 1992 ("Black Poppies" produced by the delightful Andrée Molyneux) which was shot entirely on the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. We were using the EastEnders’ insert unit Talbot Express van (bit of a misnomer there!) and I had to drive it each day to the venue as nobody else would volunteer.
I arranged to park it overnight in the Horseshoe car park.
You wouldn’t believe the aggro I had from the ‘suits’ who parked there including a confrontation one morning from a high up manager who said it was a disgrace to allow a technical vehicle in ‘his’ car park. My somewhat direct reply prompted him to complain to my manager who said, "..Sorry, we wish to apologise for using your car park in order to make a TV programme"! Good for him.
The van was so overloaded that I very nearly overturned it on a roundabout on the North Circular frightening my engineer passenger Andy Eisner!
Ian Hillson
Back in the 1970s I worked for TV News in the Spur and Nigel, a good friend of mine, found a pass for the executive horseshoe car park blowing around in the corridor. The first thing to do was to take it along to our Stills Laboratory on the sixth floor who had excellent photographic duplicating kit to see if they could forge some more – then everyone could have one!
Sadly, this wasn’t possible as they printed them on that cyan colour paper (like you see on banknotes) which is almost impossible to replicate.
So Nige was left with no alternative but to stick it on the windscreen of his Mini and be waved in, and sometimes saluted by, a commissionaire each shift day.
Sadly Nigel Mercier died in January of this year, but he was so much larger-than-life (in every respect) that he has left me with many such vignettes such as this to replay in my head.
Greatly missed.
Mike Jordan
The pass story is a bit similar to my “cunning wheeze” when I left the BBC from KA.
They were getting rid of staff and I had to go whilst the BBC centrally was still paying the redundancy as they were threatening to make departments pay – which might have been a problem.
Obviously I had to return my BBC pass, but before I did, it mysteriously dropped into a nearby printer/copier place (before we all had good computer colour laser printers) and found the result getting cut up and put in plastic sheath.
Worked for several years until they changed the design and put clever chips into them. I still have it of course.
Pat Heigham
I recall a tale, when the spur car park was available – a presenter arrived late and in an awful hurry. "Leave it there, sir" said a helpful commissionaire. "I’ll park it when there’s a space".
So driving the Isetta bubble car forwards into a space up against the wall, he then realised that the door opened outwards to the front (and he was tight to the wall).
At that point he discovered NO reverse gear, as it was taxed as a motorbike and the reverse had been disconnected! Dunno how long it was before he was rescued…..
The story of an objecting (objectionable?) manager must have spawned the remark that " If the BBC didn’t have to make programmes, it would run on oiled wheels!"
Albert Barber
You may remember Bernard Lodge, “Dr Who” Titles and an excellent Graphic Designer.
He rushed in late and a commissionaire let him park his mini in the front VIP car park at TVC.
Bernard, so I’m told, had other things on his mind and when he went to the main car park couldn’t find his car. Thinking that he had travelled by train, he went home.
Over several days he wondered where his car was. Several weeks later he had a phone call asking if the mini in the VIP carpark was his.
Both were reunited.
Albert Barber
I remember fondly those guys on the gates at various BBC buildings that would let you park your car in the central reservation of TVC for " just a couple of minutes".
They were considerate and understanding and you never took advantage of their generosity. They used something that is lacking now it seems, initiative and thinking for themselves. Now, management, not just the BBC, has job descriptions as though that’s all they should do and, in my view, an insulting way of implying that they weren’t very bright and this is what they were supposed to do and no more and no less.
It applies to shops too but a recent altercation at NBH highlighted the hoops you have to go through to go through to get things done.
It was only after several phone calls and several people, that I was finally allowed to go into the building where I had booked the room I was trying to get into. I realise security is an issue but with an old BBC pass and a photo of myself plus driving licence and a BAFTA membership card it was still a good 15 minutes wasted.
There are, dare I say, older commissionaires who have been doing the job from our days and thanks to them and without them I doubt if anyone would be attending meetings without the "correct" details, sir!
Barry Bonner
Ah! Yes, the famous car park jobsworths…
I did a play in 1992 ("Black Poppies" produced by the delightful Andrée Molyneux) which was shot entirely on the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. We were using the EastEnders’ insert unit Talbot Express van (bit of a misnomer there!) and I had to drive it each day to the venue as nobody else would volunteer.
I arranged to park it overnight in the Horseshoe car park.
You wouldn’t believe the aggro I had from the ‘suits’ who parked there including a confrontation one morning from a high up manager who said it was a disgrace to allow a technical vehicle in ‘his’ car park. My somewhat direct reply prompted him to complain to my manager who said, "..Sorry, we wish to apologise for using your car park in order to make a TV programme"! Good for him.
The van was so overloaded that I very nearly overturned it on a roundabout on the North Circular frightening my engineer passenger Andy Eisner!
Ian Hillson
Back in the 1970s I worked for TV News in the Spur and Nigel, a good friend of mine, found a pass for the executive horseshoe car park blowing around in the corridor. The first thing to do was to take it along to our Stills Laboratory on the sixth floor who had excellent photographic duplicating kit to see if they could forge some more – then everyone could have one!
Sadly, this wasn’t possible as they printed them on that cyan colour paper (like you see on banknotes) which is almost impossible to replicate.
So Nige was left with no alternative but to stick it on the windscreen of his Mini and be waved in, and sometimes saluted by, a commissionaire each shift day.
Sadly Nigel Mercier died in January of this year, but he was so much larger-than-life (in every respect) that he has left me with many such vignettes such as this to replay in my head.
Greatly missed.
Mike Jordan
The pass story is a bit similar to my “cunning wheeze” when I left the BBC from KA.
They were getting rid of staff and I had to go whilst the BBC centrally was still paying the redundancy as they were threatening to make departments pay – which might have been a problem.
Obviously I had to return my BBC pass, but before I did, it mysteriously dropped into a nearby printer/copier place (before we all had good computer colour laser printers) and found the result getting cut up and put in plastic sheath.
Worked for several years until they changed the design and put clever chips into them. I still have it of course.
Pat Heigham (is this a repeat)
I recall a tale, when the spur car park was available – a presenter arrived late and in an awful hurry. "Leave it there, sir" said a helpful commissionaire. "I’ll park it when there’s a space".
So driving the Isetta bubble car forwards into a space up against the wall, he then realised that the door opened outwards to the front (and he was tight to the wall).
At that point he discovered NO reverse gear, as it was taxed as a motorbike and the reverse had been disconnected! Dunno how long it was before he was rescued…..
The story of an objecting (objectionable?) manager must have spawned the remark that " If the BBC didn’t have to make programmes, it would run on oiled wheels!"
Albert Barber
You may remember Bernard Lodge, “Dr Who” Titles and an excellent Graphic Designer.
He rushed in late and a commissionaire let him park his mini in the front VIP car park at TVC.
Bernard, so I’m told, had other things on his mind and when he went to the main car park couldn’t find his car. Thinking that he had travelled by train, he went home.
Over several days he wondered where his car was. Several weeks later he had a phone call asking if the mini in the VIP carpark was his.
Both were reunited.
