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Language: en

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This is London's Cable Car, the £60 million boondoggle

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that the Mayor of London insisted was
a vital part of the city's transport infrastructure.

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And here's the thing.
That is a really tall cable car, 90 metres.

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If you want a cable car with a view over the city,

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you don't need it to be that high.

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Why is it so tall?
Well, the answer to that is down the river,

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at the QE2 Bridge, at the Dartford Crossing, which for many years has been the height limit

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for vessels, cruise ships, warships coming into the city.

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Now, when this cable car was built, one of the requirements was that those ships could not be impeded.

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They must still be able to come into London.

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But here's something you might not know.

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This height, this expensive height here, is a compromise. Every metre you ratchet up the height,

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you also ratchet up the cost, but it has to be
high enough to let those vessels pass underneath.

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And the thing you might not know is that, well, the way they bodged it

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is that if a tall ship needs to
come underneath at low tide,

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they will remove all the gondolas

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and make sure there's no passengers on board. Put everything safely away.

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So that the wire, unladen, raises up enough to let boats pass.

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It is a bodge job at best.

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but then that pretty much sums up
the Mayor of London.

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And that is something you might not know.

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