CLOCK-UP: Is this the city where time stood still?
TIME is standing still for shoppers in Peterborough as more than half of the city centre clocks are on the blink.
TIME is standing still for shoppers in Peterborough as more than half of the city centre clocks are on the blink.The clockwork clanger is causing considerable confusion among visitors to the city, some of who can be clearly seen scratching their heads in amazement while looking at the misleading dials.
Amazingly, out of the eight clocks in the city centre, only two actually give the correct time.
Walking down Bridge Street or in Cathedral Square at 2pm, pedestrians could be forgiven for wondering why the shops are open at all – as three shops clearly display that it's way after the 5pm closing time.
The clocks at Marks and Spencer, the Guildhall, NatWest, Asda and outside the magistrates' court all display the wrong time.
But it's the town hall which causes shoppers the most concern.
At 140-years-old it looks spectacular after its recent restoration, but it is failing in its purpose by displaying a time that's more than six hours fast.
A spokeswoman from Peterborough City Council, which owns the clock on the town hall, said: "When we got the clock back last November we were told it would take about three months for the mechanics inside to balance and for it to keep the correct time.
"We hope that next month it will start to settle down and prove its use to shoppers in Peterborough, instead of just looking good."
Asda bosses didn't know their clock was five minutes fast, but as soon as The Evening Telegraph highlighted the problem they agreed to take action.
George Woods, events co-ordinator, said: "We had a power cut last week and we think that might have kicked it out of sync. But now we're aware of the problem, we will be taking action as soon as we can."
Staff at Marks and Spencer in Bridge Street say one shopper was so annoyed by their faulty clock that she wrote a poem about it addressed to the manager of the store.
A spokeswoman said: "We do appreciate that our clock tells the wrong time and that this can be annoying for customers.
"However, we are in the process of getting it fixed, but because it is an old clock this is taking some time."
NatWest in Cathedral Square has also called in the clock repair squad after its clock went wrong a few weeks ago.
Kylie Benbow, customer services manager, said: "We are aware of the problem because it's also annoying for us when we check the time before walking into the branch.
"We should have an engineer round sometime this week."
But there is some hope!
The Guildhall clock, right, proved to be one of the few reliable timepieces in the city centre, correctly displaying the correct time when our photographer visited.
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Weather for Peterborough
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Today
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Temperature: 2 C - 8 C
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Wind direction: North west
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