The Monumental C**k Up Thread.

[BrumJim]

1976 Montreal Summer Olympics was a disaster, although the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics were similarly bad.
Although both actually took place.

In the 'never got completed' category we have the National Monument of Scotland and the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.

 

[Drago]

The Austin Allegro.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Leeds Mass Transit
Upto £100 million has been spent so far and we've got no trams and no trolleybuses either, though we did get some purple bendy busses for a couple years. Theres a long list of reasons why nothing has been built, and now the latest proposal is some sort of 'West Yorkshire Mass Transit' which I predict will amount to didly squat.

Special mention to the Leeds Park and Ride schemes (2 out of 3 are closed on Saturday, go shop online I guess) and to the White Rose Railway Station which can be seen but not stopped at after contractors ran out of money last March.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, here's a map of the old tram system which was closed in 1959 despite being one of the largest and most advanced in the UK at the time.

 

[Beebo]

London’s bendy buses. Twice the length and half the height of a double decker.

Also the water cannon which Johnson didn’t have permission to use, so were never used.

 

[Drago]

HS2

To be fair that's a pretty good example. £33 billion spent and not a single mile of track in operation.

In the same period of time China has built 12,500 miles of new track.

 

[Sharky]

Trains too big for tunnels
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64717605.amp

 

[Reynard]

The Millennium Bridge: a pedestrian bridge across the River Thames, nicknamed the "Wobbly Bridge”

Millenium Bridge is nothing. Look up the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Now *THAT'S* a cock-up...

 

[Reynard]

Just asked Mrs D and she came up with a real left field cock up.

Operation Barbarossa. A monumental cock up of supreme proportions, and I'm surprised Mrs D even knew about it.

I've a volume dedicated to military cock-ups. Nothing new, there... You'd think that Hitler and his generals would've learned from Napoleon's experiences of the same. Whoops!

Invasion of the Dardanelles in WW1 was another...

 

[HMS_Dave]

Here's ten.

1. Gallipoli Campaign
2. Edward VIII
3. Lancia Cars in Britain
4. Type 45 Destroyer
5. The Mullet Hair "style"
6. Shell Suit invention
7. Pudding Lane Bakeries in the 1600's
8. Balls Trimmers.
9. Eldorado TV series
10. Quint in Jaws, Destroying his own boat engine.

 

[Seevio]

HS2

There are clues but we can't definitively declare it a cock up until it is operational or cancelled.

 

[ColinJ]

You'd think that Hitler and his generals would've learned from Napoleon's experiences of the same.

I reckon that many of Hitler's generals were well aware how crazy most of his plans were, but probably thought that it would not have been wise to tell him so!

I'm sure that many US Republicans now feel the same way about Trump...

 

[Andy in Germany]

Many years ago, I worked with a lady who's husband worked in procurement for British Rail (BR).

BR ordered 2 snow clearing units from Sweden, (as the Swedish know a bit about snow), at huge cost.

The units were transported by road / ferry from Sweden to the UK, to a depot in the Midlands. They were greeted by the great & good of the (at that time, nationalised) rail industry, including the British Rail Brass Band. Plus of course press & TV crews from both countries.

They lifted the 1st unit off the truck onto the tracks, and it missed.

Apparently, Sweden runs a different gauge to the UK.

Red faces all round. BR tried to blame the Swedes, who simply replied, this is the (our) standard, you didn't specify anything else.

Back on the truck, back to Sweden for modification, (at more huge expense).

Sweden has the same track gauge as the UK

Possibly it was Finland?

 

[Punkawallah]

The Austin Allegro.

Colloquially known as the ‘all aggro’.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Here's ten.

1. Gallipoli Campaign
2. Edward VIII
3. Lancia Cars in Britain
4. Type 45 Destroyer
5. The Mullet Hair "style"
6. Shell Suit invention
7. Pudding Lane Bakeries in the 1600's
8. Balls Trimmers.
9. Eldorado TV series
10. Quint in Jaws, Destroying his own boat engine.

Eldorado is an interesting one, after it failed the BBC took a double loss as the custom built sets were not suitable to sell on as anything other than a TV set as they were not built as homes.

 

[Jameshow]

Bradford live....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crm2nxg4e0do