Too many defective speeding prosecutions - so ACPO bluff harder

PR487: Too many defective speeding prosecutions - so ACPO bluff harder
news: for immediate release


According to the Times today, The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) will send a crack defence team to prosecute drivers who dare to challenge their speeding fine.
Safe Speed says that ACPO is merely upping their bluff. The biggest bluff of all is that the resources do not exist to prosecute every speeding case. If drivers stopped accepting fixed penalties the system would collapse in weeks.
This is the real reason for the ever increasing 'bluff and bluster' tactics - they need to force us into paying fixed penalties because neither the courts nor the CPS can possibly cope with much of an increase in cases.

Paul Smith, founder of SafeSpeed.org.uk, said:
"This action by ACPO is a dirty trick - they are attempting to put access to justice beyond the pocket of ordinary drivers. They are effectively saying - 'you are guilty because we never make mistakes'. But the newspapers are full of Police mistakes, and, to make matters worse, one of the key pieces of police prosecution equipment is downright dodgy. So dodgy, in fact, that it has been christened the 'dodgyscope' by Internet users."

According to The Times {verbatim quote}:
{Mr Hughes said: "I respect competent lawyers who go through the evidence on behalf of their client. My job is to make sure the prosecution case is as robust as the defence."
He criticised anticamera groups such as Safe Speed and the Association of British Drivers, which encourage drivers to challenge speeding tickets.
"What these groups have done is encourage people to believe that there is something inherently wrong with enforcing the law."}

Paul Smith replied: "What is wrong, Mr Hughes, is the overzealous application of a law that simply isn't up to the job. You are damaging confidence in the justice system, the Police / public relationship and road safety itself. You can't even comply with the speed limit yourself, because you recently had 6 driving licence points for speeding."
"We encourage drivers to investigate the case against them. I would go as far as to say that MOST speeding cases are DEFECTIVE on the prosecution side. If you dig deep enough a fatal defect is quite likely to emerge. If you know you were not speeding according to law, or you do not know who the driver was at the time of the alleged offence then you are likely to have a winnable case."
"The whole thing has become a petty war of technicalities with ACPO and the Police throwing ever increasing resources against an increasingly untrusting public. In this ridiculous war road safety has been forgotten. Mr Hughes may well claim that the law is on his side but however much he may bleat about the law the fact is that millions upon millions of speeding prosecutions are not saving lives on the road. It isn't 'the law' that matters most here, Mr Hughes, it's the number of roads fatalities. You should know better."

Motorist's Prosecution Checklist:
* The speed limit must be correctly signed in accordance with the regulations (Folly Bottom, Wylye, North Wales, Cleveland, Starcross and others)
* A speed limit order must apply correctly to the location in question. (Lincolnshire, London, North Wales and others)
* The paperwork must be correct and in accordance with all laws and regulations. (Dorset, Cleveland)
* The paperwork must be delivered on time
* The Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) cannot be served by second class post. (South Wales)
* Papers to issue a summons must be laid within 6 months of the date of alleged offence.
* The equipment must be calibrated correctly.
* The operator must use the equipment in accordance with rules and guidelines.
* The operator must form a prior opinion of speed in excess of a speed limit.
* Arguably only a Police constable is qualified to form a prior opinion of speed in excess of a posted speed limit.
* Communications equipment must be switched off while measurements of speed are taken (including the operator's mobile phone).
* The site must be suitable (restrictions include near power lines)
* The equipment must be working properly.
* Evidence must be disclosed to the defence 7 days before the trial on request or it becomes inadmissible.
* If you don't know who the driver was at the time of the alleged offence you may well have a statutory defence in RTOA1988 S172(4) as amended
* The court must be impartial (And since the Magistrate's Court Service are usually a camera partnership member it is far from clear that the court has the required degree of impartiality.)
* The process must not breach your Human Rights (A 'right to silence' case is ongoing awaiting verdict at the ECHR at Strasbourg.)
* In the case of Gatso fixed speed cameras the transit of the calibration marks in the two photographs must match the speed recorded by the radar speed meter.
* The prosecution must turn up in court with the correct paperwork.
* Witness statements cannot be signed by machine. (North Wales)
* The LTI20.20 (common laser speed meter used in virtually all mobile speed camera vans) is subject to various operating anomalies, notably 'slip effect'.
A failure in any of these areas will usually be fatal to a prosecution case.

Notes for editors
=================
The Times today:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1826722.ece

About Safe Speed
================
The Safe Speed road safety campaign is primarily the work of engineer-turned road safety analyst Paul Smith.
Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 51, an advanced motorist and road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience, has carried out over 20,000 hours working on the campaign with well over 5,000 of those hours researching the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK road safety. In addition to those 20,000 hours, Paul has funded to campaign to the tune of £10,000.
We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything carried out by any other organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed cameras make our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a number of major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speed cameras, and the whole "speed kills" system of road safety.
The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in the first place. Far from saving lives, speed cameras are a dangerous distraction.
Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriate enforcement of motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automated speed enforcement is neither safe nor appropriate.
Safe Speed is very slimly funded by voluntary contributions to the web site.
We are urgently seeking improved funding.
The Safe Speed web site contains more than 350,000 words of road safety analysis and information. We are seeking publishers for 'the book of the web site'.
It has turned out to be quite an amazing story and there are opportunities for journalists and broadcasters to explore how all this came about, what it means, and where road safety has gone so badly wrong.


Contact Safe Speed
================
description: Safe Speed road safety campaign
web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/
email: psmith@safespeed.org.uk
telephone: > 01862 893030 < href="http://www.safespeed.org.uk/prindex.html">http://www.safespeed.org.uk/prindex.html
Recent press releases (since November 2004) are automatically and
immediately
uploaded to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR
=================================================================
Scrap Speed Cameras Petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/scrapcam
=================================================================
Paul Smith is back in North Scotland and the
phones are being 'looked at'. You can reach him
on 07799 045553. With luck the main phones and
ISDN will be repaired shortly (Still waiting).

'Super wardens' go on patrol

I am sure that there are Data Protection issues that will arise.

Meanwhile, off to buy a head mounted camera. The footage will be used as evidence in any up-coming Penalty Charge Notice challenge and complaint against the local authority:
"May I just point out that these bay markings do not comply, therefore your actions are unlawful."

Manchester Evening News

Alan Salter 23/ 5/2007
PRIVATELY-employed `super wardens' are to go on patrol in Greater Manchester wearing head-mounted video cameras.

The 20 parking attendants, who work for NCP Services, will be the first in the country to be issued with the equipment.

Their main role is to issue parking tickets but under legislation brought in last year they will also have powers to give on-the-spot fines for anti-social behaviour.

Salford council has asked the wardens to issue penalties up to £80 for offences which include littering, flyposting and allowing dogs to foul the pavement. NCP will use the film as evidence to back up their wardens if any fine is challenged and also in the event of any attack or abuse.

In some cases the footage could be handed to police and used in court.

The first wardens fitted with the RoboCop style cameras will go on patrol in Salford from the NCP HQ in Eccles next month.

The use of head-mounted cameras was piloted by British Transport Police in Manchester last year and Greater Manchester Police followed suit seven months ago in Little Hulton, Salford, when two officers began using them on the beat.

Local authorities were given greater powers to tackle anti social behaviour under the 2006 Clean Neighbourhoods Act and Salford is one of the first to take advantage of the legislation.

Coun Derek Antrobus said: "We have 20 parking attendants walking around the city and we decided that they might as well look at more than just cars. One of the biggest issues on people's minds is the disrespect that some are showing to our environment. The police have not got the resources when they are chasing criminals so this makes a lot of sense.

"We will be monitoring it very carefully and hopefully the residents of Salford will notice the difference."

NCP's James Pritchard said: "Salford council is very keen to do this and we told them that we were happy for our parking attendants to get involved but they would need a better way of getting evidence.

"The cameras will give a much better standard of evidence in case of disputes or assaults on the attendants.

"We are more than happy to work with the police and pass on any evidence we gather. It can only help them to have people out on the streets with a camera all the time.

"Our attendants do a very good job but they are not police officers and they have very specific powers. It makes the job more interesting."
What do you think of the cameras? Have your say.

This refusenik won't pay tax to 'insolvent body'

Christopher Booker's Notebook

21st May 2007



John Kelly, a retired engineer from Exmouth, Devon, is a cussed fellow. For three years he has withheld part of his council tax because he objects to it being given to what he regards as an "insolvent body". Twice he has been taken to court, and five times visited by the bailiffs, but so far not a penny has he handed over.
The South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) is one of those parts of John Prescott's legacy left high and dry when an elected assembly was rejected in the North-East. Prescott set up eight unelected assemblies, as part of his plan to divide England under regional governments, hoping to have them legitimised as democratically elected bodies in referendums.

Despite the massive thumbs down to this idea, his assemblies are still in being, costing us all £360 million a year. They have been given statutory planning powers, including the right to compulsory purchase. But without democratic legitimacy, their status looks questionable, as Mr Kelly has tried to highlight.
In particular he focused on the fact that his own assembly, the SWRA, took on 50 employees, including a liability to fund their pensions. If regional assemblies are to be abolished, as the Tories half-promise to do, who will pick up that bill? The SWRA has no assets. Technically, therefore, it is what accountants call an "insolvent body", to which it is not right, Mr Kelly argues, to give ratepayers' money.
Faced with this anomaly, the SWRA linked up with two other bodies, the South West Local Government Association and the South West Provincial Employers Organisation (SWPEO), which runs training schemes for local employers. These three were given a shared secretariat, and it was then claimed that, because the other bodies did have assets, these would cover any pension liability.
In 2004, however, the Certification Officer, the watchdog on employers' associations, questioned this arrangement. In February the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) confirmed that "there has not been a formal amalgamation of the SWPEO, the SWRA or any other body", and that the Certification Officer was still looking into the matter.
When I put this to the SWRA, the reply on behalf of its chief executive, Bryony Holden - who said she was now chief executive of all three bodies - might have come from a different planet. For a start she denies that the SWRA has any employees at all.
They all now work for the "secretariat" that manages the affairs of all three bodies. The SWRA therefore has "no pension liability". (Last year, in a letter to a local MEP, she stated that it had a "£1 million liability".) Even though the SWRA doesn't have a pension liability, the letter went on, one of the other three bodies has "ring-fenced" assets of £2.3 million, just in case a "future pension liability" should arise.
All this might sound plausible if the PAC had not determined that no legal merger between the three bodies has taken place. The Certification Officer confirmed last week that his enquiries are "still ongoing".
Mr Kelly therefore continues to say he will be happy to pay his council tax when his council can prove that its contributions to the SWRA are properly authorised. The bailiffs still haven't removed any of his goods, even though his debt after three years totals £838.
Meanwhile, the unelected SWRA continues to exercise its statutory powers, such as its plan, which has provoked uproar in Bath, to force the local council to accept an additional 15,500 houses around the city, many of them on green belt land. And if the people of Bath don't agree with the diktats of this unelected body, what are they democratically supposed to do about it?
Without a constitution the Galileo project crashes
How would the millions of owners of Navstar tracking devices, using free signals provided by the US government's global positioning satellites, feel if they had to pay a tax to the EU to help fund its own rival satellite system, Galileo? This is what would happen under the latest proposal from Brussels to bail out the most ambitious technical project the EU has ever embarked on.
Galileo was designed to establish the EU as a space superpower in its own right, and would pay for itself, in three ways. It could be used, first, to run an EU-wide road charging system; second, to charge all aircraft using EU air space, the famous "Single European Sky''; and, third, to sell missiles and other satellite-based weapons systems to China and other countries, making them dependent on Galileo.
All that member states such as Britain would have to do was put up the initial research and development funding - our bill is now approaching £500 million - and the money would then pour in. But one after another those funding schemes have fallen apart.
Galileo-based road charging proved technically unworkable. Charging airlines for using EU air space would have provoked retaliation from the US and others. The Chinese, having been made full partners in Galileo for a knock-down price, walked off with the technological know-how to set up a GPS system of their own.
The commercial consortia set up to run and pay for Galileo, seeing their potential sources of income dry up, pulled out. The only hope left, according to a "Communication" just put out by the E uropean C ommission, is to impose a levy on every satellite receiver sold in the EU, to pay for what has become its biggest white elephant.
There is another problem. The EU hasn't actually got the legal power yet to operate a GPS system. It was due under the EU's aborted constitution, which is one reason why they are so keen to get some version of it back on track. But why bother?
Galileo now seems so doomed that we may have to write off the £500 million we have spent on it, as just another of what our Government likes to call the "self-evident benefits" of Britain's EU membership.


The fastest voters in the West
One of the wonders of modern democracy is the voting system in the EU Parliament. Most of the time, voting by the 785 MEPs in their vast glass and concrete chamber in Strasbourg is by show of hands. But on contentious issues they vote electronically. Visitors gaze in awe as MEPs punch away frenziedly at buttons, deciding issues they know nothing about, according to detailed lists supplied by their whips. In this way, as many as 1,500 amendments have been dealt with in 90 minutes. Thus are the laws that govern us made.
A keen student of this system is Graham Booth, a Ukip MEP, who describes a typical occasion this month when an amendment on a report on "EU Partnership in the Horn of Africa" was said to have been "rejected" on a show of hands. A call for an electronic vote proved that, on the contrary, the motion had been accepted - by 567 votes to 17. The chairman blamed this discrepancy on MEPs not "holding their hands high enough".
When Mr Booth and a Czech colleague last year presented the president of the parliament with a list of similar blunders, calling for electronic voting to be mandatory, it was pointed out that the average two seconds longer needed to record each vote electronically might cause MEPs to miss their lunch or even their flights home. Naturally, lunch won over democracy.

Petition Calling for Royal Pardon for Metric Martyrs

Petition Calling for Royal Pardon

The Metric Martyrs Campaign is launching a petition to call for a posthumous Royal Pardon for Steven Thoburn on behalf of his wife Leigh, and children Rhys, Georgia and Jay, and pardons for the other three convicted Martyrs, John Dove, Julian Harman and Colin Hunt.

You can sign the petition here

We are eternally grateful for your support. Donations can be made here

Please forward this link to friend, family and colleagues.

Together we can make it happen.


Steve Thoburn 1964 - 2004

Metric Martyrs Victory goes around the world ...

...and as it does we would like to take the opportunity of thanking everyone who has supported us every inch of the way.

The latest news links are listed below ...


Britain can sell in pounds and ounces indefinitely - 11:12

New Business – Thu, 10 May 2007 12:20
Fish, meat, fruit and vegetables can be sold in pounds and ounces in Britain indefinitely following a new ruling by the European Commission. Additionally fabrics, carpets, timber and other building products can be sold in yards, feet and inches, and road signs can remain in miles per hour.
...hour. After lobbying by the British Retail Consortium and the British Weights and Measures Association, the Industry Commissioner agreed that dual...
Words matched: British Weights and Measures Association
Britain can sell in pounds and ounces indefinitely

New Business – Thu, 10 May 2007 11:16
Fish, meat, fruit and vegetables can be sold in pounds and ounces in Britain indefinitely following a new ruling by the European Commission. Additionally fabrics, carpets, timber and other building products can be sold in yards, feet and inches, and road signs can remain in miles per hour.


Are we really miles better off without metric?

The Times – Fri, 11 May 2007 02:06
Sir, Your report (May 9) made me ashamed to be British. Not only have we banged another nail into the coffin marked leading global economy but, ironically, we have also banged one into the coffin marked British traditions.
...PLUMB, Malpas, Cheshire Sir, In spite of ten years notice, the metric martyr Steve Thoburn did not have dual-standard scales, only imperial scales ,
Words matched: Steve Thoburn, metric martyr
EU drops forcing Britain to go metric

Los Baos Enterprise, and 3 other sources – Thu, 10 May 2007 21:22
LONDON (AP) The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense, and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against the...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
May 10th 2007 WORLD NEWS: US lobby behind metric martyrs' victory

Economist Intelligence Unit – Thu, 10 May 2007 18:58
May 10th 2007 WORLD NEWS: US lobby behind metric martyrs' victory __ __ 2007-05-10 17:58:00 May 10th 2007 WORLD NEWS: US lobby behind metric martyrs' victory
May 10th 2007 WORLD NEWS: US lobby behind metric martyrs' victory __ __
Words matched: metric martyrs
Long campaign for sense to prevail

Western Morning News – Thu, 10 May 2007 18:13
__ 2007-05-10 17:13:00 Long campaign for sense to prevail
...(pss)) jss=1; if (jss Related stories: Victory for metric martyrs print this story to a friend Next Story Previous Story Back to list LONG...
Words matched: Steve Thoburn, Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron, metric martyrs
Briten dürfen Unzen und Pfund behalten

1&1 Internet AG, and 4 other sources – Thu, 10 May 2007 16:36
London (dpa) - Die Briten lieben ihre eigenen Maßeinheiten, und nach einem EU-Beschluss dürfen sie Unzen und Pfund auch behalten.
...Unze entspricht 28,3 Gramm; ein Pfund 453 Gramm. Die Lobbygruppe Metric Martyrs sprach von einem "monumentalen Sieg". Roz Denny, Sprecherin des...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs
Imperial system avoids the chopping block in U.K.

CNEWS – Thu, 10 May 2007 16:36
LONDON (AP) - The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
How we saved our metric measures

Evening News Norwich, and 1 other source – Thu, 10 May 2007 16:30
While many might view the European Commission's decision not to scrap pounds and ounces as a victory against Brussels bureaucrats, some traders on Norwich market today said the ruling could just lead to even more confusion.
...victory. They started their protest in 2000 after Sunderland greengrocer Steven Thoburn was prosecuted for using imperial scales, which were seized.He...
Words matched: Steven Thoburn
Metric martyr is jubilant at EU's reversal

Harlow Star, and 1 other source – Thu, 10 May 2007 15:40
A METRIC martyr is this week celebrating a European Union U-turn on plans to force Britain to scrap imperial measures. Tony Bennett, of Chippingfield, Old Harlow, is claiming victory after the confirmation yesterday (Wednesday, 09 May) that the marking of goods in both metric and imperial can continue indefinitely.
Metric martyr is jubilant at EU's reversal A METRIC martyr is this week celebrating a European Union U-turn on plans to force Britain to scrap...
Words matched: Metric martyr, METRIC martyr, Steven Thoburn
UK will not be forced to go all-metric

Sydney Morning Herald – Thu, 10 May 2007 15:21
LONDON: The European Union has abandoned plans to phase out Britain's imperial measures, a decision that will allow feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons to coexist with metres, grams and litres.
...politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense. The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said on Wednesday that it felt vindicated ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
EU gives up forcing metric on Brits

Calgary Sun – Thu, 10 May 2007 14:55
LONDON -- The EU threw in the towel yesterday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
British arrest four in '05 transit attack

SignOn San Diego – Thu, 10 May 2007 14:46
LEEDS, England British police yesterday arrested three men and the widow of a suicide bomber involved in the terrorist strike on the London transit system in 2005 on suspicion that they helped plan the attacks that killed 56 people, including the four bombers.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense, and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against the...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs
Steve's victory for the little man

The Sun – Thu, 10 May 2007 14:31
2007-05-10 13:31:00 Steve's victory for the little man
...goods in pounds FULL INDEX TOP DISCUSSIONS May 10, 2007 GREENGROCER Steve Thoburn fought for four years for the right to sell goods in pounds...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs Defence Fund, Steve Thoburn, Metric Martyrs, NEIL HERRON
British politicians, business groups celebrate victory against metric system

CHOM 97.7, and 2 other sources – Thu, 10 May 2007 12:40
- 9:50pm World News LONDON (AP) - The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
Imperiet består

NyTeknik – Thu, 10 May 2007 12:21
Det engelska måttsystemet är räddat. Tidigare har EU krävt att "pint", "yard" och "mile" skall vara avskaffade i Storbritannien senast 2010. Men nu kovänder EUs industrikommissionär och ger "Imperial Units" evigt liv.
...Units, får leva vidare. - Det är en monumental seger, säger Neil Herron till BBC News. Han är en före detta fiskhandlare och numera kampanjledare ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
Politician's plan to move Hadrian's Wall down a bit

Whitehaven News – Thu, 10 May 2007 11:39
CUMBERLAND has in the past been invaded by Jacobite armies. Well last week a Scots political party wanted the England-Scotland border extended to cover Cumbria.
...kept. I just hope there won't be any more need for metric martyrs and that the government will avoid forcing metrication down the public 's throat ."
Words matched: metric martyrs
EU Drops Forcing Britain to Go Metric

Marshall News Messenger – Thu, 10 May 2007 11:15
The old imperial measures will be allowed to coexist with the EU's metric system of meters, grams and liters, rather than be dropped by 2009, the EU said.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense, and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against the...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
European Union Abandons Plan to Phase Out British Imperial Measures

FOXNews.com – Thu, 10 May 2007 10:30
Some British politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense. The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said it felt vindicated by years of struggle that began when a trader was convicted in 2001 for refusing to sell bananas by the kilogram.
...British politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense . The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said it felt vindicated by years of...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
Britain wins battle of inches

Chicago Sun-Times – Thu, 10 May 2007 10:15
LONDON -- The European Union abandoned its plan Wednesday to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds and gallons. The old measures will be allowed to coexist with the EU's metric system.
...be allowed to coexist with the EU's metric system. The Metric Martyrs group said it felt vindicated for its struggle that began when a trader ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs
EU caves on metric, allows Britain to continue using inches

Seattle Times – Thu, 10 May 2007 10:03
LONDON The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense, and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against the...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
Briten behalten Unzen und Pfund

oe24 – Thu, 10 May 2007 09:11
Laut EU dürfen Waren "bis in alle Zukunft" sowohl im metrischen als auch im traditionellen britischen Imperialen System ausgezeichnet werden.
...Unze entspricht 28,3 Gramm; ein Pfund 453 Gramm. Die Lobbygruppe Metric Martyrs sprach von einem "monumentalen Sieg". Gegner: Zwei Systeme "verrückt "
Words matched: Metric Martyrs
LONDON (AP) - The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons. ....more

QR77.com – Thu, 10 May 2007 08:24
LONDON (AP) - The European Union threw in the towel Wednesday and abandoned its plan to force Britain to phase out the use of feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons.
...celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense and the Metric Martyrs lobbying group said it felt vindicated for its struggle against ...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
British politicians, business groups celebrate victory against EU's 'enforced metrification'

Taiwan News – Wed, 09 May 2007 20:37
The European Union has abandoned plans to phase out Britain's imperial measures, EU officials said Wednesday, a decision which will allow old fashioned feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons to coexist with official meters, grams, and liters.
...British politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense . The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said it felt vindicated by years of...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
In Gb salve pinte, galloni, libbre e miglia

Yahoo! Italia – Wed, 09 May 2007 20:22
Pubblicità LONDRA - In Gran Bretagna esultano: pinte, galloni, miglia e libbre sono salve . La Commissione Europea alla fine ha ceduto e permettera' ai sudditi di Sua Maesta' di non uniformarsi al sistema metrico in vigore nel resto dell'Unione Europea.
il piede cosi' come la libbra e le once", ha dichiarato Neil Herron , direttore del gruppo di pressione Metric Martyrs. La lotta dei negozianti...
Words matched: Steve Thoburn, Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
Politicians and business groups celebrate victory against EU's "enforced metrification"

Taiwan News – Wed, 09 May 2007 19:33
The European Union has abandoned plans to phase out Britain's imperial measures, EU officials said Wednesday, a decision which will allow old fashioned feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons to coexist with official meters, grams, and liters.
...British politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense . The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said it felt vindicated by years of...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron
EU shelves ban on imperial measures

Metro – Wed, 09 May 2007 16:10
Campaigners fighting EU plans to abolish imperial measures have claimed a victory for pounds and ounces. A deadline of 2009 had been set for metric measures to finally replace Britain's traditional imperial measures but that has now been shelved following a change of heart at the European Commission.
...heart at the European Commission. Both the Conservative Party and the Metric Martyrs campaign group say they have won the battle to keep Britain...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs
An ounce of common sense

Manchester Evening News – Wed, 09 May 2007 10:29
MARKET traders in Manchester are celebrating after EU plans to scrap pounds and ounces were shelved. After a six-year battle, Britain will be able to keep the lb, pint, gallon and the mile after a change of heart at the European Commission.
Prosecuted The plans to move towards metric-only measures saw greengrocer Steven Thoburn prosecuted for selling his produce by the pound. Mr Thoburn...
Words matched: Steven Thoburn
Victory in imperial measures battle

Horncastle Today – Tue, 08 May 2007 09:15
Campaigners fighting EU plans to abolish imperial measures have claimed victory for pounds and ounces.
...heart at the European Commission. Both the Conservative Party and the Metric Martyrs campaign group say they have won the battle to keep Britain...
Words matched: Metric Martyrs

A busy few weeks ...

Been rather hectic of late.

Was just getting ready to launch the Parking Appeals Website when a little dickie bird told us of the European Commissions 'change of heart' on metrication. This meant that the Freedom of Information documents we were sitting on detailing the same from the DtI and the Government would have to be thrown into the pot and we could go live. (We were holding back pending release of more documents which are likely to prove even more damning).

So, on Tuesday, VE Day, the press release detailing the Metric Martyrs Victory went live and burst the May 9th Europe Day celebrations for the europhiles.

The story has gone round the world and now we begin the drive to achieve the posthumous pardon for Steve and pardons for John Dove, Julian Harman and Colin Hunt ... the only four men to ever to receive convictions under the metrication regulations.

More soon ... and more on www.metricmartyrs.co.uk

EU U-turn over imperial measures in the UK

EU U-turn over imperial measures in the UK

EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen has made a U-turn and has decided to allow UK businesses to refer to weights and measures in imperial as well as metric measurements. Under EU law, imperial measures were set to be banned from 2009.
Mirror Times Telegraph Daily Mail Express AFP BBC Today

Metric Martyrs Victory ...

Fantastic news for the Metric Martyrs as the European Commission and the Department for Trade and Industry abandon plans for enforced metrication... ">more

Thanks, but no thanks

Sunderland Echo
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
by Ross Robertson

New city parking chief changes his mind about job offer

Red-faced roads chiefs have appointed a solicitor to work solely on overhauling traffic laws as part of a bid to mend the reputation of the city's disgraced car-parking system.
But the man appointed to oversee the new parking enforcement regime for Sunderland Council's highways department has decided he doesn't want the job.

Civic chiefs have been working to restore motorists' faith in parking since a damming TV documentary revealed racism and corruption among parking attendants in Sunderland last year.

Five attendants were sacked and National Car Parks, the private company operating Sunderland's parking enforcment, lost its on-street contract after the BBC's Inside Out programme was broadcast last October.

The council then suffered further humiliation when it was found that Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) governing parking in parts of Frederick Street were incorrect.

Council bosses have responded to the catalogue of blunders by drawing up a 24-point action plan to completely overhaul decriminalised parking enforcement in Sunderland and wipe out any remaining errors in the system.

As part of the shake-up, an additional solicitor has been appointed to work on parking regulations to help avoid legal pitfalls.Councillors met this week to discuss the progress being made on the changes with Bob Edwards, acting head of transport and engineering – the department which oversees parking in the city.

Mr Edwards said all but five of the 24 action-plan points had now been completed, and those outstanding were well on their way to being fulfilled.The action-plan includes new computer systems, improved ways of recording and tracking parking regulations and more checks to ensure the parking scheme and those who run it are acting correctly and legally.

Labour councillor Joe Lawson, the cabinet member responsible for transport, praised the work of Mr Edwards and said the changes could be ready to sign off by independent consultants as early as next month.

Speaking after the meeting, Conservative councillor Peter Wood said: "It seems to me that the council is slowly getting to grips with the problems, that it's getting the TROs right and the signs and lines in the right places.

But it was also revealed at the meeting that Mr Edwards was standing down from his interim post and there was nobody to replace him – because the man set to take over the job permanently has backed out.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Lawson confirmed that no one had been appointed as head of transport and engineering, though a man had got through to the interview stage but turned the job down after being offered it.

Back on the pitch

Been a hectic and a strange few weeks ... and apologies for the lack of posts.
Just back from a holiday after being incapacitated for ten days with 'man-flu.'

What began as a sore throat and no sympathy turned out to be quite a drama. Fever and temperature actually forced me to the drop-in centre ... and three and a half hours later was diagnosed with a 'virus.' This is a generic term used by the medical profession and means 'we don't know what's wrong.'

Matters got worse over the next few days and the GP confirmed ... 'its a virus.' Things were not improving ... then what came next was worthy of a Hammer House of Horrors Dracula special. My throat started to bleed profusely.
I was sent to casualty ... with comments such as 'looks like someone is at last trying to shut you up' it lightened the situation.

It took 12 hours to stop the bleeding which, according to the specialist, appeared to be from a ruptured blood vessel in my throat.

Released on parole after three days a stone and a half lighter I can recommend this weight loss programme to anyone!

So, the upates will begin again but meanwhile get ready to check out the website soon to be launched

www.parkingappeals.co.uk

We are going to up the ante and pass on all we know with a commercial operation designed to 'level the playing field' for the motorist.

The registration number on the target vehicle will ensure that it gets noticed ... all will be revealed soon.

House sellers could prefer fine to HIP

Sunday Telegraph
By Roya Nikkha, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:16am BST 16/04/2007

The troubled home information pack scheme has been criticised as "another stealth tax" amid claims that home sellers will simply reject the expensive procedure in favour of a £200 fixed-penalty fine.
From June 1, homeowners in England and Wales will be legally obliged to supply buyers with the packs, known as HIPs, which will include a certificate that rates a property's energy efficiency. Packs will also contain details of the lease, local searches and a list of items included in the sale.
It is estimated that HIPs could cost between £400 and £650 to produce. But a shortage of qualified "housing inspectors" has prompted fears that suppliers of the packs will exploit the situation and charge fees of up to £1,000.
Home sellers who market their houses without the pack face a possible fixed-penalty fine from trading standards officers of £200. Failure to produce a pack, however, will not be a criminal offence.
Nick Salmon, the commercial director of Harrison Murray estate agents and founder of the campaign group Splinta - Seller's Pack Law Is Not The Answer - said that many homeowners would "do the maths" and risk the fine.
"There is a great deal of anger among homeowners who do not see the point of these packs and consider them yet another stealth tax," he said. "Sellers have nothing but contempt for the new law and many will go ahead without HIPs, especially as a potential fine is less than the cost of the pack."
Mr Salmon also said that the majority of homeowners were "completely in the dark" about HIPs and described the Government's publicity campaign for the packs as "pathetic".
Paul Marsh, the deputy vice-president of the Law Society, and a member of its HIPs task-force, attacked the scheme as a "crackpot idea". "With packs costing in excess of £400, sellers may as well send a £200 cheque to trading standards officers saying they don't propose to have it," he said. "I am sure most trading standards officers have better things to do than knock on people's doors to see if they have a home information pack."
Mr Marsh also claimed that consumers would be forced to waste more than £200 million on packs compiled for the 500,000 properties on the market that fail to sell each year.
Michael Gove, the shadow housing minister, attacked the Government for "entirely misconceiving and mishandling" the introduction of HIPs. "As every week goes by, a new flaw emerges with the scheme which is certain to damage the stability and health of the housing market," he said.
"The only people now behind HIPs are the Government out of their vanity to meet the deadline and the pack providers for their vested interest."
The packs are widely opposed by members of the property industry, including the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the National Association of Estate Agents. Last week, it emerged that only 1,000 people have trained as inspectors, out of the Government's target of 7,400.

Seeda: Let's axe this cash guzzling quango

The Argus

By Adam Trimingham

The spending of Seeda, the South East England Development Agency, on fripperies and unnecessary expenses is a scandal.
How could any organisation splash out £115,000 on an awards ceremony in Brighton, especially one promoting green business?
What is the justification for a publicly funded body spending enormous sums on junkets such as a lunch at Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, for ten guests and four Seeda personnel costing £1,600?
Surely it is not right for chairman James Brathwaite to claim £93,000 in secretarial expenses when he is only part-time and his predecessor did not claim a penny.
There is worse to come. Mr Brathwaite is paid the staggering sum of £76,000 a year for his part-time post when this sort of position is often rewarded with a nominal fee.
Chief executive Pam Alexander's package last year was £182,000, more than many council chief executives.
The high-spending duo have been jetting around the world staying at luxury hotels. They have been flying business class when this has not been necessary.
But the worst example of profligacy is their use of taxis which cost £55,000 last year. Mr Brathwaite claimed a staggering £230 a day for cabs.
I would find it quite hard to spend that amount of time in taxis, let alone if I was trying to run a development agency.
This spending shows contempt for taxpayers in the South East which is deeply worrying. I also find it disturbing that he was allowed to get away with it.
Has no one within Seeda queried this extraordinary spending? Has the Department of Trade, nominally responsible for Seeda, held an inquiry? I very much doubt it.
Then there is the even more serious issue of companies connected with Mr Brathwaite being funded by a Seeda subsidiary with large amounts of money. Even though there is no evidence of wrongdoing, the chairman of Seeda should not have a conflict of business interests.
At this stage I should emphasise I have nothing personal against James Brathwaite. I met him when he was running the multimedia company Epic, finding him both able and personable.
I am also not against reasonable spending on hospitality by public bodies such as councils.
They sometimes need to entertain people ranging from foreign leaders to business partners.
It's right that some of them should be offered more than a drink from the water filter in the chief executive's office. But there is the world of difference between that and luxurious lunches costing lots of money.
There is something terribly wrong with the Seeda set-up which it has taken The Argus to expose.
The trouble is that Seeda is not really accountable to anyone.
It is not like a council with bloodhound-like councillors probing into forgotten corners of questionable spending.
It is not democratically elected like Parliament where the diligent Mr Baker is forever making awkward inquiries.
Seeda is not a small organisation.
It employs more than 300 people and has a budget of over £200 million.
Taxpayers are entitled to know whether they are getting value for money. The evidence uncovered by The Argus suggests they are not.
It is true that Seeda has funded some good development, such as the excellent Ropetackle scheme in Shoreham, helping to bring life to an area which had been derelict for decades.
Seeda may aid redevelopment of the Brighton Centre, where assistance is needed, and has rightly recognised that Hastings needs help.
But is Seeda needed at all? Before it there was the single regeneration budget which was run by the Government until ten years ago.
This was a much more direct and effective way of investing cash in rundown areas than the bloated bureaucracy of Seeda.
The Government already has its own Office for the South East, making Seeda extraneous and even irrelevant.
It would be far more effective if local government was reorganised to make all councils single-tier, like Brighton and Hove City Council, and big enough to run their own affairs.
Brighton and Hove is able to make its own bids for development funding without the need for Seeda to interfere.
Local and national government needs to be as simple and effective as possible. There is no justification for more than one tier of councils.
There is also no need whatsoever for any form of regional government in the South East, as it is not a region in anything but name.
Nothing in common exists between Brighton and Milton Keynes or between Oxford and Hastings.
It is not even certain where the South East begins and ends on its north-west fringe.
Few people in Sussex have any connection with Guildford, in Surrey, which is where Seeda happens to be based.
Then there is the South East England Regional Assembly. It is much smaller and more sparsely run than Seeda, but is a waste of time and money.
Few people in Sussex know or care what it does. Yet it takes £4 million a year in public money and has more than 30 staff. It has the staggering total of 112 members. No organisation can work efficiently with that many people.
In its oddly defensive website, the assembly claims not to be a talking shop or to be connected with Seeda even though it shares the same office building.
It also says that it is not a quango, although this is only playing with words since it is publicly funded and not democratically elected.
At one time the Government had the mistaken notion that England was keen on regional government. A poll in the North East proved this was not so.
If it was rejected in the North East, where there is some regional identity, there can be no case for it in the South East where there is almost none.
No doubt Seeda will hope this scandal will die down after a few days and that things will carry on as before. This should not be allowed to happen.
James Brathwaite needs to consider whether he should remain as chairman, bearing in mind his connections to businesses receiving regional funding and his lavish spending.
Seeda's board needs to examine how well it is working when it has accepted and allowed such profligacy.
The Government must look at all regional organisations in England, especially those in the South East, and work out whether they are really worthwhile.
I was against the formation of Seeda right from the start. Events have proved me right.
Unelected and unaccountable, it is a grotesque waste of cash and should be scrapped.

Your vote is required in EU poll

BBC News

Has the EU been a success?

Yes
51.49%
No
37.46%
Unsure
11.05%

7595 Votes Cast
Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion

Effort needed to change this result

Click here

All-day parking for the price of a cuppa

...or less.
When I went to buy a coffee in the cinema they just stamped the ticket and said I didn't even need to buy anything ... but I didn't want to take advantage ;-)
So, for a couple of quid you have 24 hour parking.

One must question, again, the competence of the Council's legal department in allowing such a blunder.
...so rather than 'cheeky motorists' the byline should be 'crassly incompetent council strickes again.'

Sunderland Echo
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
by Marissa Carruthers

Cheeky motorists are leaving their vehicles in a cash-strapped car park all day - and paying just the price of a cup of tea.
The Echo revealed how the £5million Sunniside multi-storey car park in the city centre cost twice as much to run it as it makes in ticket charges, losing more then £208,000 since opening.
But city centre workers who should be forking out up to £6 a day to park there are exploiting a discount deal set up to attract customers to bars and restaurants around the car park.
Visitors to businesses in the Limelight development, such as Frankie and Benny's and Nando's, can buy any item and get 24-hour parking for free if they get their ticket stamped.
So brazen motorists are buying a cuppa, for as little as £1.30, during a break from work and driving off from the car park without having to pay a fee - saving themselves £17.50 a week if they leave their vehicle there from 9am to 5pm.
Coun Bryn Sidaway, leader of the Independents, said: "People would be fools to not take advantage of this. Until the circumstances change this is going to continue and customers will continue to park there for free.
"And everybody has already paid for this through the sheer cost of the car park.
"I think it's a disgrace that the council spent more than £5million on a brand new car park and are incapable of generating the means to pay that money back."
Sunniside car park was branded a "money pit" by Tory leader Lee Martin after the Echo revealed it has brought in £192,513 during the past two years. Sunderland Council has paid £401,000 to NCP, which manages it, resulting in losses of £208,487.
But while council chiefs defended the cash-strapped car park, claiming it was still "establishing" itself, one nearby worker said she was not surprised to hear the multi-story was working at a major loss.
She claims many city centre workers are taking advantage of a deal between the multi-storey and customers of Sunniside's Limelight development, which includes the multiplex cinema, Gala Casino, Frankie and Benny's and Nando's.
The worker, who does not want to be named, said she knows of many people abusing the system.
The woman, who works near the car park, said: I had to smile to myself when I read the Echo. There are lots of businesses around that car park and I know for a fact their staff use that car park for between eight and 10 hours a day for free.
"They just pop into Nando's or Frankie and Benny's and get a drink and their tickets stamped so they get free parking for the whole day. It came as no surprise to me at all when I read the car park makes a loss. I work in a massive office and there are a number of people who I know for a fact do this. They go for a coffee in their break and get their ticket validated.
"I've reported the matter to the council on numerous occasions, but they don't seem to be doing anything."
A council spokesman said: "If any abuse of the system is reported to Sunderland City Council the city council will look into it."

• Parking at Sunniside costs 60p per hour from 8am to 6pm, 30p an hour from 6pm to 8am, and 30p an hour on Sundays up to a maximum of £1. Limelight customers are entitled to free parking if they get their tickets validated.

Echo reporter Marissa Carruthers put the parking claims to the test

Finding a parking place in any city centre is fairly difficult.
And usually finding one where you can leave your car all day safely for less than a couple of quid is even harder.
But Sunderland City Council's £5million Sunniside car park provides motorists with all of these factors.
Unable to believe that for the price of a cuppa I could leave my car in the swish new multi-storey car park for up to 24 hours, I decided to put it to the test.
And sure enough it is true.
I got a ticket, parked my car, wandered into Frankie and Benny's for a mid-morning pot of tea, costing £1.30, got my ticket validated and thought about hitting the shops for a few hours of hardcore shopping.
Unfortunately, I had to head back to the office, but if I was a Sunniside worker I could have saved myself £3.50 in just one day.
That's a staggering saving of £17.50 a week for a worker using the car park from 9am to 5pm.
It's no wonder so many chancers are playing their luck by parking there.

Threats by TV Licensing

Just built a couple of flats and have been receiving seriously threatening letters from TV LIcensing with an offensive, intimidatory tone.
I will report on developments.

39A & 39B The Westlands
Sunderland
SR4 7RP

FAO Richard Goodbody
Head of Licensing Enforcement
TV Licensing
Bristol
BS98 1TL

14th March 2007

Dear Mr Goodbody

Despite a call to your 0870 number, I continue to receive threatening letters from yourselves.

Therefore, as I have replied to you, and requested the attendance of one of your authorised officers at a mutually convenient time in order to be interviewed in compliance with the Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984, I consider any further intimidatory letters or implied threats as harassment.

Could you please arrange for an interview, as you have threatened, forthwith.
I feel it is my duty to inform you that I take your threats very seriously, and, despite my communications with yourselves, you do not appear to be exercising the same.

Please consider this letter in regard to both 39a and 39b The Westlands.

Please place on record that I welcome any court appearances, where I intend to introduce evidence of breaches of the Royal Charter and an inherent bias on EU related matters.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

Neil Herron

Comment on Eric Brittain's letter regarding Sunderland's Chief Executive

The Letters Editor
Newcastle Journal

Dear Sir / Madam

Re: Statement of Chief Executive Quesioned (Eric Brittain Letters 8th March 2007)

In his series of letters, and misleading response from Sunderland City Council Chief Executive, Ged Fitzgerald, Eric Brittain exposes what appears to be a whitewash by the Local Government Ombudsman regarding the allegation of maladministration.

No maladministration?

Sunderland City Council issued 75,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) which did not comply with the legal requirements ie. they did not contain a date of issue as well as the date of contravention. In the High Court case on the same point involving Barnet Council in August 2006 the Judge stated that: 'no financial liability arises from a non-compliant PCN.'
However, Sunderland were aware that their PCNs were non-compliant in May 2005 after receiving 'advice' from the National Parking Adjudication Service. The Assistant City Solicitor's advice in June 2005, quite obviously aware of the consequences of issuing unlawful tickets, was to 'change the wording without delay.'

This wasn't done until some 6 months later!

Over 12,000 PCNs were issed AFTER that legal instruction.

Why hasn't everyone been refunded?

If the Ombudsman had investigated correctly, and she was aware of the Judicial Review and Judge's comments, then that should have been the conclusion ... maladministration. Everyone would then be able to claim a refund.

So why the whitewash?

Surely justice, fairness and transparency is more important than the financial consequences of Sunderland having to repay all the non-compliant PCNs?

We would assume that the Ombudsman would be beyond reproach.

However, Anne Seex, the Local Government Ombudsman who brough Eric's case to an abrupt conclusion finding 'no maladministration' is the same Anne Seex who was Chief Executive of Norwich City Council in 2002 when they began Decriminalised Parking Enforcement?
This is the same Anne Seex who was in post as Chief Executive of Norwich City Council when they issued over 140,000 non-compliant PCNs between 2002 and 2005 (they only corrected theirs in August 2006 issuing £3,416,452.98 worth of non-compliant PCNs 2002 - 2006).

In March 2006, the Audit Commission published a highly critical audit letter for Norwich City Council during Mrs Seex' last year as Chief Executive leading to questions about her credibility as an independent and final arbiter on matters of maladministration in local government.

Now you have the facts ... do you think it was a whitewash?

Yours faithfully,

Neil Herron
12 Frederick Street
Sunderland
SR1 1NA

Tel. 0191 565 7143

NOTES:

Local Government Ombudsman
Anne Seex (Chief Executive of Norwich City Council 2000-2005) handles complaints from Birmingham City, Solihull, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire and the North of England.
In March 2006, the Audit Commission published a highly critical audit letter for Norwich City Council during Mrs Seex' last year as Chief Executive [25], leading to questions about her credibility as an independent and final arbiter on matters of maladministration in local government. Amongst other things it criticises "poor financial controls" and "lack of progress in putting in place improvements identified in previous audits". As an LGO Anne Seex has recently advocated "creative compensation", including awarding a holiday for the living and a tombstone for the dead[26].
Attached:
FoI Response from Norwich City Council (15.09.06) ... PCN amendment date.
FoI Response from Norwich City Council (30.10.06) ... DPE Revenue up to amendment date.

'A Law Unto Themselves'

Sky News

Updated: 09:56, Monday March 05, 2007

Bailiffs could soon be breaking into homes to seize goods for credit card debts without a court order.
A new law will leave vulnerable people at risk from 'rogue enforcers', according to Citizens Advice.
The charity has revealed nearly two thirds of bailiffs are guilty of harassment or intimidation, while 40% misrepresent their powers of entry.
Under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, which is being debated in the House of Commons, all bailiffs will be given the power to enter domestic premises and enforce consumer credit debts, including credit card bills.
At present, only certain enforcement officers - notably those enforcing magistrates court fines - have these powers.
And bailiffs can only break in to homes if they have a court order.
David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "Our evidence over many years shows that bailiffs have an appalling track record of abusing their existing powers against vulnerable people.
"They are often abusive and aggressive and use threats of violence and prison to pressurise people into paying lump sums they cannot afford."
The charity is also pressing for independent regulation of bailiffs to be included in the proposed legislation.
Citizens Advice said evidence from its network of bureaux revealed that many private debt enforcers act almost as a law unto themselves.
Checks on 500 bailiff cases revealed intimidation, harassment and excessive fee-charging were commonplace.
Citizens Advice is calling on the Government to include in the Bill clear safeguards to ensure that forced entry is only used as a last resort.

ANGER AT PLAN TO FLY EU FLAG OVER BRITAIN

Daily Express

07/03/07
By David Pilditch

A proposed new law that could see the UK’s Union Flag replaced by the EU banner was bitterly condemned yesterday.

Angry MPs and campaigners said the plan is the latest stealth attack on our treasured national emblem.

The row erupted after it was revealed that a bill going through Parliament proposes giving the EU banner the same status as the Union Flag.

If the legislation succeeds it will effectively mean the European Union flag – a circle of 12 yellow stars on a blue background – being designated a national symbol.

Plans to raise the profile of the unpopular European flag were first proposed by John Prescott. The Deputy Prime Minister wanted to introduce a new law after council buildings across the country were forced to take down the banner.

Opponents of the EU had pointed out that public buildings need planning permission to fly the EU flag because under current rules it is technically classified as an advertisement.

Only national flags including the Cross of St George, the Scottish Saltire and the Union Flag do not need planning permission.

Now campaigners – who insist the Government is “hell-bent” on surrendering to Brussels – say the unpopular plan is being pushed through by the back door.

Neil Herron, of the anti-Europe group Speakout, said: “Our campaign successfully forced the removal of the EU flag from a number of public buildings across the country.

“Now it appears the Government is attempting to introduce legislation through the back door. This is the thin end of the wedge. If it succeeds our Union Flag will be under threat.”

The move to raise the status of the European flag comes in proposed legislation aimed at raising public awareness of EU institutions.

But the European Union (Information) Bill includes a clause that would allow the European flag to be flown from public buildings.

The private member’s bill – backed by Labour peers – has been through two readings unopposed and last week reached the committee stage.

Tory MP Philip Davies said: “This is the latest in a long line of attempts to try to make us feel European by stealth.

“If this is part of some grand plan to make everyone feel European, I think it’s a pretty disreputable idea.”

The plan emerged as concerns were raised over moves by Brussels bureaucrats to force Britain’s merchant navy fleet to fly the European flag instead of the historic Red Ensign.

Shadow Transport Minister Julian Brazier warned in the Commons yesterday that plans for an EU coastguard agency could eventually lead to “the first nail in the coffin of the Red Ensign”.

But a spokesman for the Department for Transport said Mr Brazier’s claim had “no foundation whatsoever”.

Parking Ticket Cover Up ... why wasn't it reported in the Sunderland Echo?

It beggars belief that this story which potentially affects every Sunderland motorist was 'pulled' from the Sunderland issue of the Echo.
It only ran in the County Durham edition.

Sunderland residents and ratepayers are already questioning the Echo's motives on this and a number of other issues, and why is it that we have to read Newcastle newspapers to find out what really goes on in this City.

We will keep our powder dry for the time being ... I am sure that there is more to come on why the Echo fails to be a beacon newspaper for Johnstone Press. It is quite embarassing sometimes picking up the Echo ... with not enough pages of news to even cover the bottom of a bird cage adequately for a budgie with diarrhoea.

It galls me to see the Newcastle Chronicle putting our local paper to shame.

However, as the parking regime is on the verge of collapse let us hope that the Echo reports the next series of events.
After all, the fact that the Echo has taken another big chunk of money from the Council for another page and a half of corrected Traffic Orders does mean that the continued parking shambles is good for somebody's business.

Quite funny that the Traffic Order corrections detailed in the Echo are in the same locations as all the appeals which I 'lost' because the Adjudicator, Andrew Keenan, said that 'all the lines and signs were correct.'
Do we really need an investigative journalist to work that one out?
Chipper could probably solve the mystery.

Looks like a rocky ride for Sunderland City Council and the National Parking Adjudication Service as their refusal to grant me a review of the decision and dismissal of my evidence gets ready for Judicial Review.

Imagine this in the High Court ...

- In relation to Mr. Herron's parking tickets ... Can we call the first witnesses ... the Parking Attendants who issued the PCNs?

- sorry M'Lud. They have been sacked according to NCP, for amongst other things falsifying records, wrongly issuing tickets and bringing the Council and NCP into disrepute.

- can Sunderland explain why the Notice to Owners have been altered since Mr. Herron's case? To remove the word 'offence' M'Lud and make them 'more correct.'

- The adjudicator stated in his decision that 'all the lines and signs in the City were correct.' He found in favour of the Council. Can we call the Highways Officers from the Council responsible for measuring the inaccuracies in the TROs and highlight the whereabouts of the 260 sign, line and TRO errors, and introduce the Sunderland Echo ... and the page and a half of corrected TROs.

- Can we call Chief Adjudicator Caroline Sheppard and Tribunal Manager Mr. Barfoot ... on why they though Mr. Herron was 'mad, mad mad' in their conversation inadvertantly overheard and recorded by Mr. Herron?

- can we confirm how many of Mr. Herron's Parking tickets (prior to these 24 being appealed) have been cancelled and why?
Over a hundred ... because we got the PCNs wrong, we got the TROs wrong, because we got the Notice of Rejection wrong, because we got the signs wrong.

With national TV documentary crews champing at the bit this is going to be a Court Case to savour.

NB. ... note the comments at the bottom of the article of Signs expert Richard Bentley.

Sunderland Echo
City Urged to Repay Fines
Tuesday, February 06th 2007
By Marissa Carruthers

Thousands of motorists have been putting cash into parking meters when they didn't have to, a campaigner claimed today.
Parking protester Neil Herron is demanding Sunderland City Council stump up the hundreds of thousands of pounds it has dished out in "illegal" fines and charges,
Mr Herron had two parking tickets overturned after he appealed against 26 tickets which he deliberately collected at West Frederick Street.
He argued that the tickets are unlawful as there were two parking orders imposed - one saying "no waiting" and the other making a provision for parking bays.
The council is now offering free parking at the 13 bays and has closed off the pay-and-display facilities until it corrects the order. It will also cancel any outstanding parking fines and contact any affected motorists.
A spokesperson added that the authority did not plan to reimburse drivers unless they appealed against their ticket.
Mr Herron is now urging motorists issued with a ticket at that spot to contact the council for a refund.
He added: "Every single ticket issued in Frederick Street should be refunded and all the money put in the machines, too.
"They can't pay the money back unless they can identify the drivers. Because they can't identify every driver they will have to give every penny to charity.
"This could be a big charity windfall because because they have no legal authority to charge for pay-and-display there."
Mr Herron said this would amount to more than £130,000 as it costs 15p for half-an-hour at each of the road's 13 bays from 8am to 6pm. They were established in 2003.
A council spokesman said: "The council was unsuccessful in respect of two penalty charge notices relating to 13 pay-and-display parking bays in West Frederick Street adjacent to two disabled bays.
"The council will look at its position regarding refunds relating to the disabled bays, as they had lapping traffic orders (TRO), and if necessary will contact any individuals concerned.
"It does not consider refunds are appropriate where motorists would not have been misled by the signs in place and no appeals have been made."

But Richard Bentley, expert witness on parking regulations, has backed Mr Herron, saying that if the TROs were wrong in one case they are wrong in them all and a full refund should be given to everyone.
He said: "A TRO is a signed and sealed legal document. If there is something wrong with it then it is unlawful, and it is unlawful from the day it is written, not the day the fault was discovered.
"If the council does not backdate to 2003 and holds onto the money, they may commit an offence and could face a term in prison and an unlimited fine."