West Mercia Police Help People Lighten Up!

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Edwards and Inspector Ian Rouse from the Local Policing Support Team promote the Lighten Up campaignOfficers from West Mercia Police are giving out timer switches in a bid to reduce the number of burglaries over the autumn months.

With the clocks going back, the early onset of night gives thieves the opportunity to target unlit houses which appear to be empty.

Local Policing Teams across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire have been given 2,000 timer switches to hand out to people who are most at risk of being burgled.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Edwards said: “Using burglary figures from the past few years, we have been able to identify the most vulnerable communities within the area we police.

“These figures identify particular neighbourhoods which have previously been targeted by burglars at this time of year and are 2.5 times more likely to be burgled than the average household in the West Mercia force area.

“We are giving out timer switches to people living in these neighbourhoods so they can deter burglars by lighting up their house when they are out and making it look like someone is at home.

“I would like to stress that less than one per cent of homes in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire are burgled every year, but taking simple steps such as using a timer switch can significantly lower your chances of being a victim of crime.”

Local Policing Teams will be handing out the switches over the next few weeks as part of West Mercia Police’s annual Lighten Up campaign.

For those who would like a timer switch but do not receive one, they can be bought from most DIY stores for about £5.

Further home security advice is available on the force website www.westmercia.police.uk

Trading Standards Warning over Top Ten Scams

February is national scam awareness month with an incredible £4 billion now given over to fraudsters every year in the UK. Herefordshire Council Trading Standards Service is warning consumers not to fall victim to this and to beware of the following top ten scams from 2010:-

1. Doorstep Crime- always top of the list. Anyone who cold calls you for property repairs will almost certainly be a rogue trader and charge excessive amounts for poor quality and unnecessary work, whether it is for driveways, roofing, garden/tree surgery or any other work. If you are trying to find a reputable trader then search the Herefordshire Council’s Trader Register at www.traderregister.org.uk/herefordshire or phone 01432 260746

2. Cold telephone calls falsely purporting to be from Microsoft, claiming you have a virus on your pc. They will take over your computer and charge you £80 when there is nothing wrong in the first place.

3. Small business scams:- cold calls pushing advertising in fictitious publications for the emergency services or schools etc and then sending you an invoice for £400. Also Companies who cold call you claiming to be able to reduce your business rates and others who claim to get you top of internet searches.

4. Calls falsely offering to get your credit card debts written off due to legal technicalities and then taking £400 off your credit card as payment.

5. Calls and emails offering low interest loans if you pay a large up front fee-usually by wiring the money abroad.

6. Cold calls offering free gifts-eg free alarm systems which come with an extortionate monitoring contract, free carpet cleans which are merely the hard sell on a vacuum cleaner costing up to £2400.

7. Timeshare resale/Holiday clubs:- those with existing timeshares coerced to a presentation by false promise of buying their timeshare- only to be conned into signing up for a holiday club costing £5000 or more.

8. Bogus charity collections – still as rife as ever and cost genuine charities millions every year.

9. Unsolicited calls that result in high pressure selling from unscrupulous traders for extortionately priced mobility aids such as – bath lifts, reclining chairs and scooters.

10. Last but not least Prize Draw Mailings, Scratchcards, usually asking you to ring a premium rate number and implying you will receive a much better prize than you actually do.

Principal Trading Standards Officer, Tim Thorne, says:- “Typically, it’s the elderly or vulnerable who fall victim to such scams. We can all therefore play our part and be vigilant to ensure that our relatives or neighbours don’t get conned !”

“There is a very simple rule to follow to avoid being a scam victim and that is NEVER deal with ANYONE who cold calls you at home, or on the telephone and put ALL unsolicited mail / flyers in your green recycling bin”.

For more information contact Tim Thorne At Trading Standards 01432 261697

Herefordshire Council: putting people first; providing for our communities.

West Mercia Police Launches New Telephone Number – 101

It is now going to be easier for you to contact West Mercia Police.

From today, Tuesday, 8 November, you can dial 101 to report non-emergencies.

The three-digit number is to be used when reporting incidents which do not require an urgent response.

It costs 15 pence to call 101 – no matter what time of the day you call or how long you stay on the phone for – and it is available 24 hours a day.

Head of Operational Support Command, Chief Superintendent Trevor Albutt said:
[blockquote align=”left” variation=”steelblue”]We hope that giving the public this memorable number will make it easier for people to report crime and also ease the pressure on the 999 system.
Every day, we receive a number of inappropriate calls on 999 which stop or delay people with real emergencies getting through to us.
West Mercia Police aims to provide the highest levels of customer service and we hope that adopting 101 will allow us to better prioritise the most urgent calls for help.[/blockquote]

Examples of where 101 should be dialled instead of 999 include:
. If your car has been stolen;
. If your property has been damaged;
. Where you suspect drug use or dealing;
. If you want to report a minor traffic collision.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, you can access the service via textphone on 18001 101.

Chf Supt Albutt added:

[blockquote align=”left” variation=”steelblue”]This new number is already being used by several police forces, and all 43 Chief Constables across England and Wales have agreed to introduce 101 as the national police non-emergency number.

101 is much easier to remember than the existing non-emergency number and the single rate for every call means people will know exactly how much it costs to contact us.

Our current number – 0300 333 3000 – will continue to operate as a general switchboard number which should be used to speak to a particular person or department, for example, if you want to speak to your Local Policing Team.[/blockquote]

In an emergency, always call 999 if there is a crime in progress, if someone suspected of a crime is nearby, when there is danger to life or when violence is being used or threatened.

To find out more about 101 and when to use it visit http://www.westmercia.police.uk.

If you have any information that you would like to pass on to us please call on 0300 333 3000 or dial 999 if it is urgent.  If you would like to report anything anonymously please call CRIMESTOPPERS on 0800 555 111.

If the information you are giving refers to an incident number that you have please make sure you give this number to the Call Taker

KEEPING FIT!

A small group of us (5) currently attend a Pilates class in Cradley on a Monday morning but would really like to get one running in Bosbury.
Pilates can be a fairly gentle way of exercising (people do it after injury), but can also be a more challenging work out, conditioning and toning your body, strengthening muscles and improving posture, so it’s good for backs and joints.
Are there any more people out there, male and female, – (we’ve had several men in the Cradley class) who would be interested in joining us?
Please ring 640229 or preferably email jrees@bosburyandcoddington.co.uk and let us know.

Running a Village Pub…

What’s it really like..?

Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to run a village pub..?

Former landlady at The Bell, Alison Archer, has written a “warts and all” account of the first 12 months of her stint at the helm…

Titled “Cows to Corpses”, the book recounts tales of blood, sweat and tears – and that’s before Alison even bought the lease!

You can read the first few chapters here…

Peasant Farmer Ramblings

Farmers are often betrayed as moaning minnies rightly or wrongly!, usually there is a reason. Take this week, animals to feed, while trying to stand upright, but then comes the extras, water!!, all above ground pipes are now frozen solid, as well as most of the indoor pipes, I then get the smart comment, “if you had insulated the pipe it wouldn’t have frozen”, answer “try telling the bird not to use it for nesting material”, so staggering gingerly with buckets of water for thirsty who can drink faster than Young Farmers on a brewery visit, then just when you think you have finished quenching their thirst a couple of malingerers come out of the shed where they have been stuffing themselves while everybody else was out drinking, saunter up to the bowl and look at you as if to say, “come-on where’s ours…”

I am surprised at the lack of footpath-walkers recently, at least the ground is firm, or is the going too hard?

It amuses me to see walkers looking at their maps then take off across the field , not always in the correct direction!!!, but maybe they are the wise , as often those in a hurry to get from A to B miss what the countryside has to offer, if only they took time to take in what is around them, from birds and insects to crop and wildflowers, even trees are different at different times of the year.

I know we farmers do grump and moan, but we also appreciate where we are and what we are custodians of and appreciate people using our work place with the care and respect it deserves.

There are several walks that are being drawn up and will be available as a download or hard copy for you to enjoy the beauty of Bosbury and Coddington Parish.