Hello! Weekly news from Bedford, England

BoS leads with a report that two ambulance crew have been suspended after claims they made a hoax emergency call to colleagues.

It is alleged the pair, posing as control centre staff, told their workmates to rush to Luton to attend an emergency in the town.

The ambulance - with its sirens blaring - started to make its way from the headquarters in Kempston, Bedfordshire, and radioed the control room for further details.

But minutes later the paramedics realised they had been tricked after staff at the call centre told them no such incident existed.

An investigation was immediately launched to find the culprits who are believed to be two paramedics.

It is a criminal offence to make a hoax 999 call and those found guilty face up to six months in prison, or a fine of up to £50,000.

In February this year Derby fireman Andrew Richardson was jailed for 12 months for making a series of hoax 999 calls to the station he worked at.

Last year 70,000 hoax calls were made to ambulance services. It is estimated it cost in excess of £32 million to respond to these calls.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance confirmed two members of staff have been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.

BoS reports that the boss of one of Bedford's leading nightclub's has been blacklisted from drinking in every pub and club in town - including his own.

The decision was taken at the last meeting of Bed:Safe - a committee made up of policemen, council officers, landlords and nightclub managers.

The man made a local name for himself when he bought Howard Chapel on Mill Street, and converted it into Mission nightclub in 2002, which attracts hundreds of clubbers each weekend.

Following an alleged incident in a Bedford pub he is now banned from entering the door of every pub and club in the town and his photograph is circulating among their doormen to make sure he does not slip in.

The owner is the 39th person to be handed a ban this year under the BAND (Bedford Against Night-time Disorder) initiative.

The committee voted unanimously, including the representative from Mission, to ban him under the scheme - whose slogan is 'Banned From One - Banned From All' - after they were told details of the alleged incident in the Bedford Lounge, High Street but not the alleged offender's details.

The future of Mission night club currently hangs in the balance after the owner decided to put the former Howard Chapel up for sale early this month.

(Forgive me if I repeat myself - it's old age creeping in! - but I still find it difficult to believe that a former chapel could have been changed into a night-club. Somehow it seems obscene, even more so when the following morning it is noticed that some people, drinking to excess, have been sick over the gravestones which are to be found on both sides of the "Mission". I just wish that there would have been a better use of this building.)

It is reported that flat owners at Bury Court, Goldington Road, have received a leaflet ordering them to remove their doormats for health and safety reasons.

One lady said:

"I got home yesterday and found this leaflet had been put through all the flat doors telling us we've all got to remove our door mats for health and safety reasons.

I thought at first it must be a joke but apparently it's true and I am absolutely flabbergasted.

The leaflet also said we have to remove any pictures from the walls. I presume it means the corridors as surely they wouldn't be trying to tell us how to decorate our own homes. But quite what this has got to do with health and safety I fail to see.

I find it all quite ridiculous and think the housing association has got a cheek. I own my own property and if I want to have a mat outside my front door to wipe my feet on, I can't see what business that is of anyone else."

The leaflet was distributed by Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association which owns the building.

Gill Higginson, head of housing management at Pilgrims, said:

"We like to encourage our residents to take ownership of the community areas, such as corridors and staircases.

However, independent health and safety advisors have recommended that items such as pictures and doormats be removed for safety reasons.

We would be failing in our duty of care to our tenants if we were to ignore this guidance. We understand that residents may be disappointed by this decision but hope they will understand the reason for it."

BoS reports that a man accused of hacking to death two of his Polish housemates with a seven-inch butcher's cleaver has refused to make a plea.

Ghanian national Gabriel Boakye-Dankwa appeared at Luton Crown Court charged with the murder of the two men and a third charge of attempting to murder another man at a house in Grafton Road, Bedford, where they all lived.

The 25-year-old, who was flanked by four prison guards, refused to answer when the charges were read out by the court clerk and Judge John Bevan QC ordered that 'not guilty' pleas be entered.

Mr Boakye-Dankwa has been charged with the murder of Rsyzard Kraszewski, 44, and 21-year-old Adam Crol, whose bodies were found on January 13 this year at the bedsit. They both came from Miloradz, Poland.

The third charge alleges that he attempted to murder 28-year-old ex-Portuguese soldier Hugo Barrolho.

A review hearing will take place in July and the trial is likely to begin in January. Mr Boakye Dankwa was remanded in custody

A suspicious package arrived in the post at the Town Hall on Thursday, addressed to Bedford Borough Mayor, Frank Branston.

The people in charge of the post room called the police, who proceeded to gingerly open the package. Once open, they discovered a bottle-shaped object wrapped in foil.

The foil was stripped away to reveal a bottle of urine.

Mr Branston said: "I was then asked by the police if I wanted the urine DNA checked but told them not to bother. I am just relieved they did not destroy the package with a controlled explosion."

There is the possibility it was meant for Stagecoach, as the bus company has been reported using Urea, a urine-derived liquid, in its petrol tanks to help cut nitrogen emission.

A gypsy convoy is giving the council the runaround.

As they are kicked off one site they move to another and have currently moved back to where they started.

Last week travellers were camped in Mowsbury Park, Bedford.

They were removed by the police and borough council.

The gypsies then tried to get into various other open space sites in the town, including Goldington Green, Newnham Avenue allotments and land near the Oasis swimming pool.

The police and council managed to prevent the gypsies accessing these sites.

They then outwitted the forces of law and order by splitting up their vehicles and heading off in different directions.

Reunited the gypsies then parked on Hillgrounds in Kemspton, were moved on, parked on Southfields, Kempston, were moved on and are now back on Mowsbury Park.

On Friday as Bedford Borough Council went to the magistrates' court to obtain an eviction order the gypsies were leaving the site of their own accord..

• Police were called to Mowsbury Park on Wednesday night when four youths were seen to be brandishing a handgun. Worried parents who were watching a junior football match alerted the police, having seen the youngsters passing the gun around. An armed response unit attended the scene and the force's helicopter was sent to assist with the search.

A police spokesman said:

"The police helicopter was despatched along with an armed response unit after an informant passed the park and saw three boys and a girl aged around 14 playing with what seems to be a pellet gun.

Officers searched the area and recovered fired pellets but were unable to apprehend any suspects."

SIR - Your article last weekend on pay increases at the hospital was mischievous and misleading.

Despite speaking to us and being talked through the correct position, you published an extremely inflammatory article regarding board directors' pay increases.

As the hospital tightens its belt to recoup last financial year's overspend and continues to deliver high quality patient care, this was an unsettling read for all our hard-working staff and no doubt caused anxiety in our community.

To put the record straight: the pay review was for 2003/2004 and rewarded the achievement of very testing objectives, taking the hospital from zero to its current three star status.

In some cases they only brought board executives to the base line of national pay scales.

It is also worthy of mention that everything outlined above is in the public domain and that nothing was 'leaked' as you claimed.

The hospital goes to great lengths to ensure all its decisions are transparent and accountable, and, as you have experienced, makes every endeavour to help the press with their enquiries.

Your readers are no doubt concerned to read of the ward closures (though only two, not the four your article implied). These measures, and others that will follow, demonstrate the hospital's success in improving practice, so enabling people to spend less time in hospital.

The responsibility of Primary Care Trusts, the bodies which fund the hospital, is to relieve the ever-increasing demand on the hospital by providing alternatives.

My responsibility is to ensure appropriate accountability, motivation and reward for an excellent workforce who remain committed to patients in the most testing financial environment.

Helen Nellis

Chairman, Bedford Hospital

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• SIR - The last thing the NHS needed was Trust status, it is wasteful.

Money required to maintain a large clerical staff could be used for patient care and updating hospital equipment.

Doctors and nurses do a good job and we cannot do without them. We could do without so many clerical staff.

Hospitals should return to the old system which worked well for many years and was less costly.

I was a student nurse in the 1950s. We took pride in our wards with the hospital wanting a high standard.

It worked then and could do so again today.

The bosses get the rewards while the real workforce have to fight for pay increases causing bad feeling and lowering morale of staff.

Now is the time to scrap the Trust and get back to clean wards, happy contented staff, striving for high standards and just rewards.

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SIR - At the General Election the UK share of the vote for the main parties was Labour 35 per cent, Conservative 32 per cent and Liberal Democrats 22 per cent.

Yet our electoral system gave Labour a 97-seat majority over the Lib Dems and Conservatives combined.

This gives them all the power of a majority Government based on only 22 per cent support from those eligible to vote.

Labour MPs support the current system precisely because it gives them this much power.

Conservative MPs support it in the hope that one day they will benefit in the same way.

The current system is deeply undemocratic.

I ask your readers to join me in campaigning for fair votes, through a system of local MPs elected by proportional representation.

You can do this by signing the 'Make my Vote Count' petition, available through the campaign page on www.nebedslibdems.org.uk.

Stephen Rutherford

Liberal Democrat parliamentary campaigner for North East Bedfordshire

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SIR - I write with reference to your article about a lottery grant that has been awarded to Bedford to research Bedfordshire's secret war.

Why go out of Bedford to find researchers when they are here in the town?

We do not need younger people, who do not know anything about the Second World War except for what they have read in books, when there are people like me in the town who lived through the War and can give the true facts.

My husband and I have been giving talks and film shows about this for nearly 40 years.

With reference to Glenn Miller I actually met him and several band members many years ago.

There is a lot of history about the Second World War in this town but get the true facts from people who lived it.

Connie Richards

Pavenham Road, Oakley

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Sir - I have previously written to congratulate our county council for showing progress in moving from weak to poor and I hope this improvement continues.

However, in terms of the political representation, they are now 'blessed' with one of 54 members who is non-white.

The county is justifiably proud of the cultural diversity of its area and the benefits this brings.

Is the new chief executive Andrea Hill and new leader, Cllr Madeline Russell happy at this state of affairs?

It would be interesting to know their plans to progress from an almost all white council to a body which is more representative.

Cllr Randolph Charles

BOS comments that motorists have been hit with more than £17,000 of parking tickets in one Bedford street in the space of just 12 months.

Bedford Borough Council has issued more thsn 800 tickets to drivers parked illegally in the St Paul's Square area in the last financial year making it the most targeted street in Bedford.

The findings emerged after a Bedfordshire on Sunday survey. They asked Bedford Borough Council to name the street in which they issued the greatest number of tickets in the last financial year.

St Paul's Square, where tickets worth £17,530 were issued, topped the poll. A borough council spokesman said:

"St Paul's Square is a key junction in the centre of Bedford and it is important to maintain the traffic flow through this area to avoid town centre gridlock.

In addition, on market days, it is essential to make sure shoppers are safe. Illegal parking in this area causes traffic problems and creates risks for pedestrians. We urge residents to adhere to the parking restrictions."

Drivers are offered a 50 per cent discount if they pay within 14 days but the fine increases to £95 if it is left unpaid after 28 days.

To date, Bedford Borough Council has received £17,530 of the fines issued in St Paul's Square and is still awaiting the payment of 132 tickets issued during 2003/04.

BoS asserts that services which provide 'unsatisfactory value for money' are being milked of more than £100,000 to be spent on new managers.

The stated purpose of Bedfordshire County Council's Youth services is 'to create opportunities for young people's learning and development.'

However, an inspection by Ofsted earlier this year concluded that 'Bedfordshire provides an inadequate youth service' which 'deploys resources inefficiently and provides unsatisfactory value for money'.

The council's solution is therefore to 'refocus' its staff (budgeted at £20,000) and hire a new interim manager (another £20,000) who will be replaced in November by a permanent 'Quality Development Manager' (£50,000 including recruitment costs), and 'make good premises' such as accommodation (£100,000).

The figures were given at a meeting this week of the council's select committee on children and young people.

An undecided amount of money is to come from the existing youth services themselves.

Committee member councillor Kay Burley (Lab) said: "We will be rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic if we don't have the money for this project."

David Doran, the council's strategic director of learning, told the meeting that while some money would be found from existing youth budgets, the remainder would be 'new money'.

David Fraser, county council head of lifelong learning, said:

"Two interim managers will be appointed to look after operations and quality development and to tackle issues within the report.

We are making good progress in implementing our post inspection action plan.

The county council is committed to seeing the service improve ultimately for the benefit of young people in Bedfordshire."

What Bedfordshire on Sunday pointedly prefaces as "the country's worst-performing council" has come in for more criticism after sending a dozen top managers off for a three-day jolly at a luxury hotel in neighbouring Hertfordshire.

The officers stayed at Hitchin Priory which is set in 20 acres of open parkland and charges between £60 and £90 per night for a single room plus conference facilities and food.

One council worker who did not attend said: "Is this meant to help them transform Bedfordshire and if so how?

"How does the county council justify this expense and how will it benefit us the ratepayers of the county?"

A county council spokesman said:

"The three days spent at Hitchin Priory were an important investment in developing the new board of directors as a team.

"It was also crucial for developing our senior managers' leadership skills so that we have the skills we need to turn around council performance, as part of the Transforming Bedfordshire programme.

"Delegates continued working into the evenings to find ways to serve our customers better. This kind of training is common practice in all good private and public sector organisations.

"We have applied for Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funding to match the county's investment in this type of training.

"We used Hitchin Priory because we could not find any available appropriate accommodation within Bedfordshire.

"Hitchin Priory was the closest suitable venue and only a few miles from the Bedfordshire border."

A local triumph: BoS reports that maternity wards are electronically tagging babies to stop them being kidnapped.

New-born babies are having electronic tags, similar to those used for released prisoners, applied to their ankles in the first hour of life using technology supplied by Bedford company Visonic Technologies.

Under the scheme, a personalised tag, electronically-programmed, is attached to the ankle immediately after birth. Each child's position in the ward can then be monitored on a central control panel.

Any attempt to take the baby outside the authorised maternity area results in sirens sounding and doors automatically sealing. The same would happen if the tag was tampered with.

Here we go again! The Times&Citizen reports that there is a revised bid to turn the historic airship shed into an industrial warehouse will be fought off again, according to local campaigners.

Bedford Borough Council has received a new application from property consultant Rapleys to turn Cardington's Hangar One into a warehouse – and to build another behind it.

But Stop The Blot campaigners are determined to stop this, just as they did when a similar bid was withdrawn last year.

Coun Christine McHugh (Lib Dem, Eastcotts) said:

"This application is two or three metres shorter than the last one, and a little further away from the hangars.

But to my mind it is still unacceptable. It will still be a huge thing at the back of the sheds.

I think it is almost implied that this is the only way Hangar One can be saved, by turning it into a giant warehouse.

The developers keep chipping away and we will have to keep putting the same arguments forward for why this cannot be allowed to happen."

The airship works were established at the site by Shorts Brothers in 1917, and the two hangars were built in 1917 and 1926 to house the famous R100 and R101 airships.

Both hangars are now Grade II- listed buildings, and have been used in recent years for shooting films such as the James Bond flick A View To A Kill, and Batman Begins, which is in cinemas now.

The application says the warehouses would be in use around the clock, with parking for 300 cars and 78 lorries.

A spokesman for property developer Frontier Estates said "fundamental" changes had been made to the plan. The height of the proposed warehouse has been lowered and the hangar would be reclad to look like its 'twin'. He said:

"Residents will always object to developments in their back yard, but we have agreed to throw a lot of money to refurbish the shed.

It will not please everyone but it is a commercial development and if we do not develop the site, someone else will."

The Embankment is closed to traffic for the next two days, as the Kite Flying festival takes place. The skies are grey as I write (Saturday morning) but it is not raining, as it was yesterday.

The festival will be augmented by plenty of entertainments, Dragon racing, an exhibition of cars, and a French market. In one sense, then, it is like a cut down version of the popular River Festival which takes place every two years.

Kites of all varieties (see left - photographed this morning) will be on view, and there is a number of interesting stalls to visit.

The town centre is also likely to be a no-go area for traffic as a demonstration is planned, complaining about the alleged treatment of the Koran by Americans in Guantamo Bay.

Protesters will march from Queens Park to Bedford town centre on Saturday after reading media reports that the Muslim holy book was desecrated by US guards.

More than 300 local people are expected to protest against the treatment of the Koran at the US prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The marchers will congregate on open space near the Westbourne Road roundabout at 2.30pm to hear speeches in Urdu and Bengali before setting off to the town centre at 3.30pm.

They will walk over the bridge from Queens Park along Midland Road and into St Paul's Square.

The police will close off roads as the marchers approach, but there will be no permanent road closures.

A diversion will be in place and the police warn motorists in the town centre may experience a slight delay, but are urging the public to be patient and considerate.

After arriving in St Paul's Square, the marchers will return to their starting point to hear more speeches in English.

Imams from four Bedford mosques, two in Queens Park and two in the town centre, will address the protesters.

The march has been organised after a US magazine report suggested that the Koran had been flushed down a toilet and deliberately kicked by guards at the US camp.

The Embankment today midday, with dozens of stalls and a French market adding to the Kite festival and car exhibition.

Week ending 25 June 2005