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Thursday, June 9, 2011
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SPROSON STATUE IN LIMBO
PAGE 46
Roving traffic warden catches motorists without even having to stop Dwarf actor
ILLEGAL PARKERS WATCH OUT! alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
MORE motorists are to be hit with fines after a council upgraded its CCTV spy car to catch out illegal parkers. Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s “enforcement car”, below, has already raked in £120,000 since October by pulling up near bus lanes and snapping motorists taking shortcuts. Now, after being fitted with new technology, it will be used as a roving traffic warden to snare drivers parked illegally in residential streets. A new hi-tech computer system will allow the car to memorise roads with double yellow lines and other “problem areas”. It will photograph the blacklisted streets as the car passes, without the driver even having to stop. The authority hopes photographing streets automatically will cut out the practice of motorists moving illegally-parked cars temporarily until traffic wardens move elsewhere. Councillor Janine Bridges, cabinet member for city services, said: “An enforcement officer turning up often prompts people to move and come back later when they have gone.” Former Blurton councillor Roy Naylor, a governor at Newstead Primary School, said roads outside
Blurton’s three primary schools are dangerous during the school run because of parents ignoring double yellow lines. They are among the sites to be targeted by the car. Mr Naylor added: “The problem with wardens is that the parents move elsewhere on the day that they are there and then go back to normal the day after. “With the car they won’t know when it is coming.” The Sentinel reported in April that the CCTV car had issued fines to 3,500 motorists in Hanley since October for using the controversial Huntbach Street bus lane to reach two city centre car parks. Motorists who do not drive along the 20-metre bus lane face a 1.3-mile detour along Potteries Way to use the two car parks in Meigh Street. Pam Harrison, of Oversley Road, Fegg Hayes, was among those hit with a £60 fine after being snapped by the car. The 60year-old said: “They will get the money in
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A DOCTOR has told a tribunal how his department was so understaffed he would often work more than 12 hours before returning to the hospital to start again a short time later. Andrew Tarnaris is one of four doctors who say they are owed “many thousands” in overtime by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. See Page 3
COUNCILS have pledged to monitor developments at stricken care home provider Southern Cross after it announced job cuts. The firm operates 10 homes across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire. Fears have been raised that cuts could mean that some frail pensioners are forced to move. See Page 7
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however they can. Motorists in the city seem to be being hit with everything. “I don’t agree with people parking wherever they like, and the school run can be a nightmare if people block driveways, but I’d like to see the money raised by the car actually spent on keeping services open.” The current equipment used in the cars requires an operator to man the recording equipment and manually trigger photographs, meaning there are two officers in the car. It will now be deployed with only a driver around schools, hospitals and main access roads. The software means the car can instantly record data, which is then examined by enforcement officers who decide whether to issue tickets. If they do, a penalty charge notice will be sent by post to the registered owner of the vehicle traced by its number plate. Dr Bridges added: “With this new software, the car can drive down a street and automatically detect anyone parked in contravention. “It’s useful, for example, where people block a road near a school or hospital, preventing essential access or potentially causing an accident.”
A FILM star has been warned that he faces jail after he indecently exposed himself to a teenage girl on a train. Dwarf Nicholas Read, who has starred in films such as Harry Potter and Star Wars, was convicted after his victim told a court how she saw him unbutton his trousers and place his hat on his crotch. She said he then touched himself in a lewd manner. See Page 2
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BY ALEX CAMPBELL
is facing jail