DVLA Warns Over Scam

WARNING OVER SCAM TARGETING DRIVERS

The DVLA has issues a fresh warning over scams targeting drivers.

The body responsible for car tax and vehicle licensing has warned drivers to be on the lookout for new phishing scams this new year.

Phishing scams dupe innocent victims into handing over personal details such as bank information, often by sending messages claiming to be from a legitimate company or organisation.

The DVLA has recently released images of the type of scam messages purporting to be from it and trying to fool drivers into handing over personal data or making payments to the fraudsters.

Criminals use email and text messages to pose as the DVLA and divert victims to fraudulent websites to enter their personal and bank details. The messages usually claim either that a driver has overpaid their car tax and is due a refund or that there has been a problem with a tax payment and they need to log into the fake website to update their information.

The DVLA has also reported seeing scam messages that claim there is a problem with their licence information. Handing over data like this can help criminals committing identity fraud.

Last year there was a massive rise in the number of drivers reporting suspected fraud to the DVLA. In the three months to September 2020, the agency saw a 603 per cent increase in reported cases compared with the same period a year earlier. Phil Morgan, head of fraud policy investigation at DVLA, said: “These recent scams may at first seem legitimate, however they are designed to trick motorists into providing their personal details. We never ask for bank or credit card details via text message or email, so if you receive something like this, it’s a scam.”

What to do if you’ve been targeted by a phishing scam

Anyone who has received a suspicious email is being urged to report to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) via their suspicious email service: report@phishing.gov.uk. Suspicious texts can also be forwarded free of charge to your network provider on 7726. You can also report it to Action Fraud or police if you think you have fallen victim to such a scam.

DVLA has issued 5 top tips for motorists to stay safe online:

Never share driving licence images and vehicle documents online Never share bank details or personal data online Avoid websites offering to connect to DVLA’s contact centre Only use GOV.UK when looking for DVLA contact details Immediately report it to the police via Action Fraud if you think you have been the victim of a scam

COUNCILLOR REPORT – 11TH JANUARY 2021

This time last year, as I started out on my election campaign to fill the seat left vacant by the sad passing of Cllr Mike Langley, I think it’s safe to say I had absolutely no idea of what was to come! Myself and my Labour colleagues had just finished a gruelling General Election campaign fought in the heart of winter. It was a really tough experience, and the idea of getting out there again to knock on doors and talk to as many people as possible about a local election in the middle of January was not a very enticing prospect – but oh how I’d love to be able to do that now!

I won the seat, but was resigned to having to fight another election in May 2020. Thinking I only had a few short months, I started by arranging meetings with as many council officers as possible to see how I could progress my agenda. A lot has changed since then though. The pandemic has meant my first year has been as extraordinary as it could be, but I thought now would be a good time to list out some of the things I’ve been working on and what progress, if any, has been made. So here we go..

• St Anne’s Railway Station – the first thing in my campaign video, but possibly the last thing I expected to make any real progress on! However, in March this year myself and Kerry McCarthy MP applied to the government’s Restoring Your Railways fund and succeeded in winning the funding for a feasibility study to see if a new station in St Anne’s is feasible. The money will pay for a professional Business Case, which must be delivered by June this year.

• St Anne’s House – in January last year, just after the election, the Council ran a consultation on the old office buildings at St Anne’s House, and presented their plans to convert the building into housing. Residents made it clear that some form of community space was a must for the development, and I’m glad to say that officers have listened and have promised to make half the ground-floor available when this building is developed. In the meantime. However, I’ve been working closely with Community Arts organization Bricks, who want to take over the building until it is developed and use it for various community projects. 26 The pandemic has made these negotiations painfully slow, but it now looks as though contracts will be signed soon and Bricks will be able to start applying for grants to help them realise their ambitions for the site. This is a really exciting project and I’ll be keeping up the pressure to get it over the line.

• 513/4 bus service – this was a Council subsidised bus service last January, so I started negotiations with the transport team to get the route reviewed. Brislington has some gaping holes in its bus service, not least a service to Sainsburys and Avonmeads, or between Hungerford Road and the surgery on Newbridge Road. The Council was more than happy to review the service to see if it could be improved, and plans were well underway when the pandemic struck. As we all know, bus services since then have been run at a much-reduced capacity and there has been no chance to change existing services because all funding comes from government and has to be spent on maintaining the existing routes. The management of subsidised services has also now moved to WECA, which will make things more difficult, but as soon as we are back to approaching normal I will be taking this up again.

• St Anne’s Ferry service – possibly the biggest disappointment of the year. We had a trial commuter service all ready to go between Netham Lock and the City Centre when the pandemic hit – tickets were even on sale. The week of the trial in April was gloriously sunny and I’m sure this would have been a huge hit, but sadly everyone was locked in their homes and it never went ahead. The future of the ferry services is uncertain at the present time, but hopefully we can resurrect this idea in the future.

• Eastwood Farm Play Park – the Friends of Eastwood Farm had already been campaigning for several years to raise the money for a playpark by the time I was elected. As a candidate I had supported the successful bid for £65,000 from Community Infrastructure Levy funding, and the friends had done a great job of securing some match funding in difficult and changing circumstances. In March this year there was still a significant funding gap to be made up, however, and I worked within the council to get an additional £10,000 of CIL funding allocated to ensure the project went ahead. Works should now take place in

• There were also a lot of issues in the summer with the sheer numbers of people flocking to enjoy the delights of Eastwood Farm, and this caused a lot of issues with local residents. The current access to the Farm is not really suitable, and there is no parking, which led to the lower playpark being used by people as a car park. To prevent this happening next year, I have agreement from the Parks Department to put in a barrier across the entrance to the park – however, the longterm future really dictates a new entrance and car park, and I have already met with the officers involved to try to make this a reality. Work in progress, as they say!

• Tree Planting in Brislington - I’ve been working with officers and with local residents to identify new locations for trees to be planted in Brislington, and to ensure that the money put aside by the Environment Agency to compensate for tree loss in Brislington Brook gets appropriately spent. The good news on this is that the money has now been handed over and we are set to get 30+ new trees this year as a result of that funding.

• Brislington Meadows. One of the first things I enquired about when I got elected was the possibility of using the old Police station on Broomhill Road as a community facility. I was told then that the land was in the process of being sold to Homes England and a deal was about to be concluded. Homes England have since announced their plans for 300 houses on the site and the old Police station has already gone. Whilst I am a supporter of the need for more housing, especially the promised 30% council housing,

I am also keenly aware of the many issues that such a development will bring with it – more people need better facilities, including better public transport. They will also bring more cars with them, no matter how good we make the cycle paths and walkways. In order to keep everyone in the area fully appraised of the plans and how they will be affected, I set up a Facebook Group and have held regular meetings with Homes England to continuously push these points, as well as the need to make the development as sustainable and ecologically friendly as possible. This does not mean unconditional support – I will make my mind up when I see the plans brought forward. • Newbridge Road and other speeding hotspots – during the election campaign I wrote to residents of Newbridge Road, in response to the many interactions we had on doorsteps where the issue of traffic came up. I promised to do what I could to help find a solution. Once elected, I contacted the transport department, to learn that a report had been commissioned some years earlier to look at possible traffic calming measures, and this report was soon to be published. This was in March – unfortunately we are still waiting. I chase the report regularly to be told it will be ready soon. I’ve also raised the issue at Full Council and have encouraged other residents to do the same. Traffic and speeding are major issues all over the city, but there is no joined up approach to trying to tackle the problem – this is something I have already raised with the Cabinet Member for Transport and I will continue to discuss with anyone who will listen how these issues, which affect other roads in Brislington as well, could best be tackled with the limited resources available.

• Liveable Neighbourhoods – 2020 saw a Liveable Neighbourhoods group established in Bristol, and Brislington has a branch. I’m supporting the concept because I think it is perfectly suited to parts of Brislington where we could create a better environment by removing through traffic and giving the roads back to the people who live on them. We’ve had a few meetings by Zoom, but it’s also something I’m pushing within the Labour Party because I want to see it in our Manifesto for 2021. before the group was set up I held consulations locally on ideas for the WECA Walking and Cycling plan, and fed these in to the consulation. I'm hopeful we'll see some money for these ideas from WECA before too long.

In October I was appointed to the post of Deputy Cabinet Member for Transport – it’s not a paid position, but it does mean I am now starting to get to grips with more of the transport issues in Bristol and meeting regularly with the people whose job it is to improve things. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks

Tim Rippington Labour Councillor for Brislington East

A Bristol hospital assistant says folding more than 150 paper animals and Yodas has "got him through the lockdown".

Alex Ray, who works at Bristol Children's Hospital, has been practising ancient form of origami for 20 years, but since the start of the lockdown his paper folding passion has gone a bit out of control.

He said in a statement: "Since lockdown, I've made three times what I normally would and I'm running out of places to put them.

"I've also been working on the complex ones, which can take weeks to make."

Alex said he began folding sheets of paper at the age of eight or nine, after his father taught him how to make a Samurai hat.

“I started teaching my friends at school how to make water bombs, mainly, and that’s when I got into it,” he said. “And when my dad had a stroke, origami got me through it. It takes you into a different world.”

He often uses just a single sheet of paper now he has creased and folded thousands of models over the years.

Alex also said in a statement that since March, he had been able to concentrate on the more time-consuming “complex models”.

“I like the realistic ones. The pangolin is made from a one metre piece of Kraft paper and took over a week to fold,” he said.

“I’ve wanted to fold it for years but never thought I would be able to make it.

“It’s definitely my favourite and has pride of place in the lounge.”

With a giant Yoda, dinosaur skeletons and a 9.8ft long cobra, Alex said he is running out of space.

“There’s not many creatures left. I had to throw out about 200 of the older less complex models, because they fell out of shape,”

“The rest - I’ve given a lot out to the children at the hospital and to the patients.

“But origami is what’s got me through, it’s incredibly therapeutic.”

CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE A BUNNY

Vegan banana & salted peanut pancakes

Ingredients

1 large ripe banana, plus extra slices to serve

2 tbsp Llight brown soft sugar

3 tbsp Vegetable oil

150ml unsweetened oat drink

150g Self raising white flour

½ tsp Baking powder

1 tbsp Pure maple syrup 2 tbsp Roasted and salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Method

Mash the banana with the sugar and 1 tbsp of the oil. Mix in the oat drink

Put the flour and baking powder in a bowl, make a well and stir in the wet ingredients

Heat 1 tbsp more of the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then add 2 ladlefuls of the batter

Cook for 2-3 mins on each side, until bubbles start to appear, then flip over and cook the other side for 2-3 mins until golden

Keep warm under a tea towel while you repeat to make 8 pancakes in total, adding the remaining oil as needed

To serve, drizzle the pancakes with maple syrup and scatter over the peanuts and extra banana