Roger

This is a niche forum. For a niche part of the UK. I recognise the problems caused by this Church. You are looking for help from the wrong place I think. But best of luck .....

The most recent review on TripAdvisor from 1st July 2018 ......

From what you have updated then the Council are not going to be enforcing anything in Belmont Court anytime soon. This obviously won't assuage your concern about dodgy parking at or near a private street where you live.

Employee costs: £478,643 ...... That averages out at about 24 people being paid £20k each per year to manage the whole system. If everyone was paid the same. That is managers/enforcers/clerical. Sounds very dubious accounting to me. I would like to see a breakdown of those employee costs'. And what does 'support services' mean? Is that a manager salary moved into another column on the spreadsheet? Who knows!?

I can't see anyone in their right mind taking over that shop ~ until normality is restored next door. The biggest conundrum is how traded for 8 years since the fire.

Timpson goes out of it's way to employ Foundation Members of staff. The Timpson Foundation. I know it's wrong but if you go into Timpson's I think the person behind the counter is a person trying to rebuild their life. From their previous life of crime! And then Timpson gets trashed itself ..... (Somerset) .....

Hardly my point. If the fine was fully paid .... Would The Council have made a net gain/loss? I think it is unsustainable to spend money for 11 months targeting one case. I think it was a worthy cause. I'm just questioning how sustainable the Model is? On the one hand you have the kitchen sink thrown at the case, on another hand you have team of people targeting revenue by chasing cigarette litter (New Street Station) .... It seems so unjoined up!

Who is responsible for the road outside? Belmont Court is irrelevant. Or is it private parking spaces you're on about?

This was always a case about 'liquid'! I agree with you. It is very unclear regarding the costs to The Council about the physical disposal of this oil waste. If, in theory, the fine was paid would the Council still be out of pocket? How much of the £29k fine would The Council see if it was ever paid?

A fair few sixth form college students' have cars' at the existing campus. They dump them anywhere they can to get to lessons. We all know where! I would never accept that 6 car park spaces is feasible for a new build of that size. It (the build) buys into an aspiration of non car use. But that won't be the reality. We are nowhere near getting to a point where a car is redundant in Hereford. How many forum members' have ever seen a student frantically peddling up the cycle lane on Aylestone Hill to get to their lesson? It's the most underused cycle lane ever! An aspirational imposition that has never come close to achieving it's aim.

How much car parking is factored in for this 178 bed unit? Students' miraculously seem to afford cars!

How is insurance a 'couple of pound' a week if you might get flooded? My insurance is more than £2 a week and I live on top of a hill.

International Food will reopen in due course. I suggest that a CSO should be permanently stationed outside when it does. The establishment [International Food] is trying, and mostly succeeding, in trying to have a laugh. It's been having a laugh for 8 years with a merry go round of stooges lined up to take a fall. WMP now need to go after the brains of the outfit. There will be several levels. But they [WMP] may only have time, and an inclination, to hit some low hanging fruit. They need to be targeting the 'Big Cheese'.

This seems to be about interest free 'car loans' WMP has historically plowed many an hour into investigating itself.

The soundbites from Campion and Bangham are all very well and good. But there is no detail about why being in bed with Warks went sour. It will obviously be a money issue but there is no explanation about why it is more cost effective to split.

On a sub note Mila on Belmont Road was discussed on 5 September by The Council about shifting the licence. It was refused after a highly secretive session. Details redacted. This is very time consuming and costly to chase these dodgy enterprises.

I actively watch politics. I voted for an independent last time. Both independent candidates were very unconvincing if I'm honest. And I'd never heard of either of them before they knocked on my door. Brian Wilcox got in.

These people don't give a toss about our laws. I don't know what time the International Foods case was in court today but my 'informant' (who I have spoken to personally) went in there at 12.30 PM today and bought a pouch of illegal cheap tobacco. The shutters were then seen to come down at 1 PM. So they were kicking the arse out of it right until the bitter end. As suggested by Ubique it is a cast iron guarantee that these shops will carry on their operations using different methods.

Well ..... Where do you start on this one? ..... WMP will bear all reasonable costs of the breakup . Warwickshire say £35M has been saved already due to the alliance. Bangham is saying the breakup will improve services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire (but the quote doesn't mention improvement for Shropshire). Apparently this improved service can be provided after the divorce payment to Warks has been made. A sort of Brexit Mark #2 !

WMP have now issued a fairly comprehensive update on their website about the raids ~ with video's showing the sophisticated concealment methods at both shops. Also they report that a significant amount of 'out of date' food was found on the shelves at Zabka. Which could suggest that far from being a proper food shop it's primarily an illegal tobacco operation with just window dressing on the shelves to make it look like it's primarily a food shop.

I thought it was 3 months but it's fairly irrelevant as I've never heard of one being used in Hereford. If we focus on Zabka, a serial offence location, then who is the actual owner of the shop? Is it a Landlord? If so who is it? How long have they owned the shop? If the owner is a Landlord is it sufficient to get a new tenant in who has got a clean record and accept them at face value that they won't sell dodgy tobacco ~ when all the previous, similar, tenants did? All very unclear. There is woefully inadequate reassurance from the Police/Council that they are looking at the bigger picture. That they are looking at shop ownership. That they are looking to seek shop closures. Just busting the person at the bottom of the food chain every few weeks is not working.

I really can't keep up with this cat and mouse game. The next applicant for a booze licence at this, or another dodgy shop, will be fronted up as someone who has a 'clean' history. There is an endless supply of people the regulatory sub committee can't find evidence to refuse!

I'll take you at your word for that and will await the official press release. But this is very time consuming stuff. There seems to be a merry go round of raids and court cases ~ months down the line for the court result where the fine doesn't even dent the profits made between the raids. Then it's musical chairs shifting the next shop stooge in. There is no deterrent to hinder this activity!

It has been pointed out many a time on this website that a Polish shop sign doesn't remotely mean that it's run/owned by by Polish people. The locals aren't fooled. The Police aren't fooled and the Council aren't fooled. There is a common theme when the next person fronted up to take the hit actually gets busted. They don't give a Hereford address to the Court. It's usually a Birmingham type address. So what we have is serious organised criminals operating a satellite operation in Hereford or Ross or wherever. They have either saturated the area where they've come from or they can't operate there because it's someone else's territory. It's a very similar business model to the illegal drug racket.

I would also add that when there is such an obvious trend then legislation should be changed. to allow 'spot raids'. With no intelligence gathered. Also an an intensive investigation into whether the offender has passed EVERY hurdle to stay in the UK. Just being born here is not cutting it anymore.