Roger

Slightly off topic as this is Nottingham but I'm sure these sorts of things happen all over the place ... Or might do in the future ... A pub has had to fight a contested case to REDUCE it's closing time from 2 AM to Midnight ... Police objected on grounds of disorder ... Pub is doing it to avoid a 'late night levy' of up to £4,400 a year from The Council ... Nottingham Post

My gut feeling is that the premises is too small for what it's trying to achieve ... I'm no fan of this Impact Zone, which I've mentioned before Maccies on Commercial Street falls outside ..., but the Council seem to trot it out and they quite like it ... Interesting that the Police don't object and they also are fully aware of the CIZ ... It doesn't engender any confidence in the process when you have two different views put forward on an application from two important organisations ...

I been out of town a fair bit so not had time to post anything ... Like you say ... Not a great sight to greet visitors ... Apparently it's been like that for more than a couple of weeks according to Leon Oldman who took this picture below... I have drawn the attention of the council to it on Twitter so we'll see what happens ...

Today. Opposite Hereford Railway Station.

Population forecast graph for Herefordshire ... Suggests there'll be 13% more people living here in about 20 years time than there are now. However I think the forecast is partly based on an assumption that people will live here because houses will be built. It's rather like building a new road. You just know it will be driven on immediately ... Facts & Figures about Herefordshire

07:00 - 23:00 everyday ...

I use that shop at least twice a week and agree that the parking is an issue but due to it's location I don't see what can be done about that. The shop was looking a bit tatty and the layout inside was a bit impractical. Hopefully they will make better use of the limited space available. I went there at 7 PM last night {Sunday} to buy something as I'd forgotten about the refit. The shop fitters were there working inside and out. The one's outside all appeared to be Eastern Europeans as they were talking to each other in a foreign language.

These items of fruit/vegetables are indeed harvested by mainly foreign people ... I don't know what the percentage is but probably the numbers are very high ... I think the farms could not have expanded their businesses without them due to local apathy for that type of work. I think tho that it has tipped so far in that direction that locals would not even apply to do that work as they would feel like a fish out of water ... I think the employers would also now prefer to stick with the safe option ~ that seems to work for them. The pay, allegedly, can be high but also there is not much chance of advancement ...

Quote above from the Council ... The premises could never reduce anything. It would start off at a neutral position and then may attract a dropped piece of litter ... or a call of some sort about something ... I think Mr. Singh is probably not up to speed with the Council Expectations ... Police letter seemed verging on reasonable! Not convinced SIA bouncers would be needed ...

I saw an advert on tv the other day that was one of the legal 'pay day' loan type firms ... 4000% APR interest rate ... I dunno what the loan sharks charge ... but obviously a fallout of the 2008 recession and cutbacks .... Foodbanks/loan sharks ... Just the norm it would appear ... As is the cheap tobacco at the usual foreign shops ...

HMRC seem to be playing this down the middle as a bog standard debt and I buy into the idea that HUFC is not a regular debtor to the local Council ~ with the obvious Community interest but there is a danger that this unseemly to-ing and fro-ing could give the impression that the Council is delving into the bribery/blackmail area ...

Hereford Times Just a rehash of the Council statement. All seems a bit seedy to me. Could easily be interpreted in a cynical way. Carrot offered to win a potential bigger prize. Should a Council be acting in this way?

Herefordshire Council has today (Monday 15 September) informed Hereford United Football Club (1939) Limited that it will be supporting the current winding up petition and seeking full recovery of all monies owed to it by the club. Herefordshire Council

I sympathise with people trying to sort out these persistent/repeat offenders like Mr. Croke. Every sort of thing he does at the moment is already illegal but the penalties for street drinking or drunk and disorderly are just not very tough. People who do get banged up overnight (having been refused bail) seem to just get wheeled into Court the next day and the sentence is time served in the cell the previous night. Then they get loosed out to go back to the off licence. I'm not 100% sure about the exact terms of Crokes CRASBO as the last paragraph of the HT report is not totally clear but in any event it seems wide ranging and something that he is unlikely to keep to looking at his track record. It seems a perfect scenario to set him up to fail. I'm not saying that is a good or bad thing but in the real world that is probably going to be the result. I don't know what is totally the correct disposal if he is found lolling around with a can/bottle of booze in one of those banned areas but it is definitely not 5 years in prison. That would never happen anyway. I would have thought the first/second breach he might get a low level/non custodial disposal. I suppose the first time he gets properly jailed (if it ever came to that) he would get 28 days or something. Whether that would achieve very much is doubtful as I can't see him getting any meaningful help in jail.

Elections are next May ... I'm looking forward to look at who is standing in my area ... The pot of money won't change on the basis of my vote but hopefully a few people will be thrown out ...

I think Mr. Singh's stuff is vastly overpriced ... another topic entirely ... but selling cold food heated in an oven and trying to pass it off as 'cold food' is not the way around Jim Mooney ... Or anyone for that matter ... I think I need to have a chat with Jim to get to the bottom of this ...Unlikely as I don't go out in Hereford often to socialise ... I worked with him for years and I think he must have been assimilated into this idea that all the aggro is caused by chips and kebabs ...

Have we got any facts about this activity yesterday? I had a Jalsagor curry within the last week by the way ... It was tasty and I wasn't ill ... Also enough left for brekkie the next day ... Obviously workers' living in a shed in the garden is not ideal but I can well imagine it's a bit cramped out of view of the dining area ...

There doesn't appear to be an impartial newspaper report available on this Court appearance so I had to view the UK Column item to get Guy Taylor's version of events ... To sum it up he refused to enter a plea and Judge Cadbury adjourned the case for 42 days so that the CPS can bring the required documentation to Court to prove ownership of Bodenham Manor. Those sorts of documents would always be asked for with a Guy Taylor case so I'm surprised they weren't available ... When Taylor was originally charged someone (presumably the CPS) reviewed the evidence and decided that there was a realistic prospect of conviction and that it was in the public interest to charge ... So you would think that person would have had access to documents showing ownership rights ... So nothing much achieved this time around at Court ...

Lincolnshire driver's £14,000 parking fine is 'Britain's biggest' A Lincolnshire driver has racked up almost £14,000 of parking debts after ignoring more than 140 tickets. The total bill is higher than that racked up by footballer Mario Balotelli, who was hit with nearly £10,000 in parking fines. Lincolnshire Echo

Has any plea been entered?

I don't go into town very often but I was there today and there is a new car park off Wall Street (adjacent to Tesco) ... £1 for an hour ... £5 for 24 hours ... Scaled charges ... Looks private ... It might have been there a while but I haven't noticed it ... I don't think it's unreasonable to charge for parking but ludicrous penalties for not paying a £5 charge is daft ... These people must perpetuate the practice as most people buy a parking ticket and a good proportion threatened with a letter must then pay up? There seems to be little action with Court Orders ... But I would never condone just dumping a car and taking the pi*% ... These threatening letters are outrageous tho ...

Morrisons car park is fairly full most of the time when the shop is not ... Probably a mixture of shoppers/people taking the p!ss ... I don't overstay the 2 hours ever ... I don't need to ... But that car park gets really busy ...

Thanks for the update and this seems decent local pressure resolved this incursion ... But can they not just drive up and park up on the front lawn of Moor House if they wanted?

I don't really disagree with owners of private car parks setting out terms and conditions ... But avoiding a Council £3 park all day ticket would probably attract a £60 (or similar) PCN if you never bought a ticket ~ which obviously bears no relation to the revenue lost ... It's just a screwed up system ... Or more likely a system to just kick the arse out of any parking system ... Council have more weapons to enforce the system but it's a revenue stream that is getting the arse kicked out of it ...