Mayor asks for review over nurse’s £10k fine
CITY CENTRE ROAD OVERHAUL HIT MANY GLITCHES ON THE WAY TO COMPLETION
claim around 40 people attended. Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey has stood by the decision stating that the fine ‘appears to be appropriate in the circumstances.’ However the FPN is now undergoing an “additional review process” after a request from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Lawyers are also reviewing the decision and a response will be sent to the mayor.
Unison rep Ms Reissmann, from Hulme, was one of several people to gather for the demonstration. GMP officers approached Ms Reissmann to tell her the gathering was illegal and couldn’t go ahead.
She told those assembled she disagreed with the decision but had no choice but to comply. At around 12.07pm, she told protesters: “We’ve Mayor Andy Burnham now finished but
ANDY Burnham has asked Greater Manchester Police to review a £10,000 fine handed to the organiser of a NHS pay protest.
Mental health worker Karen Reissmann was one of the organisers of an event to showcase anger over the Government’s offer of a 1 per cent pay rise to NHS staff.
She was one of several people who attended a ‘socially-distanced and risk-assessed’ demonstration in St Peter’s Square on Sunday afternoon – which lasted less than ten minutes.
Police issued Ms Reissmann, 61, with the maximum £10,000 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for organising a gathering of more than 30 people.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) people do need keep up the social distancing, stay two metres apart”.
But moments later officers told Ms Reissmann that she was being issued with the FPN.
A fellow NHS worker, 65, who refused to leave Ms Reissmann on her own while she was being spoken to by police was arrested for allegedly ‘obstructing’ an officer.
GMP later confirmed that the pensioner had been de-arrested when she agreed to give details and handed a £200 FPN for being part of the gathering.
Ms Reissmann is planning to contest the fine and denies that it was issued due to ‘a degree of noncompliance’ claimed by GMP.
Letters: p36
BACK in June 2019, Manchester council revealed a £9m plan to overhaul of one of the city centre’s busiest roads.
Great Ancoats Street has become an increasingly important stretch of the inner ring road, connecting the Northern Quarter with the burgeoning neighbourhoods of Ancoats, New Islington and Piccadilly.
The aim of the revamp, the council said, was to ‘radically improve the look, feel and safety of the busy route.’
The works were to include the planting of 70 trees, installing new pedestrian crossings and road resurfacing to reduce traffic noise by 40 per cent.
The council’s vision was to deliver a tree-lined ‘European-style boulevard.’
The scheme was expected to be finished by the end of 2020, but despite traffic levels falling due to the pandemic, work overran.
This week the council has finally confirmed the Great Ancoats Street scheme is finished, with executive member for transport Angeliki Stogia declaring it a success.
“This scheme tackles the perceived barrier Great Ancoats Street has created between those neighbourhoods and the city centre, providing more than 20 new crossing points,” she said.
“It will significantly improve safety for people travelling across what is an extremely busy road, on foot or bike.”
But what has actually been delivered and is it the ‘European-style boulevard’ we were promised?
Before a spade even hit the ground, the Great Ancoats Street plan sparked uproar because it involved removing the existing cycle lanes.
The council’s justification was that the busy road was not the best place for cycling infrastructure.
The council promised two new routes between Piccadilly and Victoria station through the Northern Quarter, and through Ancoats and New Islington would serve cyclists better.
Cycling campaigners, however, disagreed and said the council was ‘pandering’ to motorists instead of prioritising active travel.
Such was the anger, dozens of cyclists joined a protest back in July 2019.
When the main phase of work eventually got under way in 2020, the scheme hit a series of glitches.
First, the contractor discovered ‘unmapped utilities’ beneath the road, at the spot where it had been intended the new trees would be planted.
Now the work is finished, the council says 63 new trees have been planted along the route.
As the resurfacing continued, residents in the Northern Quarter and Ancoats frequently vented about the disruption and difficulty in crossing and about major traffic delays during rush hour.
There were also issues with ‘ponding’ and ‘a blocked gully’ which caused flooding.
It has since become clear that there is also a related issue – the Northern and Eastern Gateway scheme.
This is the much-anticipated new cycling route through Ancoats and New Islington that the council hopes will appease those disappointed by Great Ancoats Street.
A public consultation is under way although £1.7m of expenditure has already been approved for the project.
Assessing what has been completed so far, the road is undoubtedly improved by extra crossings, a new surface and better signage.
But for Nick Hubble, from campaign group Walk Ride Greater Manchester, the scheme is ultimately ‘a big missed opportunity.’
Describing some cycling infrastructure that has been painted back on to the pavement, he said: “It’s baffling – there are no cycling lanes but what you do have are these weird little painted indications of where you might want to cycle on the pavement.
“Our criticism still stands that if you’re going to spend millions on a transport project, that should be a balanced mix of different transport that people want to use.
“Manchester city council have only ever treated Great Ancoats Street as an urban thoroughfare – it’s a high street.
“There are shops now, people live there, people who would have been glad of the opportunity to cycle safely along their high street.
“It’s a misuse of what it could be.”
THE family of a man who was unlawfully killed after being restrained by Metrolink-contracted staff say they are hugely disappointed that manslaughter charges won’t be brought in relation to his death.
Jack Barnes, 29, was heard to say ‘I can’t breathe’ several times as he was pinned down by Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) outside Australasia restaurant on Deansgate in October 2016.
Last month, Senior Manchester Coroner Nigel Meadows concluded that Jack was unlawfully killed, saying that the four men who had restrained Jack did so with ‘unnecessarily prolonged, grossly excessive, and unreasonable force.’
Mr Barnes, originally from Hull, suffered a cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain injury and died seven weeks later on 2 December 2016.
None of the men involved – Paul Fogarty, Brian Gartside, Matthew Sellars and Stephen Rowlands – faced criminal proceedings at the time, as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was not sufficient evidence.
Following the inquest, the
CPS have now said that manslaughter charges could not be considered due to there being “no new medical evidence that establishes a clear link between Mr Barnes’ death and the actions of the suspects”.
The CPS said a possible prosecution for assault was being considered.
A spokesman said: “We appreciate this may be difficult to understand in light of the coroner’s unlawful killing finding, but the standard of proof required for criminal proceedings is higher than that of an inquest.”
Jack’s mother, Patricia Gerrard, said the news felt like her son was ‘being let down again’ and that ‘his life didn’t matter to others’
The family’s lawyers, Hudgell Solicitors, had already written to the CPS asking them to review the findings of the coroner. Neil Hudgell said that if the decision is not reconsidered, Mr Barnes’ family will be supported to launch their own proceedings.
He said: “The Coroner made clear that the assault and restraint was plainly an operative cause of death and consequently we have written to the CPS to say we strongly believe that it has made a fundamental error in respect of causation in law and fact. Jack’s mother said she would continue her fight for justice for her son for as long as it takes.
When the Coroner announced his findings, and agreed to the release of the video footage, it was a real step forward as finally people could see what really happened that day,” she said.
“We are hugely disappointed. I thought an assault that took somebody’s life was manslaughter. Isn’t that what an unlawful killing is? “We have been overwhelmed by the support we have had from people since the inquest and to see so many other people want justice for Jack.
“We’ll keep fighting for justice for Jack, and to ensure changes are made to prevent another family losing a loved one in this way.”
Body camera footage worn by one of the CSRs picked up Stephen Rowlands saying: “I’ll tell you what, I’ll just put him out’ and telling Mr Barnes: “If you struggle, I will put you to sleep. It won’t kill you but you will go to sleep for a while.”