Increased patrols following suspected drug gatherings
YOUTHS have been reported gathering to take drugs in an East Staffordshire village.
They have been spotted hanging around the Royal British Legion bowling green in Alrewas, where police have received reports of drug taking, criminal damage and breaching Covid regulations.
Staffordshire Police have now put out a warning saying they will be patrolling the area and if those caught are under 18 years old, their parents will end up paying the Covid fines.
PCSO Rhys Rockley said: “It has been reported that youths have been frequenting the Royal British Legion bowling green situated near the club off Rykneld Street, Alrewas.
“Whilst there, they have been seen to be involved in drug taking, causing criminal damage and breaching Covid regulations. If you know who these people are can you please educate them. We will be patrolling the area and if they are caught at the location and committing offences they will be dealt with accordingly.
“Of note - if they have no valid reason to be there they will be given fines for breach of Covid regulations. Under the age of 18? Parents will be in receipt of said fine.”
A LOVESTRUCK woman who travelled 80 miles for an “after-dark encounter” in a car park near a Derbyshire beauty spot was caught by police in breach of Covid rules.
The woman had made the journey from Batley, in West Yorkshire, to a reservoir in South Derbyshire to meet her male beau.
They were spotted by police meeting up and issued with Covid fines for breaking lockdown rules. To make matters worse, the man had his Volkswagen Polo seized by officers because he was not insured and only had a provisional licence.
They were both issued with £200 fines for breaching Covid rules.
And they were not the only couple caught breaking lockdown restrictions by officers from the Melbourne and Mercia police safer neighbourhood Team.
Another pair were caught in Lowes Lane, near Swarkestone, meeting for a “rendezvous”, with one of them having made a 150-mile trip from Buckinghamshire.
Two women, who had been found with three men, were issued with fines. The men fled, said police who spotted the group near Stenson Fields. A police spokesman said the women “learned the hard way that their ‘lovely friends’ were not that chivalrous after the men ran off and left them to face a fine.
A spokesman for the team, which is part of Derbyshire Police said: “It certainly wasn’t a lazy Sunday afternoon for your safer neighbourhood team yesterday. “The weekend’s brighter and warmer weather brought a degree of optimism into the air. But, with regret, it also introduced a sea of thoughtless and selfish small faces into the Melbourne and Mercia mix.
“To the lovestruck female who made a non-essential journey from Batley, in West Yorkshire, for an after-dark encounter with an uninsured male driver at a secluded reservoir car park – what were you thinking?
“The driver who only had a provisional licence had his
Volkswagen Polo seized – and the couple were both handed £200 fixed penalty notices.
“To the couple who met at a wellknown antisocial behaviour hotspot at Lowes Lane, near Swarkestone, for a rendezvous and a “chill-out”, despite one of them making a 150-mile round-trip from Buckinghamshire to do so – what were you thinking?
“Both were handed fines and sent home.
“And finally, this weekend’s award of an act of counter-chivalry goes to the three unknown males who fled the scene of an encounter with two females near Stenson Fields.
“The women, one of whom had travelled from Birmingham for a Sunday night get-together, ended up carrying the can (and £200 fines) after their ‘lovely friends’ after they ran away from officers.
“The females learnt the hard way that these men were perhaps not the true friends they thought they were.”
They were not the only people caught out on Sunday.
Four males also “rammed themselves” into a small car at the back of the Assembly Rooms in Melbourne to watch the Manchester United football game.
All four of the men received fines for breaching pandemic guidelines.
A gang of men and teenagers broke into the grounds of school for a football match and left a trail of rubbish in their wake – which the caretaker had to clean up.
The team said that they have identified a number of the people involved and further inquiries are under way.
ENGLAND’S coronavirus restrictions could finally be lifted by June 21 as part of a fourstage plan, Boris Johnson has announced as he declared “the end really is in sight”.
The Prime Minister told MPS the approach was “cautious but also irreversible”, with the impact of the vaccination programme replacing the need for lockdown.
He said a “wretched year would give way to a spring and a summer that will be very different and incomparably better”.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that scientific modelling suggested that lifting lockdown measures would increase Covid cases and ultimately deaths but insisted the restrictions could not continue indefinitely.
In the first phase, all pupils in England’s schools are expected to return to class from March 8. Socialising in parks and public spaces with one other person will also be permitted from that date.
A further easing of restrictions will take place on March 29 when the school Easter holidays begin – with larger groups of up to six people or two households allowed to gather in parks and gardens.
Other measures in the road map set out by the Prime Minister include:
– From April 12 at the earliest: shops, hairdressers, nail salons, libraries, outdoor attractions and outdoor hospitality venues such as beer gardens will reopen.
– From May 17 at the earliest, two households or groups of up to six people will be allowed to mix indoors and limited crowds will be allowed at sporting events.
– From June 21 at the earliest, all remaining restrictions on social contact could be lifted, larger events can go ahead and nightclubs could finally reopen.
The Prime Minister said: “The threat remains substantial, with the numbers in hospital only now beginning to fall below the peak of the first wave in April. But we are able to take these steps because of the resolve of the British people and the extraordinary success of our NHS in vaccinating more than 17.5 million people.”
He added that “no vaccine can ever be 100% effective”, telling MPS: “Lifting lockdown will result in more cases, more hospitalisations and sadly more deaths.
“And this would happen whenever lockdown is lifted – whether now or in six or nine months – because there will always be some vulnerable people who are not protected by the vaccines.
“There is therefore no credible route to a zero Covid Britain, or indeed, a zero Covid world and we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental wellbeing and the life chances of our children.”
The Prime Minister launched a series of reviews – including on whether people should be able to show if they have had a Covid-19 vaccine or a negative test.
A research programme will use pilot schemes involving testing and other measures to run events with larger crowd sizes.
International travel rules will also be reviewed, with May 17 targeted as the earliest possible date for a foreign holiday.
THE managing director of Burtonbased roof tile manufacturer Russell Roof Tiles is celebrating 30 years with the business.
Andrew Hayward joined the company, the UK’S largest independent manufacturer of concrete derivatives in the UK pitched roofing market, as a sales executive.
Today it employs approximately 150 staff, including around 90 at two sites in Burton.
During his career at Russell Roof Tiles, Mr Hayward has seen the business grow from a single plant operation in Scotland (with a turnover of £9m) to the opening of the new Burton site which produced its first tiles in 1991, to today with a dedicated UPVC site and a turnover of £30m-plus.
After joining the company, Mr Hayward swiftly moved up the ranks, becoming an area manager, then regional manager supporting customers across the Midlands and South, before becoming national sales director in 1996 and then taking over the helm in 2004.
Over the past 30 years he has been involved with a huge number of changes at the business. In 1997 Russell Roof Tiles acquired a UPVC business and opened a 28,000 sq ft factory in Burton to produce the company’s dryfix accessories, along with a further five acres of land at the Burton tile plant. Under Mr Hayward’s leadership the business has grown substantially with ongoing investment increasing efficiencies across the operation, with the most recent announcement of a £1.7m capital investment project in Lochmaben.
He has also led the business successfully through a change of ownership, following its sale by CEMEX in 2011 to the current owners, Crown Global Equity Group, which has interests in roof tiles in the US and Mexico.
Six years ago, Mr Hayward also led the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Russell Roof Tiles manufacturing at the Lochmaben plant and 25 years in Burton.