The clothing thief.

At around 4.45pm on Wednesday afternoon, I took some cardboard and glass to the Council recycling facility behind Morrison's supermarket in Erith. I caught a man breaking into the charity clothes and shoes hoppers; he was stealing the donated clothes and shoes - he had a series of large carrier bags - he was separating and grading the clothes - those he did not want, he threw on the ground. He took five bags of stolen material in total. I went into Morrison's to alert the security guard, but he was nowhere to be seen. The perpetrator was of South East European appearance, about 5,10" tall, slim with a straggly moustache and olive skin. He had a dark blue hoody and grey jogging pants on. He appeared to be in his late 20's / early 30's in age. From the casual way he was operating, I suspect that this was not the first time he had raided the donation hoppers. There is a dedicated Council CCTV camera in the vicinity of the recycling centre - it is possible that footage of the incident will have been recorded. After this disturbing incident, which I have reported to both local Police and Bexley Council, I did some research on the subject, and what I found was most worrying. Clothes donated by members of the public to charity are being stolen by organised criminals and sold abroad, depriving leading charities of millions of pounds for good causes. Gangs from Eastern Europe are believed to be responsible for a growing number of raids on doorstep collection bags and clothing banks, attracted by a trebling in the price for old clothing in the past three years. The lucrative thefts – a single clothes bank can contain a haul of £150 to £200 – come as the country's 6,800 charity shops struggle to cope with a drop in donations during the economic slump as people move house less often and keep old clothing for longer. According to Britain's biggest charity shop operator Oxfam, police have shown little interest in investigating the crimes because of a perception that donated clothing is worthless and because of a lack of firm evidence. As a result of the price of used clothing rising from £200 to £600 per sorted and graded tonne, the public's donation of 480,000 tonnes of clothing to charity annually is worth £280m. But when volunteers try to empty metal clothing banks in car parks, they often find they have been emptied. Thieves are also stealing toys, clothing and books left out by householders in sacks, and are making bogus doorstep appeals, sometimes using a real charity's name, logo and registration number. In an interview recently, Oxfam's trading director David McCullough, who looks after the charity's 704 shops, said:- "There has been a huge growth in the commercial rag trade. What was once a market that didn't have much resale value now suddenly has a very serious commercial value. We are seeing a huge amount of legitimate and illegitimate companies collecting house to house, setting up clothing banks, collecting on behalf of charities. We are also seeing a very substantial increase in thefts by what appear to be well-organised criminal gangs. They are emptying textile banks in supermarket car parks in the middle of the night, so when volunteers go to empty these banks they are empty already. The less sophisticated fish the clothes out of the banks from the hatches. Some of them send kids into the hatches to throw the stuff back out. Others take bolt cutters and take the padlocks off and lift the banks onto lorries, unload them somewhere else and take off the sides with thermal torches. Evidence suggests it's being taken into the commercial market abroad, principally in Eastern Europe. Some of the people who have been stopped and cautioned are predominantly Eastern European." The charity has fitted electronic sensors to some of its 700 clothing banks to identify when they are ready for collection and when a theft has occurred. According to The Textile Recycling Association, gangs steal clothing from donation banks – in some cases, even taking the banks themselves. In one instance, thieves in south east England were stealing around 30 tonnes of clothing every week from charity and local authority banks, which would have raised about £500,000 a year for the crooks, instead of going to good causes. *Update* - On Thursday afternoon, I had occasion to pass by the recycling centre; Any fly - tippers or clothing thieves will be in for a shock if they try anything in the Erith Morrisons' car park recycling centre. Over the next ten days, the Metropolitan Police firearms unit are running a series of exercises in and around the recycling centre. I spoke to one of the instructors who told me about the series of simulated interceptions they would be making. Apparently they do not do training in public very often. I told him about the theft incident on Wednesday afternoon - I somehow think that the thief would be ill advised to make a comeback whilst the armed team are around! What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Some thoughts from local IT guru and software developer Miles, and his opinion of the newly launched free WiFi for several towns in the London Borough of Bexley, as I outlined two weeks ago. The graphic above shows existing publicly available WiFi spots in and around Erith - the Bexley WiFi is in addition to these spots indicated. Miles writes:- "#BexleyFreeWifi. I took the opportunity to explore the terms and conditions today, and as we expected it's a data gathering exercise. They have been fairly transparent about the information they collect which I suppose is good - mind you I wonder how many people will immediately click the "Agree" button that covers a large portion of the page. One aspect of the Privacy policy which is a concern, all information collected it shared with the venue owner - is that the host of the WIFI access points? Or just any location you can receive a signal? There is one aspect where I think they dropped the ball, you can make up any old garbage and still use the services - OK that doesn't stop them gathering other information, or storing cookies for tracking but at least it offers a measure of anonymity (just make sure you enable MAC Address rotation in your devices settings). As for the service itself, I was quite impressed. I picked up a very strong signal all the way to the pier. The speed of the internet connection was very respectable, at around 20Mbps down, and 10Mbps up - I'm sure the local kids will make, well I would say good use, but use nonetheless. May even save the local residents the cost of an internet connection, assuming they don't mind the privacy trade off". You can see the existing free use WiFi hotspot map of the London Borough of Bexley by clicking here. The operators of the website must have war driven around the streets of Bexley in order to compile the very detailed map. What is war driving? Well, War driving, also called access point mapping, is the act of locating and possibly exploiting connections to wireless local area networks while driving around a city or elsewhere. To do war driving, you need a vehicle, a computer (which can be a laptop), a wireless Ethernet card set to work in promiscuous mode, and some kind of an antenna which can be mounted on top of or positioned inside the car. Because a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) may have a range that extends beyond an office building, an outside user may be able to intrude into the network, obtain a free Internet connection, and possibly gain access to company records and other resources. Some people have made a sport out of war driving, in part to demonstrate the ease with which some improperly secured wireless LANs can be compromised. With an omnidirectional antenna and a geophysical positioning system (GPS), the war driver can systematically map the locations of 802.11 b / g wireless access points. Companies that have a wireless LAN are urged to add security safeguards that will ensure only intended users have access. Safeguards include the use of the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption standard, IPsec, or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), together with a firewall or DMZ. The term derives from a somewhat similar approach to breaching the telephone system called war dialling. Breaching a private network may be illegal and at least one person has been prosecuted for it. You have been warned. 

Following a freedom of information request, Bexley Council have released information as to how many publicly sponsored trees have been planted since the project began - and it does not make for good reading. The question asked went as follows:- "Last year Bexley council ran a campaign where residents could sponsor the care of a tree. Could I be so kind to ask the result of this campaign? I would like to know the expenditure of the campaign and the take up plus any associated costs. This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000". This not unreasonable request was met with the following Council response:- "I can confirm that the information requested is held by the London Borough of Bexley. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you. The campaign was run in the Bexley Magazine and with press releases - no advertising was paid for. There was no actual expenditure other than officer time, which was not recorded. For 2018/19 planting season 4 trees in Bexley parks were sponsored. A further 8 trees were provided by a local trust but the Council was not approached directly. For 2019/20 planting season 2 trees in the parks has so far been sponsored. 1 tree in the highway has so far been sponsored". It would seem that as many local residents had already suspected; the whole tree planting project was a box ticking exercise, so that Bexley Council could vaunt its' green credentials, when in fact it was doing nothing more than playing lip service to the whole thing. What do you think? Please feel free to send feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

As regular readers will be aware, I have written extensively in the past in regard of Smart utility meters, and how in my opinion in many cases they are not fit for purpose. Last week, fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight of the excellent "Bexley is Bonkers" published a story of his experiences with a smart meter over the Christmas holidays, and it makes for instructive reading. The following account originally appeared on the Bexley is Bonkers update published on the 29th of December, which I republish here with the full permission of Malcolm Knight. He writes:- "I have been resisting the siren calls of the energy companies to fit a smart meter. They cannot actually save any money if you are already careful with usage and I already have phone apps which tell me how much solar energy is being generated and where it is going. Do I really want to give my energy supplier the ability to cut me off on a whim or tell me when I cannot charge my car? Probably not but I wasn’t sure I would resist them for ever. I am now. I drove down to my son’s place in Malmesbury on Christmas Day, got there in time for breakfast. The main meal was scheduled for 1 p.m. At ten o’clock I complained that his wi-fi was no longer working and a couple of minutes later we realised why. Nothing was working. The energy distribution company, the Western equivalent of our local UK Power Networks very quickly diagnosed a Smart Meter problem by which time my son and I were coming to the same conclusion. The problem then was that Octopus Energy had completely closed its emergency phone system for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The distribution company advised that they were supposed to be monitoring their web form and provided the link. What if you have no access to the web during a power cut or your mobile’s battery was flat? By about 11:30 a.m. the form was located and filled in. Just before 4 p.m. the Octopus Energy technician arrived with his diagnostics kit having come from Newbury. By 4 p.m. the power was on again. The not so Smart Meter had rebooted itself for reasons unknown and decided to come back to life as a pre-payment meter. Not finding any credit balance it promptly cut the power. No questions asked as would be the case with the old technology, just ruin Christmas Dinner instead. It’s total madness to accept a Smart Meter while there is no obligation to do so". This mirrors my own thoughts on Smart meters - the technology is unreliable, if you change electricity supplier, it is likely that you will have to have your Smart meter changed, and they are very vulnerable to hackers, as has previously been demonstrated. They are a solution in need of a problem in my opinion. What do you think? Contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

If you bank online, use Ebay, post onto FaceBook or use a web based Email service like Gmail, you will have used online encryption – the chances are without even being aware of it. When you are on a website that shows a little locked padlock in the address bar, and the site address begins with HTTPS:// instead of the more familiar HTTP:// you are using a secure, encrypted connection that is designed to keep any information travelling across the link secret from hackers and other bad guys. The bad news is that a prominent team of IT security researchers have discovered a potential vulnerability in the two main methods of encryption that are used by most modern computer operating systems and web browsers. These two encryption methods are named RSA and Diffie – Hellman after their inventors. Both systems are underpinned by a mathematical challenge known as a discrete logarithm problem. The problem is astronomically difficult to solve without access to the problems’ unique numerical key. Breaking RSA or Diffie – Hellman encrypted messages today takes vast computational power and a long time. This is one of the things that so occupies the likes of the NSA and GCHQ – their vast supercomputers are used to crack encrypted traffic supposedly between terrorists and criminals (the ethics of this is a debate for another time and place). As far as the person in the street is concerned, an encrypted connection is functionally unreadable without the special key. The security consultants have discovered that it is theoretically possible that a new algorithm could be developed which would make solving the discrete logarithm problem that encrypts the message much more easy to break.  Security researcher Jarved Samuel said of the situation “we rely on that new, efficient algorithm not being found; if it is found, then the crypto system is broken”. Recently, French academic Anoine Joux published two papers that suggested that  such an algorithm could be found before long. “This is a big deal, since there was marginal progress for 25 years,” said Samuel. “This will spur researchers into looking more closely at the problem and most likely result in more progress. One reason to believe that progress will be swift, says Samuel, is that Joux’s advances weren’t based on inventing completely new techniques. Rather, he applied known tricks that hadn’t previously been used on this specific problem”. What this all boils down to is that we are all relying on some super intelligent hacker NOT creating a new, hyper – clever decryption algorithm to break our up until now very secure online transactions. This does not sound like a very reassuring position to be in. More on this in the future.

Now for the return of the weekly local safety and security reports from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, after the break for the Christmas holiday last week. Firstly the report from Barnehurst ward:- "Only one burglary to report and that was in Cumbrian Avenue overnight on the 24th December. Car keys and vehicle taken. Vehicle later recovered. Any burglary is too many but Barnehurst has done really well especially being Christmas. There are three vehicle crimes to report. Theft from motor vehicle in Twigg Close overnight of the 27th December where the victim had alcohol and toys taken from the vehicle. Theft of motor vehicle overnight of the 28th December from outside Locals off license in Barnehurst Road. Finally a theft of motor vehicle overnight of the 28th December in Colyers Lane where a white transit van was taken. Please remain vigilant for the forthcoming year and help reduce crime and we will continue to support our community. Happy New Year from Barnehurst SNT". Belvedere ward:- "There were recent reports of graffiti damage caused to garages in Standard Road – we are pleased to inform you that this was promptly removed by Bexley Council and there have been no further reports of this nature since. We have (when possible) continued our hi visibility burglary patrols in varying areas of the ward over the Christmas period – this will also continue into the New Year. However – there have been recent burglary reports in Walden Close, Upper Park Road, Edwards Road and Abbey Road. A property in Lower Park Road has once again been subject to attempted burglary and criminal damage for the fourth time in 2019. Most recently, a group of males made efforts to gain entry to a garage, causing extensive damage and also damaged a vehicle belonging to the residents in the process. Items were also taken from the vehicle by this group. PC Marc Smith has been continuing to patrol Ruskin Road on a regular basis after reports of ongoing anti-social behaviour and drug use at the location. Most recently on Christmas Eve a male was stopped and searched – and found to be in possession of four bags of ketamine". Bexleyheath ward - no report this week. Crayford ward:- "Two burglaries over the festive period. In the early hours of the 24th December a house was entered in Gascoyne Drive through the front door and the house keys and vehicle keys were stolen, a white C220 Mercedes was stolen. It was later found within a mile of the address. The other burglary took place at sheltered accommodation in Wolsley Close between 10.00 25th December and 23.45 on 27th December, the TV was knocked over, there was an untidy search and some coins were stolen. It is believed the suspect is known to the victim. A timely reminder to all to ensure the door handle is pulled up and key used to lock the door securely and to check before retiring to bed. It was reported on 22nd December that in the previous two weeks a lock had been sawn off a garage in a block of garages to the rear of Glebelands and items including an air compressor had been stolen. At Tower retail park on 19th December between 15.15-16.15 a blue disabled badge was stolen from a Mercedes parked near Currys, the victim is quite sure the vehicle was locked. The padlock was broken off an outhouse in Grazeley Close between 10.00 on 25th December and 20.00 on 26th December, tools and toys were taken. Two separate incidents in Hillside Road whereby tyres were let down or slashed over a period of days, all three vehicles were parked on driveways. Criminal damage was caused to the school mini bus at Haberdasher Askes Academy by three youths between 13th and 16th December, the incident was captured on CCTV. A Carrera Hell Cat bicycles was stolen from outside McDonalds on 19th December between 15.30-16.00 whilst the victim was inside. Please ensure bicycles are chained and padlocked to something secure if leaving them unattended, even for a very short time. On 24th December between 13.55 and 14.40 a black Jaguar F Pace was keyed down one side whilst parked at Tower Retail Park. Windows were smashed and a hard top was stolen from a Mazda MX5 Mk1 Convertible on 27th December between 01.00-01.30 whilst parked at Chapel Hill. A moped was stolen from Ridge Way between 22.30 on 27th December and 02.00 on 28th December. It was later found by police. Criminal damage was caused to a 96 bus on 28th December at 13.55. The suspect pulled the whole wing mirror off the bus. A tyre was slashed on a Peugeot whilst parked at Town Hall Square between 00.30 and 10.30 on 25th December. It seems this may have happened to other vehicles parked nearby but these have not been reported to police. A white BMW 218 was stolen from Lakedale Court on 29th December at 22.01 with keys. It was found on 30th December nearby in Green Place with no damage and there is CCTV of the suspect. There are no community contact sessions in the next week but we will be out and about patrolling. Wishing you all a very happy New Year".

Erith ward:- "Crimes of note from the 17/12/19 – 31/12/19 Theft of motor vehicle 17/12/2019 Pier Road, Theft from motor vehicle 17/12/2019 Winifred Road, Theft of motor vehicle 18/12/2019, Europa Trading Estate Fraser Road, Burglary Residential 20/12/19 Winifred Road – Items stolen from address access gained via rear door Burglary Residential 20/12/2019, Thanet Road – rear door opened items taken Theft from motor vehicle 20/12/2019 Morrisons, James Watt Way, Theft from motor vehicle 20/12/2019 Fraser Road Theft from MV 21/12/2019, CHANDLERS DRIVE – MV taken from address Burglary Residential 22/12/2019 Park Crescent – door opened untidy search doesn't seem to of been anything taken Burglary Residential 19/12/2019 Holly Hill Road – front door opened items stolen from house including car keys. Burglary Residential 27/12/19 Galleon Close – Rear door opened no items stolen but an untidy search was carried out Theft mail 27/12/2019 Victory Lodge Chichester Wharf – Items of mail stolen from community letter boxes. Burglary Residential 19/12/2019 Winifred Road – Items stolen from shed and kitchen". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Unfortunately over the Christmas period we have a slight increase of Burglaries over the Northumberland Heath and Erith Ward. The roads are listed below: 02/12/19 Burglary at on Colindale Road. 04/12/19 Burglary at Bedonwell Road. 03/12/2019 Burglary at Dalmeny Road 19/12/2019 - 20/12/2109 ,Carlton Road Nothing stolen from the address. Entry through the front window. 30/12/2019 Burglary at Beechfield Road . 30/12/2019 Burglary at Hurst Road. 30/12/2019 Attempted burglary at Frinstead Road 31/12/2019 (3920133/19) Shinglewell Road - Burglary - Suspect has gain entry through the front door and stolen car keys and taken victims Land Rover Evoque. Victim has been visited by LPT and been issued a smart water kit. A report of criminal damage on Sussex Road and Lawrence Road Erith. Graffiti tag marks have been sprayed on garages and on a side wall of a property. Northumberland Heath LPT have been able to complete a successful arrest on an outstanding suspect on Emes Road. Female was wanted for fraud offences . Your Local Policing Team have now started issuing Smartwater to Northumberland Heath residents. Beechfield Road have now been issued with the kits including all Burglary victims. If any residents would like a SmartWater pack please contact us. Officers have also been on lots of AID during the Christmas period which has prevented Officers from Patrolling on their Wards". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Over the festive period we suffered one burglary and one attempted burglary. At 2am on Christmas Eve a suspect tried the front door handle of an address in Hazel Road, they did not gain access but sat watching the house for a while. The RingDoor system did pick up what seemed to be 4 males approaching the door but all had their faces covered. CCTV was viewed at Bushey Court but again was negative. At 2.45am on 29/12/2019 in Peareswood Road a victim was injured after a male broke into his house and stole his car. He is still in hospital. This is an ongoing investigation so no more details can be released at this time. Please ensure that if you have a UPVC door you lift the handle AND turn the key to lock the door properly. Several other vehicle thefts have taken place across the North of the borough whereby entry was gained to properties by UPVC doors not being locked correctly. We would like to wish all our Coordinators and residents a very happy New Year. Please keep your eyes out in future emails for details of SmartWater kits and how to get them for your roads". Thamesmead East ward - no report this week. West Heath ward:- "Theft from Newlyn Road Sunday December 15th. No further details at this time.Unfortunately we have had two burglaries on the ward. The first one took place on Thursday December 19th between 3.30pm – 1900 hours in Stapleton Road. Entry to the property was gained via damaging the front door. It is unknown at this stage if anything was stolen from the property. The second burglary also took place on Thursday December 19th between the hours of 00.01 – 1900 hours in Milford Close. A rear patio window was smashed, again it is not known if any property was stolen. One report of attempted burglary at 4.20am on Christmas Morning December 25th In Berkeley Avenue. A hooded suspect was seen on the ring doorbell trying the handle to access the property. Thankfully entry was not gained. A Land Rover / Range Rover was seen in the road following closely behind the suspect at the time of the incident. One residential burglary in Long Lane on Saturday December 28th between 4.30pm – 10pm. The occupants arrived home to find a rear side back door forced. An untidy search of the property was conducted and a tablet and several pieces of jewellery was stolen. No vehicle crime has been reported to us over the Christmas period".

The end video this week is a long form recording of the demolition of the old and unloved brutalist concrete Erith Shopping Centre and the rebuilding of is as the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre back in 2003. If you look closely you may see a few familiar faces in the vintage footage. Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.