TVFox fraud.

The photos above show the redevelopment / refurbishment work being undertaken on the White Hart pub in Erith High Street. The upper photograph shows the extension to the rear of the existing pub building, creating a number of apartments to the upper and rear of the place once known as Potion. The lower photo shows what was the former pub garden, which has now been cleared and excavated prior to construction of a small block of low rise flats, similar to the ones close to the river front, seen to the left of the shot. I am not sure when work on this, phase two of the redevelopment will start. It is also still unclear as to what use the former bar area of the White Hart main building will be put to. There has been much speculation as to what the former bar will become; I am aware that the whole development has been carried out by The Wellington Pub Company, who have a very good reputation for turning around "problem" pubs. No doubt time will tell. If you have any information regarding the White Hart, please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

During the last week a number of Maggot sandwich readers have contacted me; they all expressed the same concern. One even went to the trouble of sending me some covertly taken video footage. The reason for this was something that you may find quite surprising, and not to say concerning. I have written at some length of how Bexley Council have been actively promoting recycling over the past couple of years, and how by their own figures, they are one of the best performing London boroughs in respect of domestic recycling; indeed, they have just announced that Bexley has been named as the top recycling borough in London, with 52.7 percent of waste sent to recycling or composting. Notwithstanding the issue I have recently raised in respect of the removal of the plastic and drinks carton recycling hoppers from the borough’s recycling centres, Bexley has sought to present an image of a forward looking, progressive council with a strong emphasis on protecting the environment. Unfortunately their waste disposal contractor seems to have a policy that is somewhat at variance with this. I have been informed by a number of independent sources that the dustmen are not acting in a way that is appropriate with the materials which should be recycled. I have several eye witness accounts, some photos, and even some covertly taken video footage showing the contractors taking the carefully separated tins, glass, plastic, cardboard and even food waste, then dumping it into a single large black bin, which they then dumped into the back of the dustbin truck. These are not isolated incidents - there is evidence that this is a widespread and relatively common occurrence, not limited to the three locations that have so far been reported. To their credit, my contact in the Waste and Recycling Team at Bexley Council has started an investigation into the matter, and the initial results are as follows. The team report that:- "Eastry Road - The crew collecting here were using a hire vehicle. Unfortunately the split vehicles that are required to carry out the collection separately are extremely difficult to hire in as they are like gold dust, the hire vehicle in use in the reported instance was a normal single compartment vehicle. The crew therefore have no alternative other than to mix the materials, as these vehicles are not on the Bexley fleet they also do not have cameras. Picardy Road - There is a record of a vehicle driving through the road however the time does not match and it was not collecting. Eversley Avenue - This road is split between 2 crews we really need to tighten down on where the complainant lives so that we can check. If you can supply a location albeit approximate. Whilst we do our utmost to ensure that we have the correct vehicles to carry out the collections this is not always possible, the vehicles have a 6 weekly servicing schedule and they tend to break down in multiple numbers rather than one at a time. We can only have a finite number of spare vehicles which covers an average level of breakdowns and if the number of breakdowns exceeds the numbers of spares then we sometimes have to use normal dustcarts to collect materials that are not normally mixed. As we cannot mix food and paper that means that if we are short of split vehicles then it is the glass and plastics that suffers. We cannot advise residents when we are mixing as it is impossible at short notice and we do not wish to change the messages as it will cause more confusion. If we are able to talk to the residents directly we can carefully find out what they have seen and with enough information be able to take our contractor to task for failing to meet the contract specification should this be the case. We prefer to keep our materials separate and the quality of what the residents put out for collection is normally good. If the glass and plastics is mixed it is still recycled". This would appear to be just the beginning of this contentious and controversial issue. More on this story in the weeks to come. If you have had any problems with waste disposal / bin collections in the local area, please let me know.

Problems continue with the Dartford River Crossing; congestion, delays and other issues caused mainly by the crossing simply not being sufficient for the number of vehicles using it seem to be getting steadily worse. The 2014 change from using staffed booths to collect the toll fee to an automated Dart Charge system using ANPR (Automated Number Plate Recognition) software has not been the unmitigated success that the operators had hoped for. Putting aside the oft quoted fact that the crossing was supposed to be a free toll road between the counties back in 2003, now relies on its motorists to pay up online via the Dart Charge website. Despite illuminated signs on the Kent approach to the tunnel reminding people to pay their £2.50 each way journey before midnight the following day, the thought seems to escapes many drivers. For those who have been stung in the past for forgetting to pay, a letter comes through your door with a traffic camera image of your car making its journey through the tunnel, or over the QEII Bridge. The fine is £35 each way, or, it ramps up to £70 if you don't pay within an allotted time. People are free to appeal the penalty. According to vehicle news website, Car Buyer, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the staggering sum accumulated in fines, which now accounts for a third of the crossing's annual income. This is made up from 7.7 million penalties that have been issued since the physical toll booths were dismantled to make way for this newer scheme in 2014. The old booths were in place for decades, and people had to make sure their money was ready to drop into a netted basket before a barrier was released allowing the car or lorry through. The level of income that is reported to arise purely from fines for non payment of the crossing fee is remarkable. The most recent figures available are for the period 2015 - 2016, when a total of £53.1 million was generated by fines alone - estimated to be roughly one third of the total revenue for the crossing. Under the original agreement when the bridge was built, tolling was supposed to stop once it had paid for itself, which was almost 15 years ago. In February 1999, the government announced the Dartford Crossing would be free of toll charges by the end of 2003. Motoring organisations - and drivers themselves - welcomed the news. In 2001, it was revealed that the government had backtracked out of the initial agreement, and there was outrage from all angles, which continues to this day - if you mention the Dartford Crossing to anyone local, the story as to how it was meant to be free once it was paid for will come up almost instantly. 

It has been quite a while since I last highlighted a scam, and to be honest had the advert shown above not appeared as a banner over the News Shopper home page, I too would have been unaware of this confidence trick. The advert is for a supposedly "revolutionary" antenna which will enable the purchaser to access many TV channels that are claimed to be only available to cable TV subscribers. The advert claims that:- "Overpriced cable bills, subscription fees for services like Netflix and sports on demand are frustrating. You spend your money for receivers, expensive Smart TVs, DVD Players, Apple TV or Firesticks. It adds up...and it's a big waste of money. The truth is that more and more people are searching for cheaper solutions to cut cable bills and get rid of all the hardware. Thankfully, there is a simple and perfect solution to legally watch HDTV for free! An US-based startup company has come up with a new innovative and inexpensive device that is totally changing the way people watch HDTV. Already millions of Americans use it. Developed by a NASA engineer using military technology, the TvFox Antenna uses a discrete mud flap modern design which makes it the most reliable and technologically advanced antenna to hit the market today. But there is a main difference - it allows you to watch almost every channel, movie or show for free. With no subscriptions and completely legal.  Just connect TvFox with any TV or monitor you have. All cables are included in the package. Press the power button and start watching. Seriously, it literally takes 10 seconds and you are able to watch all your favorite channels. You don't need anything else!. But how can you watch for free? The secret to that is a law that no cable company wants you to know about. It states that every cable company has to provide additionally to the normal signal an over-the-air signal. So in order to not break the law the cable companies distribute this signal but in a low frequency- so almost no antennas were able to pick it up reliably. Until now - with TvFox you are able to access all your channels in crystal clear 1080 HD in the city and country side". The reality is somewhat different; I will explain. The product is indeed of American origin, and perhaps an explanation of American TV viewing culture needs to be made. Unlike in Europe, and indeed much of the rest of the world, most U.S citizens get their TV supplied via cable. This has been the case in many areas since the late 1970's. The main reason for this is that TV signals, whether analogue or digital only travel a relatively short distance before they disappear off into space. In a huge country like the USA, it is simply not economically practical to have thousands of ground based local TV stations all broadcasting to an area of a few hundred square miles, Instead the major broadcasters transmit their programme content to commercial satellites, where the signal is then intercepted by the local TV stations, who then rebroadcast the shows via cable, for a monthly subscription fee for the end user. What many Americans are not aware of, is that under FCC rules, the local cable companies also have to broadcast their programming via "free to air" digital TV - basically a version of what we in the UK know as FreeView. This is not a popular option with viewers, who seem happy to pay for a cable package which closely replicates what can be received over the airwaves for free. All the TVFox antenna does is act as a FreeView antenna, and by all accounts not very well, and for more money than alternatives do. A wall or window mounted flat plane antenna will only work in very strong signal areas. The banner advert, which appears on the News Shopper website and elsewhere, falsely states that the TVFox antenna can pick up subscription TV services such as Netflix, which is completely incorrect and misleading. The advert is a poorly written Anglicised version of one that has been doing the rounds in the USA for some time, and if you try and click on the links within the advert, you will find that most of them don't actually work. Consumer forums such as the very reputable Money Saving Expert have comments on the antenna - one typical one states:- "The people behind so-called "TVFox" are paying Google a fortune to place deceptive advertising on sites like eBay UK. I was just checking back through my Purchase History and the ad was prominently displayed at the top of the page. The ad says UK buyers can now benefit from a limited-time discount offer. Complaints about this seemingly American outfit - it may well not be that at all - are widespread in the USA. This so-called "miraculous" device didn't even rate a mention in a recent Tom's Hardware HDTV antenna review. Complaints seem to indicate it is no better, or perhaps even worse, than a bent wire coat hanger. Complainants apparently include customers who were sent, and their credit cards billed for, several antennas and boosters, even though only one antenna was ever ordered. The business's European operation may consist of nothing more than a room rented in a warehouse in the Netherlands. "TVFox" - which has nothing to do with Humax other than the fact that the name could only have been chosen to confuse, is selling into the UK but is not VAT registered. It is offering a returns service but takes care not to provide an actual location. In view of the amount of money Google is pocketing from it, its existence as a business will last only as long as there's enough money coming in from enough victims to finance that advertising on eBay worldwide sites and elsewhere. An unregistered business that is making unsupportable claims via misleading online advertising, with a track record of taking money for goods not ordered but not returnable, and no address other than a rented PO Box is not legitimate. Anyone who has had dealings with TVFox and is concerned that they may have been scammed should file a report with Action Fraud". What do you think? Have you purchased a TVFox antenna, and regretted it? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly, a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Barnehurst ward have suffered two burglaries in the past week. The first burglary took place on 09th January between the hours of 1230am and 1130pm. The property was left locked and secure. Victim returned later to find the front door unlocked and open. The rear kitchen door was also open and the window to this door had been smashed. It is believed suspects entered the property via the rear door and left through the front door. An untidy search was made and personal items taken. Unfortunately there was no CCTV at the venue. Also on the 09th January an overnight burglary took place in Northall Road. A Ted Baker bag had been taken from the hall way. It is believed suspects were hoping to find vehicle keys within the bag. Entry was gained by forcing the front door. There have been two reports of vehicle crime in Hall Place car park. Bourne Road. On the 11 January between 1030 and 1252 the driver’s door lock had been drilled however nothing was taken from the vehicle. On 12 January between 1630 and 1730 in Hall Place car park victim returned to find the front and rear plates had been removed from the vehicle. On a good note Barnehurst Officers are pushing forward to get one hundred percent coverage of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes for the ward. We are pleased to say we are very close to achieving this goal. We would like to thank residents who have become involved in our Neighbourhood Watch Schemes and we look forward to working together to ensure Barnehurst Ward remains a safe place to live on Bexley Borough. Also thanks to the residents who attended Coffee with cops today. Residents were updated with what Police have been doing on the ward and questions were answered with regards to a few issues raised by the residents. If you would like to join us please come along at 1100am on Tuesday 20th February 2018". Brampton ward:- "In general a quiet seven days on Brampton Ward with only two crimes of note to report, unfortunately these were both burglaries. The first occurred in Rydal Drive on the 12th January, and the second occurred in Long Lane on the 13th January. Asian gold appears to be the target of the latter. Brampton SNT continue to work with the Asian community offering crime prevention advice. No other crimes of note to report. You can now find Brampton SNT on Facebook for the social media lovers amongst you". Christchurch ward:- " Unfortunately we have had two burglaries on the ward and two attempted burglaries. One was along Midhurst Hill on the 16/01/2018, entry was made via the front of the house and the suspect was disturbed. The other was along Warren Road and was reported on the 11/01/2018, door was forced open and large amounts of clothing taken. On the 16th January there was a report of attempted burglary along Martin Rise. The suspect had caused damage to a door trying to gain access to the property. Another attempted burglary was also reported on the 06/01/2018 along the Grove, the suspect had tried to gain entry to the property along a side gate. We have had a report of a Theft of motor vehicle along Midhurst Hill where a motorbike had been stolen from the location. A male has been identified and questioned in relation to criminal damage to McDonalds and had caused £1500 worth of damage and has admitted to causing the damage during the Halloween period. In all cases we have conducted cocooning and super cocooning within the area. Can I ask if you get a report of a Burglary within your road and you have cctv please can check it may have picked up the suspects travelling to or from the venue. There was a disturbance along the Broadway with anti-social behaviour which the team is increasing patrols and dispersal orders have been implemented. Following this arrests have been made. Obviously all partners will be engaged in order to establish a Long term strategy. On the 15/01/2018 a purse was stolen whilst the victim was shopping in Monsoon. Also on the 13/01/2018 a wallet was stolen from the victims jacket in ASDA. Although this crime type is on the decrease please can we continue to be vigilant. The Christchurch team is very keen to increase our NHW coverage and make it as active as possible. We want to work in close partnership with you all to keep our community safe and tackle concerns and issues together, so please keep those email address coming". Colyers ward:- "Unfortunately it’s been another busy week for Colyers this week with 3 residential burglaries and one attempted. All were in close proximity to each other and were overnight on Thursday 11th into Friday 12th. One was in Barnehurst Avenue where entry was gained through forcing the front door, luckily nothing was taken as suspects were scared off by the family dog. The other was in Edendale Road where entry was forced to the front door and the family car stolen. The same night there was a third attempted burglary in Hurstwood Avenue; again attempted forced entry to the front door but entry was not gained. Suspect managed to force the porch door which only locked by the handle but believed were deterred when spotted the burglar alarm system. Lastly there was a garage burglary in Eversley Avenue sometime between Saturday 13th at noon and Sunday 14th and 2 bikes stolen. There was also a car was stolen from Eversley Avenue junction with Parkside Cross during the day Thursday 11th January. Officer stopped two youths in the caravan in the derelict garages in Hurstwood Avenue both youths and caravan searched and drugs found. One youth received a police caution. A male in one of the HMOs was arrested this week for three offences of Failing to appear, common assault and theft". Lesness Abbey ward:- "On Tuesday 09/1/18 at 6;20pm burglary occurred in Chessington Avenue. Entry gained by smashing a patio door. Resident at home at the time; On Tuesday 09/1/18 between the hours of 4:30pm and 7:40 pm a burglary occurred in Pinewood Road. Entry gained by smashing a dining room window; On Wednesday 10/1/18 between the hours of 8:45 pm and 9:10 pm a burglary occurred in Harrow Manor Way. Entry gained by smashing a window pane in the downstairs back door; On Monday 15/1/18 between the hours of 3 : 00 pm and 3:15 pm an attempted burglary occurred in Friars Walk. Resident at home at the time, who heard a loud bang coming from the kitchen area; On Monday 15/1/18 between the hours of 10:45 am and 10 :30 pm entry to a property in New Road was gained by the rear door glass pane being smashed; Burglary in Woodland Way on Tuesday 16/1/18 between the hours of 10 :38 am and 10 : 52 am, entry gained to this property was by smashing a rear door glass pane with a garden tool; On Tuesday 16/1/18 in Abbotts Walk between the hours of 4 :15 pm and 8 :00 pm, a burglary occurred, the property was entered by an open rear fan light window; On Tuesday 16/1/18 a burglary occurred in Bedonwell Road, entry gained by smashing a back door glass pane. Burglary noticed by a family member as householder away. Male arrested for burglary offences x 4 also theft of Motor Vehicle x 1, failing to stop and attempted Grievous Body Harm on a police officer. The male was arrested at his home address. Excellent work by response team officers". North End ward:- "There was a theft of a vehicle on the morning of Friday Jan 12th in Hilden Drive. The owner of the vehicle started the car to warm it up, went back indoors to get ready and came out a couple of minutes later to no car. This is an easy mistake that anyone can make but please never leave keys in the ignition for any time no matter how short. This is the only crime of note for the last week, which is a good drop in crime numbers for the ward. PC Mark and James (with the assistance of other officers from local teams) arrested a known offender at their home address last Friday and the suspect was surprised to see officers at the back door as they tried to escape. Off road bikes have started making a few appearances of late, patrols have been ongoing down by the Yacht club and at other open space areas in the ward. Mark and James have also been on the borough patrol bus twice at the weekend with officers from Neighbouring wards, covering North End, Erith, Belvedere and other wards in the North. This led to many stop and searches and stop and accounts carried out in North End and plenty of intelligence gained from the patrols". Northumberland Heath ward:- "This week we have had one burglary in Brook street which took place on Saturday January 13th. The burglary took place between 9pm -9.30pm. It is believed the suspect climbed over the fence to access the property. A rear bedroom window was forced and the locking mechanism was damaged. An untidy search took place in all of the four bedrooms, and a bottle of baby oil was sprayed around the window which was the point of entry and exit. A large amount of cash was stolen along with passports and credit cards. There was a theft of a parcel from an address in Hurst Road on Friday January 12th. The parcel was signed for but was never received. Please be aware when ordering goods as to when and where they are delivered to. If possible arrange delivery to a trusted neighbour to look after on your behalf. One report of theft of pick pocketing from a charity shop in Bexley Road this week. This took place on Monday January 15th where the victim has a purse containing £35 stolen. We have had an increase in motor vehicle crime this week. On Wednesday January 10th at 9.40am the victim was involved in a road rage incident in Brook street when an unknown male attacked her car and tried to pull the wing mirror off her vehicle. The victim managed to get a picture of the male and the registration plate of his vehicle. Theft of number plates in Hind Crescent, and two thefts of motor vehicles in Brook Street and Northumberland Park. The team are continuing to focus on anti-social behaviour in and around Bexley Road and will be conducting plain clothes patrols in order to disrupt this". Thamesmead East ward:- "11/01/18 Hartslock Drive – Theft of Motor Vehicle between 6pm - 6am. 12/01/18 Seacourt Road – between 8am - 3pm Theft of registration plates. CHADWICK WAY – 10pm Criminal Damage - Brick through window. Courtland Grove – 5pm Criminal Damage – Brick through windscreen. Lakeside Medical Centre 12 - 1230pm – Theft of Mobile phone. 13/01/18/ Whernside Close – 5pm Criminal Damage – Brick through rear windscreen. 16/01/18 Kale Road – 5am – Broadband wire cut. PC Nana has stopped a male for drugs while completing high visibility patrol in Abbey Way. The male was given a Penalty Notice for Disorder which requires him to pay a fine of £90. A Male was arrested by the response team at his home address for x4 Burglary, Theft of Motor vehicle, failing to stop and attempted GBH on a police officer. Thamesmead East and Lesness Abbey held their quarterly ward panel meeting on 15/01/18. The meeting was attended by residents and Councillor John Husband who explained the new ward boundaries. The new Priorities for the next quarter is 1. Burglary Reduction. 2. Drugs. 3. Motor Vehicle Crime. Remember when leaving your property check all windows and doors are locked. Tell your neighbours if you are going away and ask them to keep an eye on your house. You can get crime prevention advice from www.met.police.uk/burglary". 

The end video this week is a triumph of perseverance in several senses. It features forty five minutes of trains coming and going from Erith Station in the rain. It is the forty ninth such video the person has shot at railway stations around the country. The chap that filmed it must have a serious interest in trains! I would suggest the fast forward button through most of it. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below, or by Emailing me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

The Royal Alfred refurbished.

Many readers will be familiar with the building in the photo above; it is the former Royal Alfred pub in Manor Road, Erith. The pub has been empty and unused for years due to a number of factors. It has been a landmark on Manor Road since it was built in 1874. Over the last couple of years, the building has been covered in scaffolding whilst a complete new roof was installed, and huge changes made to the internal architecture of the building, which was also extended to the rear by a significant degree. A very large amount of exceedingly expensive work has been undertaken, and I have a bit of a scoop - the first look inside the refurbished former pub, now that work on the refurbishment of the upper floors has just been completed, and before the first tenants move in to the extremely high quality apartments which are shortly to be available for private rent. You may recall that I ran a feature on the Royal Alfred almost a year ago, when the place was little more than a shell - you can read my original article by clicking here. things have progressed amazingly in the intervening time, as you can see in the photos I took last Saturday afternoon, which you can see below. Click on any one for a larger version. All of the photos were taken using natural light, and no electronic flash.

I was given free reign to go wherever I liked in the building, and take whatever photographs I wanted to; I have to say that the workmanship of the refurbishment is of an exceptionally high quality, and the materials and domestic appliances installed are all absolutely top notch. Manjinder and his family have done a stunning job - I expected the fit and finish to be good, but what he has achieved has exceeded my expectations by a substantial margin. Now that the upper floors are now complete, work will shortly begin on the ground floor - turning it from a building site into a new, expanded Londis store to replace the cramped and outgrown shop on the opposite corner of Appold Street that the Bains family have run very successfully since 2002. They plan to keep as much of the former Royal Alfred pub identity as they can. If you are interested in learning more about these lovely apartments, then drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com and I will put you in contact with Manjinder.

The News Shopper are reporting a story that I predicted well over a year ago. The Dartford River Crossing Dart Charge system has not been anything like the success its operators had promised when the number plate recognition system was introduced. Recently released figures show that the Department of Transport has failed to collect a total of £32.5 million in unpaid fines, just from the last financial year. As I originally wrote, the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system used at the Dartford Crossing is easily fooled by dirt on the number plates, by certain foreign number plate designs with non – UK fonts, fog, rain and road spray. Basically unless the plate is scanned in near perfect weather and visibility conditions – something of a rarity in the local area, there is a strong chance that the number plate will not be recorded by the Dart Charge system correctly. On top of this, there is the well-known local issue of a large number of stolen and forged number plates in wide use by drivers which enable the criminal fraternity to travel over the crossing with impunity. If this situation was not bad enough, a lot of foreign drivers who ignore the Dart Charge system – the reports says that 437,304 unpaid crossing fines were forwarded to European debt recovery agents in the last year, very little, if any of which will be repaid. What also occurs to me, is if the level of fee avoidance is as high as now becomes apparent, how much does the collection process in itself actually cost? I wonder if it would actually work out cheaper to make the crossing – both the bridge and the tunnels free as had originally been intended? I have no vested interest in the Dartford Crossing myself, as it is not something that I personally use. I feel that the cost of administration versus the actual toll receipts could do with being looked at. Would a free crossing make a difference to the traffic levels in North Kent and South Essex? I am not an expert, but it would be interested to hear the opinion of a professional transport analyst on the subject.

One tends not to think of the local area as being one that fosters much in the way of agriculture; a fairly unglamorous South East London / North Kent suburb is not exactly the kind of place one would expect to find much in the way of food production. In many respects this may be the case, but in one particular area it is most definitely not true. Erith, Slade Green and Dartford are renown for the quality of honey that is produced in the area; indeed Dartford Bee Keeping Club have just won an award for producing some of the best quality honey in the country. I guess that this is due to areas such as the Slade Green Marshes, with the large open areas covered with heather, wild flowers and bulrushes. For what is thought of as a predominantly urban area, we actually have quite a large amount of uncultivated, wild wetlands and other places which bees find attractive. You can read more about Dartford Bee Keepers on their website here. I must warn you that the text on much of the site suffers extensively from rogue apostrophes – “bee’s” occurs on multiple occasions, amongst other misuses of possessive apostrophes. The site is obviously a labour of love, created by someone with rather more knowledge of bee keeping than good web design, or English grammar and punctuation.

Last week I ran an article on the proposed closure of Bexleyheath Police Station; Dana Wiffen of Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association sent me the following report on a recent public meeting to protest against the proposed closure:- "Thursday night’s meeting at The Council Civic Offices-main chamber, with representatives from The Mayor's Office including the Deputy Mayor-Sophie Linden and Bexley Police Borough Commander-Stuart Bell who took questions from a passionate 90 Bexley residents who attended. The top table included with the above two, plus Joyce Sutherland Chair of Bexley Safer Neighbourhood Board and myself. Many of those who attended were NW-Coordinators and most of NW's Committee was there also present, all NW members are volunteers that work in the Borough to try and reduce crime; all are against the planned closures of both front desk and then the police station itself, moving all police and front desk to Marlow House in Sidcup. There are also plans to close the police sub-offices in the Borough as well. We were told that this is part of a London wide programme to try and save £400 Million pounds from the MET's budget. Some of the arguments against were:- 1) Bexleyheath is Central to the Borough-Sidcup is not. 2) Bexleyheath allows a quick response to crime in the North of the Borough such as Thamesmead, Sidcup would not. 3) Bexleyheath is accessible from all parts of the Borough by bus, Sidcup is not. 4) Bexleyheath Town Centre has its own problems around pub closing times on Fridays and Saturdays - how would police responding from Sidcup be able to handle these problems quickly? 5) Pushing for a reality type police contact would exclude the 30% of over 65 year olds that do not have computer access. 6) There are no public parking facilities near to Marlow House and bus services to other parts of the Borough are limited making travel say from Erith to Sidcup difficult. 7) With a growing population in Bexley, the planned building in the North of the Borough as well as around Bexleyheath was pointed out with residents amazed that none of this has been taken into consideration. Although the figures for cost saving of Bexleyheath Police station were offered none were available for the amount of money needed to be spent on Marlowe House to allow it to take all the extra officers and vehicles and also the cost of installing a 24/7 front desk, which Marlowe House does not have at present. Already Bexleyheath Police Station has been devalued with the holding cells closed last year, it is ridiculous that police now have to take those arrested to either Plumstead Police Station or to Bromley meaning they can be off-line for a long period of time while offenders are booked in and they travel to and from Bexley. What seems just as bad is that Marlowe House does not have this facility either and there are no plans to include them if these changes are made. We feel that the plans to close both the 24/7 front office and police station will rip the heart out of community policing in the Borough, and that the already rising crime figures will continue during this process if it goes ahead. In addition to being able to respond the MOPAC on-line questionnaire (which is loaded towards the closure and reality policing), Bexley residents can sign an online (38 degrees) petition and if they prefer or do not have computer access they can sign hard copy petition and use it to gather their neighbours signature etc which are available from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch. (Tele: 0208 284 5537 Email: bexwatch-office@btconnect.com). The fight will go on with the on-line petition approaching 3,000 signatures there is scope to push this to 10,000 in time for both types of petition to be presented to our London Assembly Member-Gareth Bacon in time for him to present to the Assembly in early November. It is important to remember and this seems something both the MET and MOPAC have lost sight of Community Police Officers on the beat are "the eyes and ears" for fighting crime along with NW-Coordinators who continue to work with these teams to reduce crime and improve safety for residents, with the ever present danger of terrorist activity and the continued increase in gun and knife crime as well as the continued rise in lawless and dangerous biker gangs, the closure will give them the green light to carry on with their criminal activities knowing there is even less chance of them getting caught. While we are assured that there is going to be 2 fixed officers in each ward, by the time they have travelled from Sidcup to their ward, set up planned "Hubs" and start working on their newly acquired tablets there will be little time to patrol their wards. Bexley's residents should be aware and act now, as once these plans have been rubber stamped, the plan to build flats on the site will be the next step and Bexleyheath Police Station will be gone forever". You can sign the anti Bexleyheath Police Station closure petition by clicking here.

In a similar story, a reader alerted me to the advertisement above - which shows the former Belvedere Police Station which is now up for sale.  The plot of land, which is located on the corner of Woolwich Road and Nuxley Road in Upper Belvedere (NOT Nuxley Village - there never has been such a place - it is a recent, historically incorrect invention of estate agents that do not live around here, and have no knowledge of local history) is up for sale for redevelopment. Whilst I have no ideas what property development companies have expressed an interest in the site, but you can be pretty much certain that a large block of flats will end up being built on the site. Nuxley Road is already about to see some extensive changes; the very long established Walk Around store and the hardware store Nuxley DIY next door to it are about to close for good. The owner of the buildings is selling up and both buildings are being redeveloped for housing in the form of an apartment block. The whole nature of Nuxley Road is about to change. It seems that the threat of the closure of Bexleyheath Police Station and the selling off of Belvedere Police Station are not isolated cases; indeed it has come to my notice that our neighbours across the River Thames in the London Borough of Havering are experiencing a similar problem. Indeed the borough issued a public announcement last week that read:- “Havering Council Leader Roger Ramsey, is urging residents to speak out against proposals to close a number of police public access points. The Council strongly opposes the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime’s (MOPAC) proposal to close both Hornchurch and Rainham police stations along with seven Safer Neighbourhood bases.  Cllr Ramsey, said: “I understand that there are cuts being made to the service which has put the Mayor in a difficult position, but closing these stations and bases is a short-sighted decision. It will leave our residents feeling unsafe and for some, in particular residents in Rainham, this means having to travel over an hour to their nearest police station, which isn't acceptable. “I urge residents across the borough to attend MOPAC’s public meeting tonight (Wednesday 13 September), at the Salvation Army in Romford from 6pm to 8pm." It would seem from that midweek announcement that the two boroughs share a lot in common in terms of challenges that we both face.

In what has become an annual event, Riverdale Road based country and western musician and composer Wayne Jacobs has just won the ukcountryradio.com listeners club award for song of the year. He has won this award every year since 2012. This year he was also a finalist for UK country artist of the year and UK male country singer of the year. Mr. Jacobs is obviously very talented in his chosen field, and has been accordingly recognised. What surprises me is that he has not chosen to emigrate to the USA, where the main market for country and western music exists. It occurs to me that he would be in a far more receptive environment over there, and certainly far more ability to generate a substantial income for himself in the process.

The Bexley Times published a rather poorly researched story last week; it printed an interview with the Chief Executive of MBNA Thames Clippers, Sean Collins, after the recent trials of Thames Clippers ferrying commuters from Gravesend Town Pier into Central London. In the interview he said:- “The trial has been a total success so far, passengers have been asking a lot of questions to find out when a permanent service could be up and running and how much it will cost. These questions are the reason we are running this trial, I set up this company 18 years ago, and two years later people were asking me about a Gravesend service, the only reason we haven’t done anything sooner is because we’ve been working on other projects across London. We need to set out a full business case, it could take up to two years to start up a service, it would be great to see it stop at other places, such as Erith, Greenhithe, Dagenham and Thurrock. Because of demand we’d need to build at least two bigger boats, at around 300 capacity. They would cost around £6 million each and then there’s the cost of running to consider. By having new, bespoke boats, the journey time wouldn’t be longer, but for now the idea of additional stops is something we would have to evaluate in a business plan, as we would have to bring in the cost of setting up dedicated piers for the service.” Sean Collins obviously made his statement before consulting with either the Port of London Authority, Morrison’s Supermarket, or indeed Bexley Council. As regular readers will recall, I have previously researched and written about using Erith Pier as a embarkation / debarkation point for the Thames Clipper ferry service. The pier, albeit the longest on the entire river Thames, is a dogleg shape with the long axis running parallel to the river bank. At low tide, the pier “dries out” meaning river craft cannot access it for several hours each side of low tide. The solution for this would be to install a floating jetty which would extend into the deep water channel further towards the centre of the river. The problem with this solution is that there are a number of factors acting against it – firstly, a jetty extending from the pier might be construed as a hazard to navigation by the PLA – and would require hazard warning lights at night, and in times of poor visibility. Secondly, Morrison’s, who own the pier and have responsibility for maintaining it do not want it used as a ferry terminal, as commuters would use spaces in the supermarket car park which they would rather see in use for their own customers, and thirdly, Bexley Council say in not so many words that they are not interested; a spokesperson from the council was recently quoted as saying:- “We are not aware of any such proposal. There was a query raised with us about whether the service could stop at Erith pier but it does not have the facilities to allow a vessel to dock and fitting them would be very expensive. We are supportive of increased use of the river particularly for leisure and tourism, but the economics of a commuter service may be challenging. In this context we await the outcome of the trial with interest.” Local MP Teresa Pearce has examined the possibility of ferries stopping at Erith Pier, and she too was told that it was not going to happen. Personally I would love to be able to commute to and from Erith Pier to my place of work in Canary Wharf, but unless there are some drastic changes in policy by several involved organisations, I really cannot see it happening. Let's hope things change for the better.

This weeks incident reports from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association; Firstly from Barnehurst ward:- "Another Good week for Barnehurst ward with only one crime of note reported, unfortunately this was a nasty robbery which occurred at 12 noon on the 12th September near to Gravel Hill Primary School by two suspects riding a moped. The victim was crossing the road towards the school when a male wearing a crash helmet grabbed her necklace with such force that she was pulled to the ground. He then jumped onto the back of a waiting moped and made off down Gravel Hill towards the roundabout. If you have any information please call us with any details. Please be aware of your surroundings and take care of your property especially mobile phones and jewellery, for crime prevention advice on how to stay safe please visit the Metropolitan Police web site. We are aware of reports over the weekend of some ASB in Martens Avenue regarding youths on their pushbikes, we will be adjusting our duties to patrol at the relevant times and deal with the youths involved. Please join us on Friday 15th September at 11am at Barnehurst Golf Course to discuss any local issues or concerns that you may have. As always please follow us on twitter @MPSBarnehurst for regular updates from the team". From a member of the public in Martens Avenue:-  "Once again we are plagued by large groups of boys on cycle doing wheelies up and down the centre of the Martens Avenue, Bexleyheath. adjacent to the kids playground. This evening there are about 15 of them blocking the driveway of our house. When told to move they are abusive, rude and give you the one finger gesture. It is quite clear nothing seems to have been done with these kids who seem to be a law on to themselves. I can foresee that one of them will get hit by a car and seriously injured as they seem to hold no fear of traffic and indeed on occasions I have seen them play chicken down the centre of the road and force cars to slow down or stop. Something drastic needs to be done with these kids. They seem to have no respect for anyone or anything and I can foresee the time when if something is not done, one of the residents here taking the law into their own hands to deal with them. Their parents who should take some of the responsibility for these kids as they seem to do nothing and indeed no doubt if something is said to the kids about their behaviour, they would be soon knocking on doors and being confrontational. Please do something before things get out of hand". From Belvedere ward:- "We are continuing to canvass the ward to set up new Neighbourhood Watches. This is a lengthy process, but we have managed to set up 10 watches across the ward since we began. There has been ongoing Anti - Social Behaviour (ASB) by children/ youths acting in an intimidating manner and gathering in large groups in the public car park in Nuxley Road. We are monitoring this area and have spoken to residents of nearby streets to gain further information. Patrols of the area are set to continue and we have spoken to a number of young persons to advise them that any such behaviour will not be tolerated. There has also been a spate of thefts recently on the Belvedere Park estate in Lower Belvedere. Of note, uniforms belonging to the management company Pinnacle have been stolen. If there are any suspicions around people seen wearing these uniforms, we would urge residents of Belvedere Park not to allow these people access to any of the blocks on the estate and to contact Police immediately".

From North End Ward:- "A vehicle has been spotted parked in Appold Street with no registration plates. It looked like they had been forcibly removed . It's a blue Chevrolet and a photo has been sent to the local police team with relevant information". Copy of the photo above - click for a larger view. "There has been a burglary is Masefield Close (off of Bridge Road). Access was gained by a side window and air rifles, a tv and custom made remote control cars were among the main items stolen. The victim has been visited by SNT and is looking into getting CCTV at his home. There has also been an attempted bag snatch near the underpass on North End Road this week. Fortunately they didn’t get the bag but the victim is naturally very shook up. Patrols of the underpass area will be taking place and our advice is that if you are alone, please use the traffic lights at the bottom of Colyers Lane to cross the road. We have a surgery at 1800 hours on Tuesday 19th September in the Community Centre on the Rainbow Road estate. Please come along and say hello if you are around". Northumberland Heath ward:- "A burglary took place in Matfield Road where the suspect has been arrested and is currently on bail. Other than the burglary it has been a fairly quiet week on the ward apart from criminal damage to a motor vehicle parked outside the BNM Store in Brook Street where the victims window was smashed. This took place on Thursday 7th September between 0100 – 0500am. We have received a report from a member of the public of youths on pushbikes outside the post office in Mill Road throwing stones at passers-by. The incident was caught on film. Some rubbish was set fire to in Stream way, the Fire Brigade attended and put the fire out. No damage to property or life. On Thursday September 7th a member of staff from Erith School had her handbag stolen whist working in the school office." From Thamesmead East ward:- "No Burglaries to report. Delivery drivers beware – On Monday 4th September, food items were stolen from an ASDA’S delivery van, while the driver was with a customer, Kale Road. On Wednesday 6th September, a moped was stolen from Yarnton Way, however good news to report is that later in the day a male was seen with the bike, subsequently arrested and charged to court. Between Sunday 10th September and Tuesday 12th September a car was stolen from Pointer Close, officers managed to locate the vehicle in the Belvedere area, and has now been reunited with the owner. Just a reminder that between the 15th and 17th September a summer fete will be held at Southmere Park. Lots planned. We are always interested in recruiting new Neighbourhood watch co-ordinators for the ward. Please ask your family and friends if they would like to set up a Neighbourhood watch in their road. Contact us on 020 8721 2049 or Thamesmead.SNT@met.police.uk for more information, (or reply to this email to contact the NW office direct) For latest news from Bexley Police visit our twitter pages @MPSBexley and @MPSThamesmeadE".

The ending video this week shows the work to complete the new Abbey Wood railway station, which combines both the North Kent Line tracks and the new Crossrail (soon to be renamed Elizabeth Line) into one facility. Do give the short video a watch, and leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

After the fire.

I think pretty much anyone living within three or four miles of Erith must have seen the terrible pall of filthy black smoke that hung over the town on Monday afternoon. It was almost certainly the worst fire to hit the area  since the notorious arson attack on the Wurth industrial warehouse off Yarnton Way in Lower Belvedere in February of last year. The fire hit the Moat Housing Association block of flats in James Watt Way, between the KFC drive through and Morrison’s petrol station. The photos above show the emergency services as they cleaned up after extinguishing the blaze, which caused extensive damage to the roof and top floor of the brand new apartment block, which has only been occupied for a number of weeks. After speaking to a number of people regarding the event, it would appear that the fire alarm system did not trigger in the building, and several people were unaware of the blaze; one chap mentioned that his daughter and grandchild were asleep in their flat, and only when he rang her mobile phone and woke her up did she find out that the building was alight. As if this was not bad enough, I have heard accounts of external doors jamming and not allowing residents out; this would seem to be borne out by eye witnesses reporting at least one person was forced to climb down an external drainpipe to escape the fire. Thankfully all residents of Moat House were able to escape, and they were temporarily housed in the restaurant in the nearby Morrison’s supermarket, where they were given free food and drink. By this time the fire had been declared a major incident, and a huge number of emergency service vehicles were blocking many of the roads around Erith. Personally I saw fire engines from as far away as Islington and Brixton, not to mention from Grays, just across the River Thames. By 6pm the fire was over, and forensic officers from the London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police were checking the roof. It was originally thought that some of the residents of Moat House who lived on the lower floors were to be allowed back into their flats, whilst those who lived in the upper flats were found alternative accommodation. Some apartments were untouched by the fire, but drenched by the water used to extinguish the blaze. In the end the decision was made to move all of the residents into the Marriott Hotel in Bexleyheath. This has proved somewhat controversial. In an interview with the News Shopper earlier this week, Moat House resident Darren Braithwaite said: “No one even cares. There’s no food for us. Our building has burned down and they do not know what to do, why aren’t they showing some empathy? That is disgusting. We’re stuck in this hotel and it’s just not right. It’s not a place to live. We don’t have any clothes. We look like a bunch of homeless people stuck in a rich hotel. We’re none the wiser but they do not have any other temporary accommodation available. Once we’re split we’re on our own but we’re all standing together on this.” Each resident has been granted a daily allowance to survive while the housing association in charge, Moat, decides its next move. Initially the group was told that each resident was entitled to a £10 bursary until the housing association relented and increased this to £20. The children’s bursary remains at the same level of £5 per day but only the cheapest main on the menu is salad charged at £10. It is currently unclear whether the displaced apartment block residents are permitted to bring in food from outside of the hotel. The whole event has been a bit of a public relations disaster for Moat Housing Association. The roof of Moat House is covered by solar panels; it would seem from initial analysis the fire seems to have started in one of the electrical high tension inverters, but at the time of writing, the investigation is still ongoing. Bearing in mind the apartment block has only been open for a couple of months since construction was completed, there would seem to have been a serious failure in testing and oversight. If the solar panel electrical controls were faulty, this should have been detected during user acceptance testing and not signed off. I get the feeling that there will be some very red faces at the building contractor's project management team right now. I would not be surprised if some form of legal action would result from all of this. What does also immediately strike me is that fire engines had to be sent from as far away as North London to cope with the blaze. It is abundantly clear that the cutbacks in the fire service have gone way too far – many stations, Erith included only have one fire engine – so what happens when there is a fire whilst the single engine is already out on a job? I counted twelve fire engines when I visited the area around Moat House at about five thirty in the afternoon. Bearing in mind that there was a second, very serious fire at around the same time in Greenwich, it seems that much of London’s firefighting capability was taken up. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above was taken back in 1995, when the Erith Deep Water Wharf was closed, and prior to the start of the redevelopment of the area. No Wharfside Close, and no Aveley Close, and no riverside retirement apartments behind the Cross Keys. As I have written in the past, one of the most underused and overlooked assets that Erith has is the pier. Erith Pier is the longest pier on the River Thames. It was originally constructed for commercial use for the unloading of goods from cargo ships that used to moor at the pier. Most of the cargo were large reels of blank newsprint for what was then Fleet Street and the newspaper printers. Erith Deep Water Wharf provided many local jobs for years, but as container ports such as Tilbury took over, the wharf became less popular with shipping companies, and it was closed down – it remained empty for a number of years. Back in 1998 work started to convert the former wharf into what is now Morrison’s supermarket and the aforementioned pleasure pier, which opened to the public in 1999. The pier is a great place to go for a walk, to watch the world go by, and to watch the river traffic come and go. There were tentative plans a few years ago to extend the Thames Clipper service to Erith Pier, but these came to nothing due to a number of technical issues, and objections from Morrison's supermarket, who did not want commuters taking up parking spaces in their car park. This situation appears to be revisited, according to a story in the London Evening Standard on Wednesday this week. Whilst Erith Pier is not specifically mentioned in the article, it may well be included in the expansion of river transport services. Many people not from the local area are completely unaware of the existence of Erith Pier, and it would not surprise me if this was the case with the original author of the Evening Standard piece. I would personally be interested in commuting to and from Canary Wharf by river if it became a feasible, reliable and affordable transport option. In fact, even discounting the potential expansion of the Thames Clipper service, over the next year or so, the level of shipping using the Thames is scheduled to increase by a substantial amount. The reason for this is that environmental campaigners have recently lost an appeal into the planning approval of a giant cruise liner terminal at Enderby Wharf in Greenwich. They had contended that the air pollution in the residential estates around the proposed cruise linter site would become substantially worse due to the ships using their internal power generators rather than using (substantially more expensive, but far greener) shore side generated power. Protestors said that a cruise liner using internally generated power would create as much air pollution as over six hundred heavy goods vehicles, and they claimed Greenwich Council had not carried out adequate assessment of the emissions from the development before approving the planning permission. But after a two-day hearing the judge Mr Justice Collins ruled against the claimant, and said the development would boost the tourism economy for Greenwich. Thus in time we will see a greater number of cruise liners passing Erith – a boon for local ship spotters such as the members of the World Ship Society, but possibly a pollution problem for residents of Enderby Wharf and the surrounding area.

The photo above shows some horrendous fly tipping, which is happening on an almost daily basis in the ditches and dykes on the Erith and Slade Green Marshes. The shot shows illegally dumped rubbish on Ray Lamb Way, and was taken by a local resident called Guy. Currently there is no CCTV camera system or other such monitoring of the area; bearing in mind it is a "one road in, one road out" area, it would not be particularly difficult or onerous to arrange something of this nature. Parts of the Marshes are supposedly protected areas, though this does not stop fly tippers and illegal bikers to use it for nefarious purposes. Commercial operators (basically any person not in a private car) get charged heavily for legal tipping. A single Transit – type van full of waste can be charged over £100 for a single tipping visit at a licenced waste site. I have spoken to the Council about this. I understand that when illegally tipped waste is cleared up, it is done by a council subcontractor, who charges the council over £300 for the work. Basic arithmetic would dictate that it would be cheaper for the council to allow waste dumping to be carried out by traders for free, rather than to have to clear up the illegally tipped waste at a later stage. I would propose a six month trial period where commercial waste tippers were not charged for using the Crayford dump; in all other ways they would still have to comply with the existing waste disposal rules, and the content of their loads, the company name and vehicle registration number would still be recorded, but no money would change hands. If at the end of the trial, the amount of fly tipped waste had substantially reduced around the borough, then the scheme would be judged a success. I think a pragmatic approach may be worth trialling, as the current system does seem to be failing, and the amount of council tax payers money spent on clearing up after the illegal tippers could be far better spent elsewhere. Don’t think I am opting for a soft approach to criminal activity – I am still strongly of the opinion that catching and prosecuting fly tippers should be a high priority, but a mixture of both carrot and stick, rather than stick alone may deliver better results for both the environment and the council taxpayer. More on illegal bikers now - who says I don't plan these things?



Coincidentally the gang to which a great many illegal bike riders belong to - the Bike Life TV UK group (sometimes disparagingly referred to as "Chavs on Mopeds") that I have featured on several occasions in the past was the subject of a documentary on BBC3 on Tuesday night. Bike Life TV UK are a notorious gang who operate all around the UK, but seem to have their primary base in and around Thamesmead. They not only ride en masse in public areas on unlicensed, stolen and uninsured motorbikes and quad bikes, usually whilst not wearing helmets. As I wrote last week, the not wearing of helmets is a deliberate tactic – the Police will not chase a biker not wearing a helmet, as they are concerned for the safety of the non – helmeted biker. This is a difficult issue with many different factors involved – the trouble is the scumbags know that they are effectively immune from any form of recourse, as they wear masks with the deliberate intent of making themselves unidentifiable. This aura of untouchability that members of Bike Life TV UK have fostered has got to be forcibly changed. Members of the public are losing patience with the Police, who seem to be powerless to stop them. I know that in reality this is not the case, and certainly in Bexley, the Police have got illegal bikers as one of their three highest priorities. I feel that the problem in part comes from central government and the Metropolitan Police leadership, who effectively hamper the actions of the officers “on the ground” with excessively restrictive rules of engagement. What I notice from reading posts on the gang’s Facebook site is that they seem to have a very high rate of attrition. At least three of the gang have died in bike related accidents in the last three or four months. Last July they famously lost a member, when he lost control of his bike and collided with a lamp post at the roundabout which joins Eastern Way junction with Yarnton Way, opposite the Morgan carvery restaurant /  Pub. The London Air Ambulance attended the scene to take the critically injured motorcyclist by air to the Royal London Hospital where he later died. If the Air Ambulance attends an accident scene, then one can generally be sure that it is a serious case. What is also disturbing is the group of around twenty bikers with whom it is said the accident victim was racing did not stop to help; they continued riding around pulling wheelies whilst two witnesses have stated that one rider in particular used a hand held video camera to film the accident scene and the emergency workers trying to save the man’s life. So much for comradeship. If they keep this up, they may end up becoming a self-solving problem. Somehow I doubt this – there will always be young thugs with more testosterone than brains to take the place of the dead ones. What I really fail to understand is why the bikers are obsessed with wheelies – they seem to spend as much time as they are physically able to on their back wheel. Why? What is the point? It would be just as effective and considerably cheaper to have “I am a complete pillock” tattooed across each of their foreheads. Bike Life TV UK don’t just ride around intimidating other road users and pedestrians, I understand that some of their members are involved in other types of crime. I have heard it said (but not confirmed) that some gang members move drugs around Thamesmead and Plumstead using junior gang members as couriers. Body building and Mixed Martial Arts are also popular with gang members – I have also heard to date unsubstantiated rumours that they have a trade in illegal anabolic steroids. This might well explain the extremely violent nature and short tempers of Bike Life TV UK members – who may well be suffering from “Roid Rage”. Watch the BBC documentary and make up your own mind. Whilst attempts are made in various Bike Life TV UK online videos to digitally obscure their vehicle number plates, as I have written before, there are many occasions where the number plates can be clearly read (of course, this assumes that the bikes in question are legally registered, and not on false plates, or stolen, both of which are strong possibilities). The group are also aware of Police surveillance on them – their website even has a news story which reads “Brimsdown Feds filming riders - to all uk bikelife  riders .looks like the police are filming  the riders mostly on the crossers . then putting names to the faces the paying you a visit at a later time so just  be careful  and be aware that you being filmed . keep stuntin uk bikelife.” Apart from the dreadful English and punctuation, and quite why they refer to the Police as “the Feds”, the picture is one of  a group who are deliberately going out of the way to break multiple laws. Personally I am not saying all that I could on the subject, due to an ongoing case that I currently am unable to go into details of for legal reasons. Suffice to say that I have a very personal reason to see the end of the illegal biker culture in the area. A few readers will know precisely to what I am alluding, the rest will have to wait until certain events have finally played out.

MP for Dartford Gareth Johnson has called for the government to withhold payment to Sanef, the company that operate the Dart Charge system. In an interview in the News Shopper, Johnson said “Since the Dart Charge system was introduced it has been woefully inadequate. I have had hundreds of people contact me who are deeply frustrated with the system. I have already called on the Department of Transport to withhold payments to Sanef, the company which operates Dart Charge, and I urge them again to do so. I don't want to see any tolls on the crossing let alone a toll system that doesn’t work correctly. Motorists need to be able to trust the system and yet that is not currently the case." The number of complaints about poor service, incorrect charging and fines being sent to people who had actually not used the bridge or tunnel has increased markedly. These were initially explained as “teething troubles”. I am also aware that a considerable number of "ghost journeys" have been reported - where a vehicle is charged for travelling over the crossing, when it was in fact not in the area at the time. There is already a serious problem around the country with false, stolen or cloned vehicle number plates in use by crooks trying to avoid both toll charges and fines for other traffic offences. I know for a fact that in the local area vehicles are illegally on the roads with suspect plates - and the Police are actively investigating those involved; from my understanding, the kind of person who fits false registration plates to a vehicle is the sort of person who is very likely to be involved with other kinds of criminality as well. This week a woman was left furious and upset with the failures of Dart Charge staff - after she received council tax, driving licence and V5 documents of another person in the post. Highways England has put the mistake down to “human error” in what has been confirmed the first case of its kind since the installation of the electronic system in November 2014. contacted the owner of these key personal documents on August 2 to explain she had received them and he in turn is believed to have launched action against the Dartford Crossing. To make matters worse Mrs Carroll (the woman concerned) now fears she could become the victim of fraud as she had initially been told her details had been sent out as well. On top of all this, the Dart Charge system has problems differentiating between "0" and "O", and there have been multiple instances of the wrong person being sent a fine notice. One commenter on the story on the Kent Messenger website wrote:- "My Dad (who lives in Yorkshire and who has never been anywhere near Dartford) just had a penalty notice through. He drives a Volvo V70 yet the car in the photo was a Renault! He rang up to complain but they said he would have to appeal against it! What a waste of time and money!" It is apparent that the Dart Charge system is deeply flawed, and the public are rapidly losing faith in it. Have you had problems with the system, or do you find it more convenient than the old system with cash handling? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week features the aforementioned Moat Housing Association apartment block fire, which was filmed by a local resident on his mobile phone - so the technical quality is not so great. It does give a very good idea of just how serious the blaze was, and how many emergency service vehicles and personnel were involved in fighting it. If you have any photographs or video of the fire, that you would like to share with others, then please get in contact with me by leaving a comment below, or by Emailing hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Bonehill behind bars.

The photo above was taken by me on Tuesday evening; it shows a pile of illegally fly – tipped old and worn out lorry tyres that was dumped in Appold Street, off Manor Road by persons unknown. I spoke to a couple of the residents in the road, and none of them heard or saw anything suspicious. I suspect that the fly - tipping may have been carried out in the early hours of the morning, when most locals would have been asleep. I reported the matter to the Police and to Bexley Council Environmental Crimes Unit. To their credit, the unit got the tyres collected for proper recycling within twenty four hours. Appold Street has proved a favourite location for illegal tipping for many years – hardly a week goes by without some scumbag dropping a load there. I know that a number of Appold Street residents would like to see CCTV cameras installed to record such illegal activity. This is despite concerns about personal privacy – they feel that things have become so bad that the stopping of fly tipping is more important to them than any intrusion into personal privacy.

I don't know about you, but I get an almost incessant stream of junk mail through my letter box; much of which is delivered by the Royal Mail. Sometimes I feel that I would like to fit an electric paper shredder to the inside of the front door, and I am certain that I am not alone in that sentiment. The news that a scheme that would have allowed households to stop billions of items of junk mail has been secretly ditched by government ministers after a series of objections from Royal Mail and other delivery companies has leaked out. The Times reported earlier this week that after a freedom of information request was submitted on the subject, it became clear that the junk mail blocking proposal was quietly shelved after a row between the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Direct Marketing Association about which companies were joining. The scheme had the potential to cut thousands of tonnes of waste by letting households opt out of receiving both addressed and unaddressed junk mail. The current scheme only applies to addressed mail. Every year in the UK an estimated twelve billion items of unsolicited marketing mail drop onto doormats around the country; this is equivalent to roughly five million trees. In 2014 Royal Mail revenues from delivering junk mail increased to more than £500 million, with the company delivering over three billion items of unaddressed post. The deal with the Direct Marketing Association to stop sending junk mails to people who opted out soon broke down; The preference scheme was known as the Door Drop Preference Service was ready to launch in 2012. Unfortunately the arrangement soon fell through, as the Direct Marketing Association accused the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of not doing enough to sign up other organisations who send junk Email to the scheme. The trade body argued that if its members joined, advertisers would switch their junk mail to free newspapers. This analysis was rejected, and the deadlock was never broken. Earlier this year the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs finally admitted that the scheme would never materialise, but somewhere along the line a decision was made that no public announcement would be published. All in all the situation is a mess; there are two existing non – addressed junk mail opt – out schemes, but very few people know about them – one is run by Royal Mail, and the other by the Direct Marketing Association – both schemes have to be joined by post, and registration on both expires after two years, when households have to reapply. The figures suggest that less than one in fifty UK households is signed up to these schemes. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Last week I wrote about how local residents were losing confidence on the recently launched Dart Charge system at the Dartford River Crossing. It would seem that things are even worse than I described. This week MP for Dartford Gareth Johnson has called for the government to withhold payment to Sanef, the company that operate the Dart Charge system. In an interview in the News Shopper, Johnson said “Since the Dart Charge system was introduced it has been woefully inadequate. I have had hundreds of people contact me who are deeply frustrated with the system. I have already called on the Department of Transport to withhold payments to Sanef, the company which operates Dart Charge, and I urge them again to do so. I don't want to see any tolls on the crossing let alone a toll system that doesn’t work correctly. Motorists need to be able to trust the system and yet that is not currently the case." The number of complaints about poor service, incorrect charging and fines being sent to people who had actually not used the bridge or tunnel has increased markedly. These were initially explained as “teething troubles”, but it would appear that they have not improved since last November when the service was launched. On top of the MP for Dartford getting on the case, now Edmund King, the President of the Automobile Association has become involved. He recently said “It is particularly galling that any toll remains at Dartford. The tolls and charges were supposed to be lifted in 2003 when the cost of the scheme had been met.  The new scheme has undoubtedly eased the congestion at busy times but, for some, there is a new concern regarding the behind-the-scenes bureaucracy that accompanies this supposedly high-tech, non-stop tolling. We expect many drivers to incur penalties through not being aware of the scheme.  And those who seek help with problems they have experienced with the 'back office' may get frustrated when problems are not resolved quickly or easily enough.  We believe that, so far, only around 400 appeals have been considered by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and thankfully, because of the teething problems, the vast majority of drivers are winning their cases.  We expect appeals to ramp up in the coming months and if the authority does not act quickly to reduce errors it could be embarrassing. With the scheme now into its seventh month, the AA calls for a transparent review of customer service standards and the performance of the electronic processes so any needed improvements can be made.  The AA also believes a complaints system and 'users group' should be established to ensure users have a voice. The AA welcomes Dart Charge’s decision to issue warnings not penalties to first-time non-payers and hopes that this continues until awareness of the scheme increases”. Quite. Now that both Gareth Johnson MP and Edmund King are backing travellers who use the Dartford River Crossing, hopefully the public attention the issue gets will increase. Back in November last year when the Dart Charge scheme was launched I predicted problems of exactly the type that have since been experienced. It is much to my regret that I have to say that I told you so. Not only does the Dart Charge system have trouble reading vehicle number plates, but it is clear that the number of cloned plates is higher than many had anticipated – this seems to be one of the contributing factors to the warning notices and fines being sent to entirely innocent people, so the blame for the failure of Dart Charge to work properly cannot be put solely at the feet of Sanef – your common or garden local crook also has a hand in this.

The photo above was taken in the summer of 1907 (click on it for a larger view), and shows how the residents of Edwardian Erith dealt with a heatwave similar to what we have experienced in the last week. The first public swimming baths in Erith was an outdoor one in Walnut Tree Road; the photo was taken during the opening ceremony on the 3rd of August 1907. The pool cost £700 to build and was sixty feet long by twenty five feet wide. The water was heated using the waste boiler heat from the adjacent Erith Power Station. Bearing in mind that in addition to the power station, the swimming baths were close to the livestock holding pens at Erith railway station - which you can clearly see in the period photograph below - I would imagine the smell must have been eye watering at certain times!

Over the last week or so, the popular press have been getting very excited about artificial intelligence, and the efforts made to progress research in this field by various organisations and academics. This is all very well, but unfortunately the enthusiasm of the journalists (and their lack of understanding of the hugely complex and technical field) has led to some rather inaccurate reporting. According to a Wall Street journal  article titled "Artificial Intelligence machine gets testy with programmer," a Google computer program using a database of movie scripts supposedly "lashed out" at a human researcher who was repeatedly asking it to explain morality. After several apparent attempts to politely fend off the researcher, the Artificial Intelligence ends the conversation with "I'm not in the mood for a philosophical debate." This, says the Wall Street Journal reporter, illustrates how Google scientists are "teaching computers to mimic some of the ways a human brain works." As any Artificial Intelligence researcher can tell you, this is utter nonsense. Humans currently have very little idea how the human, or any other brain, works, so they can hardly teach a machine how brains work. At best, Google is programming (not teaching) a computer to mimic the conversation of humans under highly constrained circumstances. The methods used have nothing to do with true cognition. Artificial Intelligence hype to the public has become progressively more strident in recent years, misleading lay people into believing researchers are much further along than they really are — by several orders of magnitude. We are decades away from anything remotely approaching a sentient computer, if it is at all possible. One researcher once said “If the human brain was simple enough for us to understand, we would be too stupid to be able to do so”. What software engineers at Google have been able to do is to create a synthetic environment in which their software can mimic the responses to questions placed by a human, in a manner which suggests to the human that they are interacting with another human being. They have succeeded in partially beating the Turing Test. The Turing Test is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Alan Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine that is designed to generate human-like responses. The evaluator would be aware that one of the two partners in conversation is a machine, and all participants would be separated from one another. The conversation would be limited to a text-only channel such as a computer keyboard and screen so that the result would not be dependent on the machine's ability to render words as speech. If the evaluator cannot reliably tell the machine from the human (Turing originally suggested that the machine would convince a human 70% of the time after five minutes of conversation), the machine is said to have passed the test. The test does not check the ability to give correct answers to questions, only how closely answers resemble those a human would give. Google’s program convinced three out of seven humans that they were interacting with another human – somewhat short of Alan Turing’s own estimates of what constitutes a success. Computers are great at carrying out tasks where the rules are finite and established, however complex that they are; this is one reason why computers are now better than people at games like chess. In open – ended situations, such as a conversation with a person, they are far less successful, and though this will improve, actually creating a self-aware computer is still well in the realms of science fiction, and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future, despite what certain journalists might have you believe.

A U.S government-appointed panel concluded in a recent report that Americans should eat less red meat and processed meat, and to avoid all fatty processed meats such as Salami in particular. A more plant-focused diet is better for health and the environment, it found. Not exactly a surprise – similar recommendations have been made in the UK for many years.  One problem with telling people to limit total fat is that people end up eating fewer monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats – the kind found in nuts, vegetable oils and fish – which are really healthy, and are precisely what dieticians recommend people to eat. In a recent interview, Penny Kris-Etherton, the Professor of Nutrition at Penn State University, and the chair of the American Heart Association's nutrition committee, says she thinks it's unlikely that lifting limits on total fat intake will be much of a sticking point. "There is a pretty solid consensus now that it's the type of fat that's really important”. Both the British and American Heart Association still recommend "selecting fat-free, 1 percent fat and low-fat dairy products" on their respective websites, but this information is now out of date. Professor Kris-Etherton says that in practice, the association isn't defending the low-fat position anymore. The AHA's new lifestyle guideline implies that it is best to substitute polyunsaturated fats — found in things like almonds and avocados — for saturated fats. "A lot of people still look at how much fat is in foods, and we're now saying don't focus on that: Look at the quality of fat you're consuming”. Another interesting point is that many low fat products (such as low fat yoghurts) tend to have much higher levels of added sugar in them – what is apparently a healthy diet choice can actually end up being worse for you. A classic case of unintended consequences. One possible side – effect of the promotion of awareness of healthier eating options may be hitting high street eating habits.  Fast food giant McDonald's is set to close more stores than it open for the first time in forty years. In a sign of changing consumer habits, as more and more consumers reject fast food chains for more niche eating establishments, the company has been forced to shrink. The global dominance of McDonald's, once taken for granted, has tumbled in recent years. The company announced in April that around seven hundred stores worldwide would close after underperforming. The closures are nothing new, but in the past the number of new stores opening had outweighed those closing. The figures reported may actually be far worse than they seem; the seven hundred stores mentioned only include those directly owned and run by the company. A majority of McDonald's stores are actually franchises owned and operated by private companies or individuals – the numbers don't include these at all. McDonald's has also announced that it will no longer publicly announce its sales figures each month, as it focuses on improving the 'small things' – such as how long it toasts its burger buns. The fast food giant is currently experiencing one of the worst periods of its sixty year history, as US workers hit out over pay and customers turn to competitors such as Subway. The firm's British-born boss, Steve Easterbrook, unveiled an overhaul of McDonald's divisions, including cost-cutting measures, earlier this month - and has now also confirmed that the chain will no longer reveal its monthly takings to its investors. Instead, backers will have to wait for a quarterly report to see if plans to revive the chain have been successful. Whilst local McDonald's such as the one in James Watt Way, Erith seem to be doing decent business, I have heard (unsubstantiated) rumours that the large 24 hour drive through in Plumstead has been struggling for some time. The need for two permanent security guards in the restaurant due to continual problems with violence and drug dealing, plus the less than ideal location near the junction of Pettman Crescent and Nathan Way, mean that it gets little passing footfall – the area is not very pedestrian – friendly. I have heard that a percentage of their business comes from bus station staff from the large garage opposite, and post office workers from the sorting office right next door. Most of the rest of the trade comes from visitors by car. I don't know if any reader has a better insight into this matter – please feel free to contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com with any related information.

That hate filled and bigoted individual Joshua Bonehill has been in the national press yet again. You may recall that I wrote about him back in February this year, after he sent me a threatening Email. I ignored his threats and published his message in full. If you are new to the Maggot Sandwich and are not aware of the activities of extreme right wing racist Joshua Bonehill, you can read about him here. Now, on top of everything he has done in the past,  he’s been arrested and is now on remand in prison until he appears in court on the 13th July for inciting racial hatred, after announcing plans to "destroy" Israeli flags and burn Jewish holy books.  Bonehill made a series of posts on his blog about an anti-Jewish rally which took place in North London yesterday. Only around twenty of his followers actually turned up, opposed by a far larger crowd of anti racists.  In the online postings, he encouraged people to destroy Israeli flags by hand at the demonstration in Golders Green, which has one of the capital’s largest Jewish communities. He also said a "private ceremony" would take place at a secret location just before the rally, where extremists would set fire to Jewish holy texts. He even had the temerity to create a particularly offensive leaflet with an image showing the walls of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and a can of weed-killer. It carried the words: “Liberate Golders Green: An anti-Jewification event. We've become complacent and allowed for weeds to grow in the cracks of London. It’s time to clear them out with roundup and liberate Golders Green for future generations of white people. Join us on July 4 for what promises to be an absolute gas!” I need say no more other than it was high time Bonehill saw the inside of a jail cell. As I have previously written, I have been told by someone qualified, that it is highly likely that Joshua Bonehill is suffering from mental illness, but it has got to the point where he is causing suffering to so many people that he needed to be locked up – ironically prison is the one place where he could potentially get effective treatment for his delusions. We will see what happens when his case comes to court on the 13th. Watch this space. 

The new anti-gang Police team set up in Thamesmead / Abbey Wood has a number of serious challenges to deal with. Not least of which is a worrying problem with unlicensed warehouse raves, the most recent of which ended with a murder. A young man called Renea Campbell aged 26, died following a triple stabbing outside the unlicensed London Igloo party in Abbey Wood's Lyndean Industrial Estate in the early hours of June 20^th. A group called Igloo organise illegal parties which they advertise via their website. The parties run all night, and usually finish at about 6am. This is despite Greenwich Council going to court to get an injunction preventing such events back in May. That did not stop the £20 a ticket London Igloo event - billed online as "the only party where you can bring your own bottles" - taking place with hundreds of revellers involved, according to concerned local residents fed up with the noise and disruption. I wonder that now that a young man has needlessly lost his life that the problem of the unlicensed events will finally be dealt with once and for all? Currently it seems that whenever a story gets into the local news about Abbey Wood and Thamesmead, it has negative connotations. There have been a number of stabbings, mostly relating to gang territories and the related “rights” to sell drugs. Unlicensed raves tend to encourage gang members to meet where they normally would not – whether they intend visiting the event for fun, or merely seeking new customers for their illegal recreational pharmaceuticals; the mix of gang loyalty, illicit money and knife culture never makes for a good result. I also wonder why the owners of the building where the rave has taken place do not do more to prevent such activities? Surely any insurance covering the building would be null and void if something happened during a period of illegal use?

Malcolm Knight of the “Bexley is Bonkers” blog was the first outlet to break the good news story that Bexley Council’s plan to sell off the Old Manor Way playground in Barnehurst has been dropped after intense public protest. The story is now all over the local press. Whilst this is extremely good news for the parents and children who use the playground, and it paints Bexley Council in a somewhat favourable light, I think that it is probably another nail in the coffin of the campaign to save Belvedere Splash Park. The extremely hot weather that we have been suffering with this week really went to show how much the Splash Park means to local people. I was on the 99 bus from Woolwich on Wednesday afternoon, right at the hottest part of the heatwave. When the bus stopped outside of the closed Splash Park, I saw a mother and a small group of children visibly upset that the park was closed – they obviously did not know about the closure, or the concerted campaign to get the place refurbished and re – opened. Consequently you had a bunch of upset kids and a Mum who did not know what to do with her hot and bothered kids on the warmest day of the year. As Malcolm Knight has also highlighted, the recent arson attack at the play area in Abbey Wood is going to cost the council’s recreation budget a pile of money – although I am not aware of what insurance provision (if any) the council has for damage of that type. Any possible remedial work and possible re – opening  of the Belvedere Splash Park may well fall victim to the non – closure of the Old Manor Way playground, and the fire damage in Abbey ruins. My understanding is that the possible financial grant from Cory Environmental to refurbish and reopen the Splash Park is in grave doubt, as Cory are currently up for sale, and actively looking for a buyer for the business. Cory has long had a somewhat tarnished reputation in Belvedere and Erith, mainly due to the way in which they forced through the creation of the plant in 2007, against the opposition of many local people, and the then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone. Opposition centred round the possibility of emissions from the incinerator, which add to the local concerns about existing industrial risks in Lower Belvedere. There has been a long standing dispute with Thames Water about the smell from the Crossness sewage works, and the ineffectiveness of attempts to force an end to these added to local concerns regarding fumes. A further concern raised is that while Bexley Borough has one of the best recycling records in London, this is offset by the fact that other boroughs evade recycling quotas by having their refuse incinerated in Bexley. Cory have no doubt hoped to create some better P.R for themselves by sponsoring a number of local community projects. This may now be over – hopefully there will be a new incumbent running the incinerator, who will have a strong and active corporate social responsibility programme to which the Belvedere Splash Park can benefit. Time will tell. 

The end video this week is something I came across on YouTube. It has been put together by local resident Lee Ricketts - you can see his Youtube channel by clicking here. This short film shows the demolition of the old Erith Town Centre back in 1969, and also records the construction of the first phase of the hideous concrete monstrosity of the replacement shopping centre that was to blight the town for several decades. Only in the last ten years have things improved. See what you think.