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Todwick Village

Neighbourhood Watch

Todwick Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter

August 2009

Welcome to all those who have signed up to the Todwick Neighbourhood Watch since our last quarterly newsletter in May 2009. We hope that you find these newsletters informative and useful and we always value your feedback. We are also most grateful to all the villagers who have brought issues to our attention.

Todwick Neighbourhood Watch Annual General Meeting

The AGM for your Neighbourhood Watch will be held in Todwick Village Hall at 8 pm on Friday 2nd October 2009. Admission is free. Please come along.

Door to Door Salesmen

We are still receiving reports of door to door salesmen who do not appear to understand the simple phrases "no thank-you" and "please go away". Two instances of verbal abuse have also been reported to the company concerned and in one case reported directly to the Police.

If offensive language is used, please try to find the name of the person concerned and the organisation they represent. We recommend that a complaint is lodged with the company directly by yourself, or through the Police (01142 202020) Also please be aware that in many cases the "salesmen" are NOT employed directly by the company but are self employed research operatives who are paid for obtaining your contact details.

Cold Callers

South Yorkshire Police working with the Dept of Work & Pensions, Customs and Excise and Trading Standards are mounting a crackdown on cold callers who will try to get householders to have unnecessary work done. Examples are tree felling, roof work, driveway work or Upvc restoration. Examples of overcharging, deliberate damage, unfinished work and intimidating behaviour have been reported in the area. They are particularly targeting the elderly and vulnerable. It is asked that if you have vulnerable neighbours please keep an open for them. The Police would like any descriptions of callers and vehicle details to be passed to them on 01142 202020 or on Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 where you do not need to give your name.

Charity Clothing Collections

Please also be aware of the flyers and plastic charity collection bags which seem to be arriving in our letterboxes on a regular basis. Sadly, some of these organisations and collectors are not what they appear to be. One company whose flyer arrived early in July has had a complaint upheld against it by the Advertising Standards Authority. Also the theft of charity bags is depriving genuine charities of hundreds of thousands of pounds of revenue each year. This theft is big business and is being investigated by Police and Trading Standards throughout the country.

Vehicle Parking

I have been asked to remind all drivers using the village that parking, if seen where it causes a blatant obstruction, will attract a £30 fine, but no penalty points. However, if a vehicle is stopped on a zebra crossing, the fine is £60 with 3 penalty points on the driver's license. For those not wishing to risk incurring these penalties during busy periods of vehicle activity, I understand that the Carol Aston shop front parking area has very kindly been made available for parking during the school run periods. In any event where-ever you park please ensure that you are not hindering pedestrians or other road users by leaving vehicle doors open.

Unwanted Phone Calls

Unwanted direct marketing telephone calls have again been experienced in the village. Kitchen and bedroom promotions & flat roof repairs have been 2 of the excuses given. When queried, the calls were immediately terminated by the caller. One other call was to say that charges on their bank account have been rescinded and the account holder would be recompensed and yet another call said he was convinced the villager would win the Euro Lottery this week! In both the last 2 cases, the callers were leading up to asking for bank details. Please do not give out your bank details unless you are absolutely sure of the integrity of the person to whom you are speaking, especially if you did not make the call. If you would like to minimise the incidence of junk calls from UK phones, please register with the Telephone Preference Service online at www.tpsonline.org.uk or contact Norman Anderson (chair) for the full postal address and phone number.

Electricity Power Cuts

Power cuts are unwelcome at any time. Now we can all do something positive to help our village to regain power as a priority. If you fit into one or more of the following categories - aged over 60, disabled, have disabled children at home, seriously ill, blind or partially sighted, deaf or hard of hearing or use a text phone, then we recommend that you register with CE Electric UK. CE Electric is the electricity supplier for all electricity companies in the North East of England including Yorkshire. To find out more, please either telephone CE Electric on freephone 0800 169 2996. The more people who are signed up means we have a greater priority in the village if there is a power cut.

Free Raffle Tickets

We have had several reports of door to door callers who are offering free raffle tickets in the hope of you winning a car - usually a Nissan and also a weekly prize. Whilst it would appear that the car part of the raffle is genuine, enquiries reveal that the organisation will telephone you later to say you have won a carpet cleaning demonstration as the weekly prize. We understand that it is only a demonstration! At their visit, the carpet cleaning equipment may be offered for you to purchase.

Changed Bus Services to Rotherham & Sheffield

Please note that the No 25 bus service to Rotherham has changed. The service number is now 24 and most of the timings have changed. The times of the number 23 bus to Sheffield have also changed. New timetables are available from Rotherham Interchange or telephone 01709 515151 for up to date details. The 261 schedule to Meadowhall currently remains unchanged.

Cash Vending Machines

South Yorkshire Police has asked us to make you aware of the theft of plastic cards whilst people have been withdrawing cash at cash vending machines in the Rotherham area. If you use these machines, please be aware of anyone around you and always carefully guard your PIN number.

Underage Drinking at Todwick Recreation Ground

Underage drinking has sadly been seen recently on our recreation ground on the outskirts of the village. Associated with this illegal activity, there has been some verbal abuse towards a young visitor to Todwick. As a result of this abuse being reported to the Police and other complaints, we have managed to get the underlying issue to be classified as PRIORITY with the Police for at least the month of August. The recreation ground is a facility for everyone and we should all be able to use it without fear of intimidation by other users.

In a similar vein, we have heard of an unprovoked incident involving young people where a missile was thrown at a resident's window. Again the issue was reported to the Police and the antisocial behaviour unit immediately notified. Within the hour, the culprits were identified and warned about their behaviour. If you suffer any anti-social behaviour, you are encouraged to report it to the Police on 01142 202020.

Late News Item

Please be aware if you receive an unsolicited telephone call which goes as follows "Simply press 9. That's the 9 key. Press it now." You are recommended not to follow the instruction. Trying to obtain the caller's number will only reveal that they do not have the caller's number. BT have confirmed that this is a call from a computer, quite possibly abroad, where it selects numbers at random and dials them. If you press the number 9 key as instructed it will either connect you to a premium rate number or an overseas number. In either case you will end up paying for the call.

The crimes reported in Todwick in the last 3 months

Other miscellaneous Thefts

5

Theft from motor vehicle

1

Burglary other than dwelling

3

Criminal damage other buildings

1

Burglary in dwellings

4

Allotments - 1 theft, 2 burglaries

3

Thanks to all the villagers who have reported details of incidents so that we can alert as many people as possible of these undesirable activities in our village.

Should you wish to know more details about any of the issues raised, please contact Norman Anderson (chair).