Suggested changes include a basic test in numeracy and literacy for new drivers with additional requirements for drivers from abroad.

Views are also being sought on whether private hire vehicles should have roof lights and new rules covering “stretched limousines” are planned.

Any comments should be submitted to the city council by Thursday.

Councillor Andrew Gravells, from Gloucester City Council, said: “This is really a matter of public safety and common sense.

“It makes sense for there to be consistency across the county.

“That will make things simpler and clearer for the travelling public.

“At the end of the day it is their safety which is of paramount importance.”

The city council will discuss the matter on 24 November.

Source: BBC

Furrukh Jamil, a married university graduate, wrote the letters after he fell out with the friend and wanted to get him into trouble with the police.

Teresa Perry, prosecuting at Stroud Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, November 3 explained that staff at the police HQ in Waterwells, Quedgeley and those at Barton Street police station in Gloucester each received the bomb hoax letters on September 17.

The matter was referred to special branch police who worked extra time over a weekend to discover the letters were fake.

After visiting the man implicated in the letters they were led to Jamil, a taxi driver, who lives in Russell Street, Gloucester.

They also found that his finger prints matched those on the letters.

Defending, Robert Welch said: “Jamil and his former friend met at university.

“Jamil lent him some money but they fell out after he failed to pay it back.

“After some unpleasant confrontations Jamil was at his wits end.

“He stupidly wrote these letters in the hope that his friend would get into trouble with the police.

“He has no previous convictions and was an exemplary member of society before this incident.”

Jamil, who has a child due in April, was given four months in prison for each of the bomb hoax letters. The sentences will run consecutively.

Source credit

Wayne and Janeen McCormick were on board the 15ft cabin cruiser on the River Avon at Eckington, near Tewkesbury, when it burst into flames.

Their children, who were on the bank at the time, had to run for their lives but escaped unhurt.

Wayne’s head was singed and Janeen’s eyebrow and hair was burnt in the blaze.

Wayne, 41, of Dimore Close, said: “We were so lucky our children were outside, if anybody had been in the cabin they would have been blown to pieces.
“Just a minute before the children were in there, we were just so incredibly lucky.
“Me, my wife, two kids and my mum just went for an ordinary day out. The boat has been moored at Eckington for a few years and we got to the boat and the kids went down into the cabin.

“I asked them to get off the boat on to the decking so we could get ready to go and I started revving the engine and then there was just this almighty explosion.”

When the fire broke out, at about 2pm on Sunday, Wayne’s mum Wendy was with their daughter Kier , nine and son Luka , eight, on the side.

Wayne, a taxi driver in Gloucester, and his wife,37, were stranded on the boat.

He said: “The boat is fibreglass so it was not flickering flames or anything, it just went.

“I was on the other side to the engine when it exploded. It blew me across the boat and my wife was on the back and it took her about three or four foot in the air and the boat collapsed back on her.

“We didn’t really know what was happening, it happened so quickly.”

Wayne leapt to the bank with his hair on fire, shouting to his children to get away while Janeen also had to jump to safety.

It was thought a fuel line fault caused a petrol leak, fumes built up and ignited when the engine started.

“Apparently people about quarter of a mile away heard the explosion,” he said.

“People were shouting to me to get off the boat and turn off the gas. I just didn’t know what was happening I just shouted and kept repeating myself.

“My wife lost an eyebrow and some hair and my head was completely singed, there was a terrible smell.

“Because I was in it I didn’t know what it looked like but apparently flames just came out of everywhere.”

The family drove to Tewkesbury Hospital to get checked over but none was found to have received serious injuries.

Wayne thanked other boat owners and passers-by for helping them.

“Everyone came to help. They wrapped us in towels and were pouring water over us to help,” he said.

“Everybody that helped was amazing, I couldn’t have expected more from my own family.

“They have now become some of the most amazing friends to us, they did everything they could.”

Source

The owner of Liquid Diva club on Eastgate Street wants longer hours to stagger the times revellers leave.

It wants to open until 4am on Wednesday and Friday nights, and until 6am on Saturday night.

The new hours will be trialled for a six-week period if they are granted an extended hours licence by Gloucester City Council.

A spokeswoman for owner Luminar Leisure said: “Working in partnership with the local police, Liquid Gloucester has applied for a 24-hour licence to help with dispersals in the area and alleviate the pressure placed upon the police with late night venue closing at the same time.
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“The proposed changes include staying open until 4am on Wednesday and Friday nights, and hosting an after show party on Saturday nights and staying open until 5-6am.

“A six-week trial, fully supported by the police, will commence upon the licence being granted.”

A Gloucestershire police spokeswoman said: “It is anticipated that the change to Liquid’s opening hours will help to alleviate the problems that can arise when everyone leaves the clubs and bars at the same time and large numbers congregate in the streets and at taxi ranks. A taxi marshalling scheme has also recently been introduced outside Liquid nightclub on a trial basis to move people away from the city centre quickly to ensure the safety of those on a night out and reduce anti-social behaviour.”

Keith Reynolds is the head of Gloucester’s Licensed Victuallers Association, the organisation representing pub and nightclub license holders in the city.

He said the move to open later was just another example of the changing face of the country’s pub and nightclub industry.

He said: “This is just another knock-on effect of the changes in opening hours.

“With later opening, people have started coming out later and drinking at home first. Therefore, pubs and clubs are being forced to open later to retain their trade levels.

“We are seeing people having to rethink their business strategy once again.”

Justin Hopwood, licensee at Butler’s on Eastgate Street, said he did not think the extended hours would be a problem for other licensed premises in the area.

He said: “I can’t really see any problem with this, and good luck to them.

“However, I’m not sure how many people will want to stay out that long really. It has always seemed to me that the street sees a lot of people milling around before going home between 2am and 3am, I can’t see anyone wanting to stay out until 6am.”

Source

Top Paying Adsense Keywords

Gloucestershire firm Clean Fuel Systems secured £150,000 of funding to develop further their clean-engine project. The Birmingham office of RBS provided the company with the loan under the Government’s Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, to allow the company to take forward the project, initially with taxi drivers to help them meet greener regulations for their taxi fleets.

The Cheltenham-based company is led by chairman Steven Mills and the business bought the technology to convert diesel engines to LPG in 2006. Since that purchase, the company has invested in further modification and upgrade of this technology whilst researching the taxi market with a view to converting cab engines from diesel to LPG,, not only to meet new emission regulations but also to provide savings in fuel and operating costs.

The funding will be used to build the firm’s engine inventory. The company works on conversion projects with a number of cab operators, to minimise the time a fleet is out of circulation. Currently, Clean Fuel Systems is concentrating on the black cabs, either Fairway or TX1 models, but the company said its technology could also be used in the light commercial vehicle market.

Clean Fuel Systems are also in negotiations with a national fuel supplier with a view to increasing their LPG supply through a small number of “LPG bunker sites” throughout the United Kingdom. Steven Mills, chairman of CFS, said: “We sense a real opportunity here. Regulations mean that taxi operators have to address the issues of emissions in their vehicle fleets and the potential is huge. The additional funding raised provides us the platform to develop a quantity of engines to market aggressively. Our negotiations with a fuel supplier are another exciting development and evidence of the investment we have made in this technology.”

Louise Armstrong, commercial banking manager at RBS Birmingham, added: “The development on this scale is a big step forward for a company of Clean Fuel Systems’ size. They are a good example of the entrepreneurial spirit that still exists despite the tough economic conditions that small businesses are facing.”

Source

The 61-year-old, who is the most successful British boss in F1 history, dropped the bombshell at the end of the unveiling of the new F1 racer at the team’s £250m factory outside Woking today

Long-time McLaren team CEO Martin Whitmarsh who has worked closely with Dennis for years is to take control.

But Dennis insisted he is not retiring but will be working harder on other elements of the  McLaren’s diverse car and electronics empire he created, including the build programme for a new “not exotic” road car.

“It is the right time,” he said.

“Lewis winning the championship last year made the decision easier but it was not the catalyst.

“It is 100 per cent my own decision.”

“Let me emphasise I will not be retiring. In fact I will be working harder.

“I will continue to talk things through with Martin and probably be offering my opinions even when they are not wanted but the final decision at the team will be his.”

“I intend to raise my own game because I think everybody in our organisation at every level realises this is a tough period in which we are going to work and of course we are a very diverse organisation now.

“We have a clear intention for our production car programme which is really a challenge. Any product we bring to the market will certainly fall the other side of this financial period.

“I stress nothing to get too excited about but it is absolutely time for Martin to take over as team principal.

“As from March 1 he will adopt that responsibility. I will still go to races, not all of them, because I am passionate.

“I intend to work harder and will take on greater responsibility in the group.

“I will be full executive chairman. It is time and I have to say it is absolutely 100 percent my decision. It is what I want to do, but I do intend to work much harder.

“It is a job over the years we have shared anyway, but it will be his decision to influence things at a Grand Prix circuit.”

Last year Dennis announced he was divorcing from his wife Lisa and the year before 2007 McLaren was fined a record £50m over a spying saga in which secrets were taken from rivals Ferrari and found in the ownership of a McLaren employee

The world champion, just 24, is hoping it will carry him to a second successive world title after winning the championship by a single point on the final corner in Brazil last November.

But his challenge takes place against a back drop of the most radical changes in the sport in a quarter of century.

Such changes have historically disrupted the natural order of things and thrown up new challengers from the lower order of the grid where designers have gambled on radical car concepts.

Among the changes incorporated into this year’s cost-conscious framework is a KERS system which generates boost by harvesting braking energy.

Engines must now last three Grands Prix and gearboxes four while there have been drastic revisions to the cars’ aerodynamics in a bid to improve overtaking.

The front wings distance from the track has been halved to just 7.5cm and is 40cm wider stretching the width of the front tyres to improve grip at the front.

And the giant rear wing has been lifted and reduced in size in the hope that the vortex behind cars which torpedoed overtaking will be reduced.

Cars will now use super adhesive ‘slick’ tyres for the first time since they were banned at the end of the 1997 season.

Some drivers fear the new formula will increase the dangers.

McLaren’s launch is the third of the year following Ferrari’s unveiling last week in Italy and Toyotas a day earlier.

Most of the teams will unveil their races machines in the next fortnight with Red Bull currently slated to be last on February 9 in Spain.

Post credit to The Mirror.

Cotswold District Council currently issues licences for private hire and Hackney Carriages but officers are struggling to cope with the huge workload.

It has had to employ a contractor to assist during the peak times of March and April at an annual costs of £1,800.

CDC’s Licensing team leader Phil Cooper said: “The licensing team are under increasing pressure due to the considerable workload. This situation has come about primarily due to legislative changes and an increase in recent years of outdoor festival events taking place in Cotswold district.”

The estimated cost of transferring the administration of taxi licensing to Gloucester City Council is £18,495 a year.

This cost would be covered by the income generated by the service.

If the service is not transferred, CDC will consider the option of employing a part-time staff member to undertake the work.

CDC’s licensing committee will discuss the transfer on Monday at 10am.

*******************************************************

One of my Database Team, Paul, called me last night and told me
to switch on Radio 5 Live.

Richard Bacon was talking about plans by Police to publicly
grant permission to “do-gooders” to operate their own mobile
speed traps in villages and towns around the UK!

Bacon was clearly incredulous about the idea, and with good reason…

Now, this “scheme” has been up and running for a few years,
but it’s only been the most do-gooderish of the do-gooders that
have known about it, because it’s been a bit like a secret
underground alliance between the civilians concerned and the
Police.

Here’s how it works:

Local Residents Groups — ordinary civilians — can set up their
own “Community Speed Watch Group” and be granted mobile
speed monitoring equipment – a laser or radar speed gun.

All they need is 6 volunteers and 200 signatures.

Sounds a lot, I know, but think about it… That’s just 33
signatures per volunteer, which in these days of facebook and
viral emails is nothing…

So what’s the big news, if this scheme has already been running
for a while?

Well, the Association of Chief Police Officers is issuing a
“National Set of Guidelines” for these Community Speed Watch
groups in the new year, which is basically like waving a big
yellow flag from the top of Big Ben to announce it …or perhaps
firing a sequence of fireworks from each of the now 17,690
mobile speed trap locations in the UK.

The presenter Bacon was quite amusing, asking Matthew Lug
from Leicester County Council:

“why not get them tackling burglaries?”!

He made a good point – Mr Lug had said that it was a good thing
that the public were “assisting” the Police by doing their job
for them.

“what sort of people would bother doing this?”, Bacon asked

“people with a lot of time on their hands…” was the general
consensus.

But a more serious issue was picked up by Hugh Bladen from
the Association of British Drivers –

When you use a Radar, or particularly a Laser gun, it is
extremely easy to get the “slip effect” that we have
demonstrated before, and get a reading that’s too high.

He went on to describe the scheme as “vigilantism”.

Can you imagine the tension that’s going to be created between
neighbours who have a grudge against someone else in the
community?

By the nature of these sort of organisations, it could end up
in full blown witch hunts – conspiracies to get a certain person
banned from driving – all outside of the parameters that Police
Officers have to adhere to.

Complete madness, I think you will agree?

Take the poll: http://btst.co.uk/poll3/

All the best,

Adam Blair
Founder, BeatTheSpeedTrap