36 replies to this topic

[blunt pencil]

Hi people. Just thought i would post. I came back this evening on the train (arrived at about 22:20). There was about eight 16 y/o lads up at the ilkley-side of Burley metro platform when i got off. All were a bit drunk and took to banging and leaning against the train as it tried to leave.

They eventually stumbled on, around the main station road.

These are the same group of lads who previously went on a drunken vandal spree, knocking pots over in people's gardens earlier in the year.

The same have been known to wake people up at 3 am after being supplied with alcohol.

Just wanted people to be aware. Not sure if this is a one-off, or a more regular boredom activity.

[Wharfedale]

It may be worth a word with British Transport Police, especially if there is CCTV up there.

[weirdmusic]

Wharfedale, on 13 August 2010 - 07:41 AM, said:

It may be worth a word with British Transport Police, especially if there is CCTV up there.

The CCTV camera you refer to points directly at the new covered bike stands on Platform 2. Before the bike stands & the CCTV were installed British Transport Police asked if the camera could be sighted on the end of platform 1 opposite the bike stands, so that its view would take in both platforms. The organisation responsible for the bike stands & the CCTV (I believe its Sustrans - please correct me if I'm wrong) said NO!

[mtricks]

Ive seen all this recently being woken at 2.30 by a group of lads running up the street shouting ive got a f#$king chair!! obviously all up to no good,

really annoys me when people have no repect for other people and their property

[Sebastian-Smythe]

weirdmusic, on 13 August 2010 - 01:34 PM, said:

The CCTV camera you refer to points directly at the new covered bike stands on Platform 2. Before the bike stands & the CCTV were installed British Transport Police asked if the camera could be sighted on the end of platform 1 opposite the bike stands, so that its view would take in both platforms. The organisation responsible for the bike stands & the CCTV (I believe its Sustrans - please correct me if I'm wrong) said NO!

When Sustrans first came on the scene about 11 years ago I and a few others up and down the country forcast what would happen if residential areas were linked (un policed) with cycle tracks. While the yoofs causing the trouble were not on cycles it doesn't surprise me Sustrans didn't want CCTV.

All for one and none for all - A waste of money when there may never be any cycles to video and a waste of a useful addition to vandal control. Having said all that I'm not a great supporter of CCTV in the majority of cases.

Re the call for such in Ilkley about six years ago,

[weirdmusic]

Sebastian-Smythe, on 14 August 2010 - 02:27 PM, said:

........................... it doesn't surprise me Sustrans didn't want CCTV. ......................

I think you misunderstand - it was Sustrans who put the CCTV in to protect the new bike stands. It was Sustrans who didn't want the camera pointing at the other parts of the platforms / station.

Its the narrow-mindedness of self-appointed organisations such as Sustrans, who give cycling a bad name.

[Sebastian-Smythe]

weirdmusic, on 14 August 2010 - 06:30 PM, said:

I think you misunderstand - it was Sustrans who put the CCTV in to protect the new bike stands. It was Sustrans who didn't want the camera pointing at the other parts of the platforms / station.

Its the narrow-mindedness of self-appointed organisations such as Sustrans, who give cycling a bad name.

Far from being self appointed as you say they are a National Charity
http://www.cycle-rou...es/network.html
Who have received multi-million pound grants from this country and
the EU and continue to do so. However I agree in that it is short
sighted just to have CCTV pointing at the bike shed alone. Surely
stopping would be vandals before they get at their precious bikes,
or identifying the culprits would aid security.

[spyglass]

On the Forum we have reports of:

• Illegal dumping by the river
  
• Dangerous parking
  
• Yobs (and probably yobettes) causing bother after the late trains
  
• Banners being damaged
  
• Poor behaviour on the river bank.

and where are the police? Somewhere else of course! The only police I ever see in Burley are of the Community Pointless variety who I believe do not even have arrest powers. They certainly do not seem to do anything about the dangerous parking or even enforce the limited parking at the station on Prospect Road. It seems real police are either interested in high profile murder cases or catching unwary motorists and that is about it.

I saw in the Ilkley Gazette there had been a higher number of burglaries than usual. I wonder how many of the bad guys will be caught?

Maybe it is time to form a volunteer Burley police force. We could call it the Burley Guardians (like the Guardians on the New York subway). They could patrol our streets in groups large enough to put off the bad guys and maybe even make some citizens arrests. A few dayglow jackets would work wonders. And no I am not talking about forming some out of control vigilante group just a collection of public spirited law abiding individuals who are sick of the nuisance/vandalism etc. I realise Burley is hardly a hotbed of crime/nuisance in the same way as city areas but wouldnt it be nice to keep it that way?

[Wharfedale]

spyglass, on 16 August 2010 - 04:06 PM, said:

On the Forum we have reports of:

• Illegal dumping by the river
  
• Dangerous parking
  
• Yobs (and probably yobettes) causing bother after the late trains
  
• Banners being damaged
  
• Poor behaviour on the river bank.

and where are the police? Somewhere else of course! The only police I ever see in Burley are of the Community Pointless variety who I believe do not even have arrest powers. They certainly do not seem to do anything about the dangerous parking or even enforce the limited parking at the station on Prospect Road. It seems real police are either interested in high profile murder cases or catching unwary motorists and that is about it.

I saw in the Ilkley Gazette there had been a higher number of burglaries than usual. I wonder how many of the bad guys will be caught?

Maybe it is time to form a volunteer Burley police force. We could call it the Burley Guardians (like the Guardians on the New York subway). They could patrol our streets in groups large enough to put off the bad guys and maybe even make some citizens arrests. A few dayglow jackets would work wonders. And no I am not talking about forming some out of control vigilante group just a collection of public spirited law abiding individuals who are sick of the nuisance/vandalism etc. I realise Burley is hardly a hotbed of crime/nuisance in the same way as city areas but wouldnt it be nice to keep it that way?

I understand the sentiment, but there are better ways to become involved as a volunteer, such as the special constabulary, otherwise it would be too easy to be accused of acting illegally, and run the risk of facing prosecution yourself.

[Sebastian-Smythe]

spyglass, on 16 August 2010 - 04:06 PM, said:

On the Forum we have reports of: [list] and where are the police?

You ask where our Police are, perhaps this will help - http://www.westyorks...ision.asp?id=10

[Wharfedale]

These guys are grafting and grafting hard and smart. Society decides how much it can and will spend on public services and we not only get the service that we pay for, but also a lot more. Imagine if the Police or any public service was subject to the same priorities as the private sector.

It amazes me that so many people can't see that our public servants are mainly an army of people who want to contribute to making society better and helping where they can. How many people who work in private industry can look thier kids in the eye and say they make a difference?

Maybe this is why our children aspire to be footballers or on the x factor rather than ambulance technicians or firemen.

As a society we reap what we sow.

[Grumpy]

Bonkers
"Society" doesn't decide what is spent on public services. The decision is made by a tiny clique of politicians who tend to come from a common background (whichever party) and are not typical of society. They have been destroying Britain since the 1960's. Please can we all have vote on the budget. I'd like a vote on how much we contribute to the EU, aid for China etc.

"Imagine the public service being subject to the same priorities as the private." Tempting. Like if you dont provide the service the public want, at a price they're willing to pay, they can go elsewhere and you'll lose your jobs?

The implication that Public sector workers are unique in caring for and contributing to our society is crazy. The private sector provides the clothes on your back, the food in your mouth, the water you drink, the energy you use and, not least of all the computer on which you are reading this magnificent contribution.

[Wharfedale]

Grumpy, on 16 August 2010 - 08:16 PM, said:

Bonkers
"Society" doesn't decide what is spent on public services. The decision is made by a tiny clique of politicians who tend to come from a common background (whichever party) and are not typical of society. They have been destroying Britain since the 1960's. Please can we all have vote on the budget. I'd like a vote on how much we contribute to the EU, aid for China etc.

"Imagine the public service being subject to the same priorities as the private." Tempting. Like if you dont provide the service the public want, at a price they're willing to pay, they can go elsewhere and you'll lose your jobs?

The implication that Public sector workers are unique in caring for and contributing to our society is crazy. The private sector provides the clothes on your back, the food in your mouth, the water you drink, the energy you use and, not least of all the computer on which you are reading this magnificent contribution.

I hear what you are saying, but its also some what simplistic, and actually rather weak.

The public service is made up of decision makers all the way up the structure, not just an imagined political elite. However, I should state that I am not talking about what we give to the EU etc' but the unquantifiable value added by the genuine kind words or extra mile gone, at no personal benefit by our caring public servants.

The public service may not have provided the computer that I am using to type this message, but open source certainly is, and that's provided by people who care about something other than the clothes on their back and the balance of their bank accounts.

[Grumpy]

Bonkers.
You simply cant generalise like this. I am sure there are many people employed in the public sector who utter genuinely felt kind words and go the extra mile. But dont confuse human decency with who the employer happens to be. People working for example in Privately run care homes or in private hospitals can be, in my direct experience, just as kindly. And lets not forget that our "caring" public sector hospital workers run the dirtiest hospitals in western Europe, and their track record suggests they weren't prepared to go the extra mile in preventing the scandalous deaths from C Diff and MRSA resulting from their slackness. Problems that dont seem to happen in the "uncaring" private hospitals. And despite all the tragically avoidable deaths, not a single person prosecuted. Contrast this with the way the private sector is hounded on Health and safety.
And as for the suggestion that people in the public sector dont care about their bank accounts ! Not been keeping up with the revelations about pay at the BBC or bonuses at Network Rail?

[Wharfedale]

Grumpy, on 16 August 2010 - 08:55 PM, said:

Bonkers.
You simply cant generalise like this. I am sure there are many people employed in the public sector who utter genuinely felt kind words and go the extra mile. But dont confuse human decency with who the employer happens to be. People working for example in Privately run care homes or in private hospitals can be, in my direct experience, just as kindly. And lets not forget that our "caring" public sector hospital workers run the dirtiest hospitals in western Europe, and their track record suggests they weren't prepared to go the extra mile in preventing the scandalous deaths from C Diff and MRSA resulting from their slackness. Problems that dont seem to happen in the "uncaring" private hospitals. And despite all the tragically avoidable deaths, not a single person prosecuted. Contrast this with the way the private sector is hounded on Health and safety.
And as for the suggestion that people in the public sector dont care about their bank accounts ! Not been keeping up with the revelations about pay at the BBC or bonuses at Network Rail?

The BBC and Network Rail are private companies aren't they?

Why is a private hospitals cleaner than a publicly run hospital? It's because the people who use them pay a great deal of money to do so and so they can afford to spend more on cleaning them. As a tax payer you can have the cleanest hospitals on the planet, the most policemen per street corner and the the bins emptied several times a day if we are prepared to pay for it, but there seems to be a belief that the when public service fails it's due to the people working there and not the lack of investmet that can only come from the people whom it ultimately serves.

Whislt fornt line care workers in private care homes may want to care, their priorities will sadly be dictated by profit, not care.

You mention health and safety, and how it hounds private business.... Why does it do that? To annoy them? To spoil their day or to try to protect people from employers who value profit over the well being of the people who work for them? The HSE exists to help protect us, not to hamper business. Should our industry be more like Mr Burns power plant than a safe place for people to work with a better than even chance of making it out alive at the end of the day?

[marygill]

This is ridiculous,cleanliness has nothing to do with the wage you are paid, it is down to the individual and pride in what you do.
As I see it for every hard worker in whatever sector in this country we have at least another four leaching off them in a non productive way and that is the problem.
We are overcome by "non jobs" just look at the wages paid and the perks involved for doing what? making sure that some other poor shmuck is doing their job.

[Wharfedale]

I didn’t say it was due to the wage that the staff were paid, I said it because there is more money available and used to pay for the cleaning as a whole. The actual cleaners may well be paid the same.

[Grumpy]

"The BBC and Network Rail are private companies aren't they?"

No. Both in the public sector.

[weirdmusic]

Grumpy, on 16 August 2010 - 08:55 PM, said:

.................................... And lets not forget that our "caring" public sector hospital workers run the dirtiest hospitals in western Europe, and their track record suggests they weren't prepared to go the extra mile in preventing the scandalous deaths from C Diff and MRSA resulting from their slackness. Problems that dont seem to happen in the "uncaring" private hospitals. And despite all the tragically avoidable deaths, not a single person prosecuted. .................................................................

In the majority of NHS hospitals for at least the last 20 years, cleaning & catering services, have been contracted out to the private sector.

[Wharfedale]

weirdmusic, on 17 August 2010 - 12:17 PM, said:

In the majority of NHS hospitals for at least the last 20 years, cleaning & catering services, have been contracted out to the private sector.

LOL!!