Concern over Cheltenham ice rink damaging Imperial Gardens grass
Concerns have been raised over the environmental impact that a temporary ice rink could be having on a popular park.The winter attraction at Imperial Gardens in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, provides a huge boost to the local economy throughout the Christmas period. Speaking at a planning committee meeting, Cheltenham borough councillor Glenn Andrews raised fears that with each passing year that the rink is installed, soil compaction and sunlight deprivation are slowly killing the grass underneath.However, the committee voted to allow the installation and operation of the rink for up to 75 days a year, from November to January, for the next three years.
During the meeting on 22 May, Andrews said he was worried that after another three winters, the council may have to completely redo the gardens."Every time I go into Imperial Gardens... the re-turfing isn't taking as well. That is fairly obvious," he said."I do worry about soil compaction. We've got three whole years, and winter is the time when traditionally those gardens would regenerate."I think on ecological grounds I'm against this."
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, head of planning Chris Gomm said he was not aware that soil compaction was an issue assessed by the case officer."The condition that requires the land to be reinstated to its former condition would also apply to the flowerbeds and the grass, to make sure they are healthy post deconstruction," he said.Councillor Frank Allen added the economic benefit it brings to the town outweighed any potential ecological issues."The ice rink is one of our best features in the winter. We would do well to keep on preserving that," he said.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Debt-ridden wedding firm took nearly £50,000 from couples despite already having gone BUST
An wedding entertainment firm left 'heartbroken' couples thousands of pounds out of pocket by taking bookings after it had already gone bust, an investigation has found. Frederick Reeves, 49, also known as Jamie, and Claire Reeves, 41, ran 'The Best Singing Waiters' - a company that hired 'servers' who would suddenly burst into song at weddings and other big social events. However, brides and grooms were left 'devastated' when the performers did not turn up on their big day - despite them having paid for the service in full. One mother of the bride last year told MailOnline how she lost £1,400 after booking two waiters from the firm as a surprise for her daughter's wedding. Kathryn Dean, aged 60, from Liverpool, paid Mr Reeves in two installments in 2021 and only found out the firm had gone bust on social media. Now it has emerged that the Wigan-based company continued to take payments totalling £43,590 from 43 customers, despite being in severe financial difficulty. A probe by the Insolvency Service found that the husband and wife duo knew there was 'no reasonable expectation they could provide the services they offered'. Mr and Mrs Reeves have now been banned as company directors for eight years by the government agency. The Best Singing Waiters, which was also known as Solfan1, eventually went into liquidation with debts of more than £700,000 and assets of just over £168,000. Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 'Couples were left heartbroken after finding out the singing waiters they had paid to perform at their weddings would not show up. 'Several of the customers who lost out financially were even offered discounts by the company to make their payment in full at the time of the booking. 'The serious misconduct that both Frederick and Claire Reeves displayed falls short of the standards we expect of company directors which is why they have both been disqualified until May 2033.' Speaking to MailOnline about her experience last year, Ms Dean said she was convinced she would never get her money back. She said: 'The singing waiters were going to be a surprise for all the guests. 'My daughter was devastated when we found out. 'I felt sick - this was my daughter's wedding day after all. 'I still just can't believe that someone could do this to somebody else. 'If Jamie really wanted to, he could have covered our wedding for himself - he has all the equipment.' She said that she first got in touch with The Best Singing Waiters in February 2021 and paid a deposit of £800. Ms Dean said: 'I was dead excited - it was the first thing that we booked. 'I was thinking at the time "what a way to get a wedding started". 'I paid the second instalment of £800 in November 2021 and I thought it was all sorted. Jamie kept in contact and he would send me videos of his work. 'Then on March 8 of this year [2024] I gave him another call and spoke to the office manager. We went through the song list. 'She said we would need to provide lunch for the two singers - this was fine so I rang up the catering company and paid for this. 'She then said thank you very much and there is nothing else we need to do now. She also sent me videos of the two singing waiters were going to have on the day. 'Then I heard nothing else until I just saw on social media that they had closed down. 'On May 10 [2024], I got one automated email saying that they had gone into administration.' Ms Dean said it was very unlikely that she would get her money back through insolvency services and that given more than 150 days had passed she wouldn't be able to get a refund on her credit card. Dozens of couples were affected by The Best Singing Waiters going bust and several hit out on social media at the time. One bride-to-be posted on Facebook: 'Our wedding is in 4 weeks. We're absolutely gutted. 'My elderly mother had bought this for a surprise and can't get a penny back!' Another said: 'I've booked and paid in full for April next year, gutted. Hopefully something can be done.' A third added: 'Same company have taken a £1000 from us.' Solfan1 was incorporated in November 2015 and Ms Reeves was appointed as director in April 2018. Frederick Reeves was never officially listed as director of the company but did not dispute that he acted in the capacity of a director when accepting his disqualification following Insolvency Service investigations. The company was in financial difficulties in early 2024, having been served a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs for tax debts of more than £200,000 at the start of February. Following discussions with a private insolvency practitioner, the couple agreed on 28 March that Solfan1 should be placed into liquidation. However, from then until the company went into liquidation on 1 May 2024, they continued to take deposits and full payments from new customers. Analysis by investigators revealed that an estimated 43 customers made payments totalling £43,590 to the company during that period.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Where ARE you safe on Britain's trains? Maps reveal crime rail hotspots as sex offences and violence soared to all-time highs
Britain's railways are becoming increasingly unsafe as new data reveals serious offences such as sexual and violent crimes have soared to all-time highs. The country's rail network saw record levels of crime, with a total of 80,000 incidents recorded by British Transport Police in 2023-2024. Violent crimes and sex offences both soared to all-time highs and have more than doubled in the last ten years, with overall crime up 55 percent compared to 2014. And while the majority of crimes occurred at large, busy stations with high footfall, some criminals are taking advantage of a lack of police at tiny stations around the country to get away with committing offences. Johnston, an unstaffed stop in the Pembrokeshire village of the same name, saw 10 crimes in 2024, according to British Transport Police (BTP) figures. Four of these were violent crimes, which can involve anything from a minor assault to stabbing. Although barely any crimes were committed at Johnston, it logged the UK's highest rate – 1,440 per million passengers – because of its low footfall. Just 7,000 passengers used the station in 2024, the equivalent of 19 a day. It comes as footage showing a man threatening two women on a train earlier this month went viral this week, after he repeatedly said he would kill them and their boyfriends. Footage filmed by the victims shows a man named 'Elijah' becoming increasingly agitated and shouting the threats while his friends urge him to stop and say he is 'embarrassing' them as they travelled between Cardiff Central and Swindon. Elijah is heard saying: 'I'll kill you. I'll kill your boyfriend. I'll follow you. I'll follow you to your house. I'll follow you to your boyfriend's house, I'll kill your boyfriend. Whatever bro.' Eye witnesses said the passenger had demanded a group of women tell him who was the most attractive out of him and his friends. The crazed commuter later adds: 'If those two girls want to move, you can go. I'm not going to f***ing stop you from going.' At one point the female passengers explain they 'shouldn't be the ones to move' to which the uncouth man puts his hand to his mouth and gasps in exaggeration. 'Elijah' allegedly threw dried chewing gum at a third woman during the journey and 'made one cry'. The British Police (BTP) are investigating the confrontation believed to have taken place on the evening of May 18. A force spokesman said: 'We're aware of a video circulating on social media showing a woman being repeatedly threatened by a man on a train. 'There is absolutely no place for violent or intimidating behaviour on the railway network, and we encourage the victim or anyone who witnessed the incident to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 271 of May 18. 'You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.' Meanwhile at London St Pancras, former F1 world champion Jenson Button's wife was recently targeted in a robbery that saw the thief make off with more than £250,000 worth of jewellery and designer handbags. She and her husband were outside the station and getting into a car when the man nabbed her Goyard carry-on suitcase in a matter of seconds, stealing sentimental items that Brittny Button had hoped to pass on to her daughter. Mourad Aid, 41, pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 February 2025, five days after the incident. He is due to be sentenced in court today. London St Pancras had the highest number of crimes recorded of any station last year, at 1,616. At neighbouring King's Cross, Made in Chelsea's Yasmine Zweegers fell victim to a terrifying new theft scam. The 25-year-old influencer was outside the major railway hub in King's Cross - having just returned from Yorkshire - when thieves cruelly stole her jewellery, laptop, camera and clothes, totalling to around £8,000, on February 10. Yasmine believed a man, who had offered the reality TV star a tissue to clean brown paint from her coat, was simply being a kind stranger, however seconds later her bag was snatched as she was distracted. The 41-year-old has since pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 February 2025, five days after the incident and is to be sentenced today And in March, a group of youngsters were seen t rying to stab one another at Queensbury Tube station in north London. In footage which was later uploaded onto social media, a youngster wearing a black jacket and grey hat lashes out with a machete and narrowly misses a boy dressed all in black, who wields a smaller knife. An accomplice of the machete yob appears to be carrying a bottle which he then hurls at his rival from less than two feet away. The fight - which took place in broad daylight - involved at least five youths but only two were armed with blades. British Transport Police confirmed that they were aware of the 34-second long footage, posted onto X and Facebook, and said that one teenager had been arrested. A force spokesman told MailOnline: 'Officers were called to Queensbury underground station at around 5.30pm yesterday (24 March) to reports of a fight involving knives on the platform. 'Officers attended and one boy aged 16 was arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article and possession of a drug (Class B). 'Enquiries into the incident are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to get in touch by texting 61016 or calling 0800 405040 quoting reference 490 of 24/03/25.' In another incident which shocked the nation a gang of teenage girls were filmed attacking train staff, passengers and police in a booze-fuelled rampage at Barnham Station, West Sussex last year. The five girls, the youngest of which was 13, were spared prison, despite throwing punches, headbutts and ripping out the hair of victims. One girl held up a clump of hair from the head of a rail passenger like a trophy during the hour-long melee, a court heard. All five admitted affray and assaults on train staff, police and members of the public. The judge said they would have been jailed if they had been old enough. The five girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, threw punches, headbutts and ripped out hair during the violent outburst While London St Pancras topped the charts based on raw crime figures alone, a huge 35.8 million people use the station every year. In contrast Redbridge, on the outskirts of Southampton had 1,180 crimes per million passengers. Redbridge, operated by South Western Railway, saw 38 crimes last year, against its passenger count of more than 32,000. The most common crimes were vehicle related, likely break-ins of cars and vans at its four-space car park. Tiverton Parkway – on the busy Bristol to Exeter line in mid-Devon – is the top large station where passengers may be targeted by criminals. In 2024, 484 crimes were reported there against its 581,000 footfall, giving a rate of 830 per million passengers. Nearly half of these reports (219) were theft, while another 84 were shoplifting. Technically, Ince and Elton Station in Cheshire saw the highest rate of 11,600 crimes per million passengers — but it only saw one offence committed. It served 86 passengers on an extremely limited 'parliamentary service', meaning just one crime highly inflates the rate. MailOnline excluded crime rates for stations which had fewer than five crimes and fewer than 10,000 passengers. Stations with more than five crimes and fewer than 10,000 footfall, or vice versa, are included in the rankings. It comes after 19-year-old mother Stephanie Marie was stabbed to death in front of commuters by her boyfriend Jason Flore, 26, after an angry confrontation at Crawley Station, West Sussex, last August. Chilling CCTV caught the moment the murderer, who plunged a 20cm knife into the heart of the mother of his child, casually walked his dog just moments later. Within the 45 minutes between the murder and the arrest, Flore disposed of crucial evidence which included his blooded tracksuit bottoms. And last November, a 'lively and outgoing' grandmother was 'senselessly' attacked at Birmingham New Street Station, one of the country's busiest transport hubs. Dorothy Chiles, 87, died at home six weeks later, just two days after Christmas, after being suffering a broken hip and being discharged from hospital. Police said that a woman in her 20s was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. A BTP spokesperson said: 'Every offence is one too many, and while we understand the concern that we recorded more total crimes last year, it's important to understand these figures within their context. The chance of becoming a victim of crime on the railway remains extremely low, and reports of high harm crime such as robbery and violence remain low at 2.2 incidents per million passenger journeys. 'Crucially, we know that these figures are influenced in part by more and more people having the confidence to report things like sexual harassment to us, and through the abundance of daily intelligence-led proactive operations taking place right across the railway network in England, Scotland and Wales. For example, in just one week alone in November our County Lines Taskforce arrested 65 people and seized 42 weapons through proactive deployments, and stop and search is at its highest use in BTP since 2010, with a 50% positive find rate in the last nine months. 'It is also important not to sensationalise crime rate data. Stations like Johnston appear to have a high crime rate because they have a low number of crimes recorded combined with a low footfall of passengers, but with less than one crime recorded per month it's simply incorrect to say that passengers are at greater risk of crime at these stations.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
AI could free 30,000 civil servants from routine admin, study finds
Nearly 30,000 civil servants could be freed from carrying out routine admin every year if AI is rolled out across Whitehall, a government study has suggested. More than 20,000 civil servants across Whitehall took part in a three-month trial to use generative AI for help with tasks such as drafting documents, summarising meetings, and handling emails. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said this saved the equivalent of giving 1,130 full-time workers out of the 20,000 a full year back every year. Extrapolated across the whole civil service workforce of 514,395 people, the trial suggests 29,063 could be freed up for other work using AI. It comes as a study from the Alan Turing Institute found AI could support up to 41 per cent of tasks across the public sector. The artificial intelligence institute found that teachers spend nearly 100 minutes a day on lesson planning but up to 75 per cent of this could be supported by AI, while civil servants spend about 30 minutes daily on emails, where it is believed AI could cut this effort by more than 70 per cent. Civil servants in the government trial used AI to cut through jargon and streamline consultations, while work coaches utilised it to speed up support for jobseekers. They used tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot to assist with drafting documents, summarising lengthy emails, updating records, and preparing reports. Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, will highlight the results alongside Sir Tony Blair at the SXSW London festival on Monday. The two will discuss reimagining government and public service delivery in the age of AI. Last month, a separate government trial found AI is more impartial than civil servants in analysing responses to new policies and consultations. A new AI tool to sort responses to public consultations found that about 75,000 days of work could be saved, while civil servants themselves said it removed opportunities for them to 'project their own preconceived ideas' into processes and 'takes away the bias and makes it more consistent'. • Consult, the new tool that will be used across government, is part of Humphrey — a bundle of AI tools being used across Whitehall and named after Sir Humphrey Appleby, the fictional permanent secretary in Yes Minister. The tool categorises responses under broad headings and assigns them based on whether they agree or disagree with proposals or if they are unclear. At present this is done manually by civil servants who comb through about 500 consultations a year, with responses in the thousands. The tool will also help with the increasing number of template responses to consultations organised by campaign groups. However officials also said there was a rise in the number of campaigning organisations that encouraged people to use AI to write consultation responses, which could lead to a situation where AI is analysing responses written using trial of Consult was used to analyse responses to a Scottish government consultation on cosmetic procedures. Testers found that the majority of the time the AI agreed with what a human reviewer would have said. Officials who worked with Consult on the test said they were 'pleasantly surprised' that AI analysis provided a 'useful starting point' in its initial analysis, with others noting that it ultimately 'saved [them] a heck of a lot of time' and allowed them to 'get to the analysis and draw out what's needed next'. Kyle said: 'These findings show that AI isn't just a future promise — it's a present reality. Whether it's helping draft documents, preparing lesson plans or cutting down on routine admin, AI tools are saving civil servants time every day. That means we can focus more on delivering faster, more personalised support where it really counts.'
