13-03 March webfiles.grafham.org.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/gossip/2013/13...Website: E-mail: [email protected] March 2013 2 Issue 101 District Councillors Peter Downes and

Website: www.grafham.org.uk E-mail: [email protected]

March 2013 1 Issue 101

Grafham Gossip Issue 102 Deadline: Midnight Thursday 14th March

Send your news, views and gossip to:

[email protected]

Editors’ note... Surely March will bring spring weather instead of our cold days along with spring flowers to replace our snowdrops?

We have a fair bit of news and information for you this month: ‘View from the Pew on page 2; Parish News on page 3; a Broadband Update on page 9; advice on what to do when High Street retailers face financial difficulty, also on page 9: information on pothole repairs and also police fines for using mobile phones when driving, both on page 11. Other must reads include: Sam’s local history article on ‘Sid’s Caravan Home’ on page 7 and ‘Patron Saints’ Days’ also on page 7. There’s a long ‘Letter to the Editors’ about dogs and dangerous drivers on page 5; what are your views? Let us know so we can print them next month, and you should spot a new advert or two from local businesses.

Thank you very much for the offers of help in answer to our requests for people to deliver the Grafham Gossip around the village.

Have fun this month and please keep gossiping!

Editors, [email protected]

Grafham All Saints

Preparation of New Electoral Roll In accordance with Church Representation Rules, 2013 is a year in which an entirely new

church electoral roll must be prepared in advance of the an-nual parochial church meeting in every parish in the Church of England. The electoral roll is the foundation of the whole struc-ture of Synodical government in the Church.

The people on the electoral roll elect the new PCC every year and elect the new Deanery Syn-od representative every three years.

To qualify to be on the roll a person has to be a member of the Church of England, baptised, 16 years of age or over, a resident of the parish or if not a resident to have habitually attended pub-lic worship in the Church for six months.

Whether or not a person has their name entered on the existing electoral roll, anyone wishing to be enrolled on the new roll must complete a fresh form of application. This must be done not later than 24th March, at least two weeks before the PCC AGM on Tuesday 23rd April. Forms are available at the back of the church. Please complete your form without delay.

HUNTINGDON CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION (GRAFHAM BRANCH)

Curry Night You are invited to a Curry Night on

Saturday 16th March 8 - 11pm

Tickets £12.50

include curry, dessert and a glass of wine

For tickets please call 01480 810867 or 01480 811366.

Grafham All Saints

Mothering Sunday Although Mothering Sunday falls on the second Sunday of the month, 10th March, when we do not usually have a service, we plan to have a short family service at 11 am when we will distribute flowers as usual.

All are welcome. Please see "View from the Pew" on page 2 for further details.



District Councillors Peter Downes and Patricia Jordan are available at the village hall from 11.15 to 11.45 on the first Saturday of the month.

At other times contact: [email protected]

tel 398082 [email protected] tel. 457802

Grafham Oil Syndicate Update The syndicate is FREE to join and we must keep a bulk order attractive enough to attract a discount, so help to keep more money in the village.

Simply email Simon at [email protected] or call 819663.

Grafham All Saints 24th February (4th Sunday)

8.00 Holy Communion _____________

3rd March (1st Sunday) 11.00 Family Service

10th March (2nd Sunday)

11.00 Short Family Service for

Mothering Sunday

17th March (3rd Sunday)

11.00 Eucharist

24th March (4th Sunday)

8.00 Holy Communion

29th March (Good Friday) 18.00 Devotional Service

31st March (5th Sunday) 11.00 Eucharist for Easter Day ———————————————————————————————

7th April (1st Sunday) 11.00 Family Service

Contacting the Clergy Fr Jonathan Young (Rector)

The Rectory, Ellington, PE28 0AU 01480 891695

Churchwarden - Hazel Powell 01480 810326

View from the Pew! It is with great sadness that we tell of the loss of our dear friend Ann Wright who died recent-ly. Ann was our PCC Secretary for many years, working diligently and efficiently for our church. Ann was an active member of the church, read-ing and helping with services and being involved in all church events. Ann had many talents, one of which was gardening and she will be well remembered for her ex-pert handling of the plant stall at our summer fêtes and the stocking of our plant stall during the year. Ann had a lovely friendly personality with a sparkling wit and we shall miss her greatly. Our love and prayers are with Mel

and his family at this sad time.

We do have some good news. We are delighted to inform readers that our application to English Heritage for a repair grant has been success-ful. We have been offered a total of £117,000 for the first stage develop-

ment work and the second stage repair work. Our archi-tect is currently working on getting tenders to do more investigative work including opening up the roof to in-spect its present condition, relocation of pews to allow excavation of footings of the columns plus specialist in-vestigations by the structural engineer, architectural his-torian and ecologist. All this needs to be done and re-ported back to English Heritage by the end of 2013. The actual repair works will begin in the spring of 2014. We are relieved that at last our lovely church will be saved from further deterioration and brought back to an ac-ceptable condition. Thank you to all of you who have donated money to our appeal and to the SAS events which helped to make our grant application successful. However, there is a shortfall of £40,000-£50,000.00 which we hope to raise from other funding bodies. It is

not too late to make your own donation if you have not done so as "every little helps"!

Mothering Sunday falls on 10th March, the second Sun-day of the month when we do not usually have a service. However we felt this too important a day to be over-looked and therefore we will have a short family service at 11am when we will as usual distribute a small bunch of flowers to each lady and each carer. We plan to have some refreshments afterwards and we look forward to

seeing you all.

Readers may have noticed that Easter is very early this year. Our church was stripped of flowers on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and during Holy Week the altars will be stripped of vest-

ments. At 6pm on Good Friday there will be a short de-votional service when we reflect on the agony and cruci-fixion of Christ. This is such an important day in the church's calendar and all are invited to come and experi-ence the quietness and thoughtful-ness of this special short service.

On Easter Day the church will be transformed into a glorious space of peace and joy and decorated with flowers. There will be a family Eucharist at 11 am.

The PCC have made plans for the summer fête on 2nd June and for the Flower Festival on bank holiday weekend 24th and 25th August. Please keep us in mind if you are potting up plug plants or divid-ing perennials when the weather permits!

Important: As you will see from the front page, this year everyone who wishes to be on the church's electoral roll will have to renew their membership by filling in a form. These may be found at the back of the church. Please be sure to attend to this important matter without delay.



PARISH NEWS…

January /February 2013 The January meeting of the Parish Council was attend-ed by a member of the Southoe Action Group. The group are retaining profes-

sional legal and environmental exper-tise to continue their fight against the proposals for a wind farm in Southoe. The Parish Coun-cil will continue to support the Group in its objections.

A representative from Luminus Homes also attended to make the Council aware of their “Street Representative Scheme”. A pilot has been successfully run in Eynes-bury, whereby volunteer street representatives report back to Luminus Homes any issues or areas of concern for the community. Luminus Homes deals with relevant authorities.

Cllr Downes, also present, expressed his sorrow on learning of the death of Mrs Ann Wright of Cedar Close. Ann was for many years a member of the Parish Coun-cil and a member of the Parochial Church Council. Many of you may have bought some of her plants from the Church fêtes or from the stall in the churchyard.

The Citizens’ Advice Bureau is open for business again. It is located in Huntingdon Town Hall and its opening

hours can be found on its website.

Waste collection days in Grafham are about to be changed and we are all to be notified of the new schedules by letter, very soon. HDC are committed to making charges for the use

of second green bins, although at this stage we do not know what that charge will be.

Council taxes are set to be increased, both at District and County level. HDC will be introducing an increase of up to £4.66 per year at B and D, which they are al-lowed to do as one of the bottom 25% of low-taxing au-thorities. Similarly, Cambs County Council are introducing an increase of up to 2%.

Other issues brought to the attention of the Parish Council by residents have included surface conditions on certain roads in the village, the potential for lowering the speed limit through the village to 20mph, fly-tipping in the ditches along Brampton Road, dog fouling and the exercising of dogs on the playing field. More information about how all of these matters will be acted on can be found in the minutes of the meeting.

The village hall refurbishment plans are pushing ahead and costs are now being sought prior to assessing the project’s viability and the Council’s ability to raise the

funding.

The Community Shop project is now at the stage of turning the idea into a cor-porate body. Bank accounts and grant funding applications will follow asap and the committee then intends to hold a public meeting to discuss the plans

for share issues and membership.

The date of the next meeting will be 12th March 2013 at 7.30pm at the village hall. Everyone is welcome. Margaret Life, Parish Clerk 01480 819477 [email protected]

Full minutes can be read on the village web site www.grafhamvillage.org.uk

You may contact your parish councillors through the clerk or directly by using the details below.

Philip Allingham Chairman 01480 811516 [email protected] Ian Gardener Vice Chair 01480 812821 [email protected] Andrew Duckworth [email protected] David King 01480 812430 [email protected] Alastair Watson [email protected] Kevin Sharp [email protected] Jenny Barnes 07788 545197 [email protected]

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH There are no reported incidents this

month, which is good news indeed.

All emergencies 999 Non-emergencies 101 Cambridge Constabulary HQ 01480 456111 Minicom for hard of hearing 01480 422493 Crimestoppers 0800 555111 (anonymous) Anti-social behaviour 01480 388379 To stop unwanted mail 0845 703 459 9 To stop unwanted phone calls 0845 070 070 7 To report anti-social behaviour in Grafham 01480 388379 / 387097 or e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

James Snell 07951 069 565

email: [email protected]



Ellington and Grafham W.I. Join the growing team! We meet on the first Tuesday in the month. Ring: Sue 896139 or Ann 891372 for details

GRAFHAM VILLAGE HALL has a Public Entertainments Licence for music, dancing, performing arts and can accommodate 92 guests seated in rows or 150 at a dance/disco - an ideal venue for children's and family parties. There is a playing field for sports activities and the hall has small changing rooms with shower facilities.

Contacts: Pat or Alan Watson 01480 811166

Grafham and Ellington Art GroupGrafham and Ellington Art GroupGrafham and Ellington Art Group Grafham Village Hall, Every Tuesday 1.30-4pm

Calling all those who want to meet and paint with like minded people on a regular basis.

Beginners and those with more skills are all more than welcome.

Cost: Expected to be about £2 to cover hall hire and refreshments. Come along with your paints and equipment! Please ring me if you’d like further details. Jackie Woods 01480 890279

Open from 7.30am Breakfast club 2 ½ -11yrs

Playgroup 2½ - 5 yrs

Mucky Pups (parent /toddlers)

For details tel: 01480 890077

www.playtimesplaygroup.co.uk

The Mobile Library Route H24 visits Breach Road, Grafham on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 10.40 to 11.00. The next visit is on 27th March.

For renewals/ enquiries call 0845 045 5225 or click on

https://cambridgeshire.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/

MSGTRN/OPAC/LOGINB

Grafham Social Committee invites you to a Coffee Morning at 10.30am

on Wednesday, March 13th at Philippa

Patel’s, 3 Field Close.

This is an infomal social occasion for village residents. Please come along for a cup of coffee and a chat.

Grafham Sewing Group Village Hall, Wednesdays 2 - 4pm A group for those who enjoy needlework of any sort be it quilting, tapestry, knitting or anything else requiring the use of needles! Complete beginners also welcome.

Our purpose is threefold, to provide a focus for your needlework, to allow the exchange of ideas and expertise, and last, but not least, it is an opportunity to get to know likeminded people.

A small charge is made to cover the hall hire.

For further details contact Barbara Williams 01480 812905 or [email protected]

Grafham Church Flower Club We are available to decorate the church for weddings and other church occasions.

Floral arrangements for:- pedestal, altar, font, windowsills, pew ends, pillars.

Please contact Hazel Powell on

01480 810326 for details and quotes.

If anyone in the village has foliage in their garden that they would be willing to donate for church decoration for festi-vals, please let us know, we would be very grateful.

YOUR COUNTRYSIDE NEEDS YOU

http://www.grafhamconservationgroup.btik.com

Join Grafham Wildlife and

Conservation Group Call Sam Malt on

01480 810844 daytime 01480 811654 evenings

Regional winners of the British Trust for Conservation

Volunteers Green Award 2006 & 2007

Babysitters

Danielle 20yrs 811279 Meri - 15 yrs 811192

Kate 17yrs - babysitting course 812179 Livvy 14yrs - babysitting course 819708

Kirsty 18yrs - babysitting course 810550 Georgie 14yrs - babysitting course 432688

Harriet 16yrs 810043 Emma 17yrs 860632

Caroline 17yrs - works in reception class 812179 Holly 16yrs 810867 baby sitting and first aid courses

Olivia 23yrs - BA Early Childhood Studies 811831

Felicity 22yrs -Grade B GCSE Child Development 812328

Marie-Claire 17yrs - GCSE Child Development 811279 Bryony 17yrs experienced with newborn-14yr olds 812354

Do you enjoy reading? Come along and join us for informal social evenings. We are always looking for new members. Dates of meetings are:-

Tuesday February 26th – Tina “Kalostone” 5 Home Close at 8pm (07711 012957)

Tuesday March 26th – Margaret 6 Home Close at 8pm (01480 819477)

Tuesday April 30th – Karen 2 Home Close at 8pm (01480 810961)

For more details please contact Tina 07711 012957



Letters to the Editors Letters to the Editors Letters to the Editors Letters to the Editors Dear EditorsDear EditorsDear EditorsDear Editors ………… Dogs on village playing field /Dangerous drivers Dogs on village playing field /Dangerous drivers Dogs on village playing field /Dangerous drivers Dogs on village playing field /Dangerous drivers I would like to reply to the le�er in last month’s Gra�am Gossip, (Dogs on the village playing

fields.) I agree that people should not be walking their dog or dogs on the playing field. My

wife and I walk our beagle Toby every day on the roads and back paths around the village.

Many may have seen us; Toby is a very playful and energe$c hound hence we walk him every

day, twice a day, come rain, snow, ice, wind or sun. He has to be out and loves to be out.

We have lately been toying with the idea of walking him around the edge of the playing fields. The reason is the ignorance of

many of the residents of Gra(am, ignorance in the way they drive. We walk o)en on Brampton Road, but of late it is be-

coming more and more dangerous as a number of drivers from the village seem to believe they have the right to drive their

cars as fast as they can up and down the Brampton Road.

On many occasions we have had to take to the verge quickly so as not to be a bonnet mascot for these

drivers’ cars, they don’t even just slow down a touch as they approach and then increase their speed as

they pass, they just tear past us without a care, almost as if they have a god given right to drive at what

ever speed they desire.

We know these drivers are residents as we see the owners of these cars some$mes walking around themselves and we see

their cars parked in driveways around the village. The scary thing is that in the mornings, some of these dangerous drivers

are mothers, with their children in the cars, taking them to school. If they drive like that with their children in the cars you

can imagine how they drive in the a)ernoons when they go to collect them. I think they see the na$onal speed limit sign and

think that means drive as fast as you can.

It is about $me that many of the drivers from Gra(am just had a bit more considera$on for oth-

ers on the roads around here. It is not just Brampton Rd, it’s also Church Rd and Church Hill and it

is a 30 limit through the village. Plainly those that wanted the speed humps removed,( personally

I think they should s$ck more in,) did so so that they can drive through the village like idiots,

hence the police speed checks and the number of cars you see either on their side or nose down

in the ditch.

It takes but a couple of seconds of your journey to just slow down a touch as you pass a walker,

cyclist or dog walker and given that Gra(am seems to be ge4ng more and more visitors to the area to either walk, walk

their dog or cycle, please don’t be ignorant, just slow down a bit.

I would just add, yes, there does seem to be more women that tear up and down the roads around here, but there is also a

number of van owners in the village and 4 x 4 drivers that drive like idiots as well. I am not one of these 4 x 4 whingers as I

drive a 4 wheel drive car my self and many will know me, as I am the one who drives up and down the Brampton Rd at

30mph every $me I use it, much to the frustra$on of people who drive behind me. It saddens me to say that so many driv-

ers around here are dangerous simply because I live here myself.

Paul Smith, Brampton RoadPaul Smith, Brampton RoadPaul Smith, Brampton RoadPaul Smith, Brampton Road

What are your news, views and comments? What are your news, views and comments? What are your news, views and comments? What are your news, views and comments? EEEE----mail: mail: mail: mail: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] if you’d like your letter published in ‘Letters to the if you’d like your letter published in ‘Letters to the if you’d like your letter published in ‘Letters to the if you’d like your letter published in ‘Letters to the Editors.’ Please supply your name and address/email address but tell us if you’d prefer Editors.’ Please supply your name and address/email address but tell us if you’d prefer Editors.’ Please supply your name and address/email address but tell us if you’d prefer Editors.’ Please supply your name and address/email address but tell us if you’d prefer us not to us not to us not to us not to print it in the Grafham Gossip. Tprint it in the Grafham Gossip. Tprint it in the Grafham Gossip. Tprint it in the Grafham Gossip. Thanks , Edhanks , Edhanks , Edhanks , Ed



Send us your news, views

and gossip:

[email protected]

Paperback books in good condition

If you have any unwanted paperbacks

In good condition, we would be pleased

to accept them to stock our church

bookstall. Please leave in the church

porch. Many thanks!

Spaldwick’s Youth Group

Friday evenings in Spaldwick see http://www.grafham.org.uk/Escape Youth Group

Do you have any events to advertise? Email the details to [email protected] and copy to [email protected]

We’ll print them in the Grafham Gossip and add them to the Village Diary on the web site. Get your Grafham Gossip by email

To read the Grafham Gossip as soon as possible after it is published on the village website,

• Visit www.grafham.org.uk

• Put your email address in the box under the right hand side menu

• Click subscribe

• You will receive an email with a link to the web site

• Click on the link and confirm your subscription

• You’ll receive an email every month enabling you to read the Grafham Gossip on line.

Beer Festival The 2nd Grafham Beer Festival

Friday 12th and

Saturday 13th July

in the Village Hall

Up to 15 mainly Local Real Ales, plus Cider

Live Music and Fresh Food on both Evenings

Detailed Timetable of Events will be in next month’s issue.

Supported By

Free to a good home A child's desk, pink

A Tipi climbing frame with slide and monkey bars Tel. 07766 662197 or 01480 810043



Sid’s Caravan Home

Entering Ellington from Ellington Thorpe just over Stunnel Bridge, as this old map shows, in the 1950s the Mumford family had a small- holding consisting of only one field. The Mum-fords took great pride in their holding, building some small sheds and a large poultry pen for hens and cockerels. The remainder of the field running down to the brook was grass. Just inside the entrance to the field on the left stood a large caravan dwarfed by tall elm trees. This caravan was occupied by Sid Shelton for a number of years. With a fenced-in front garden, it looked a picture.

Sam Malt

Patron Saints’ Days in March St David was a Cel$c monk, abbot and bishop, who

lived in the sixth century. He was one of

many early saints who helped to spread

Chris$anity among the pagan Cel$c tribes

of Western Britain. He died on 1st

March around the year 590 and

was later regarded as the patron

saint of Wales where

St David’s Day is celebrated on

1st March by the wearing of daffodils or

leeks, the na$onal emblems of Wales.

The Welsh Flag

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland but it’s gen-

erally accepted that he was born somewhere in Brit-

ain, possibly Cumbria or Scotland or even South

Wales! He was captured, by pagan Celts, from his

home at about 16 years old and taken to

Ireland. He is most famous for banishing

the snakes from Ireland, but this story is

false and his life remains somewhat of a

mystery. Another legend tells of Patrick

using the green three-leaved shamrock (na$onal em-

blem of Ireland) to explain the Chris$an teaching of

the Trinity, three persons in one God. However, Pat-

rick is credited with bringing Chris$anity to Ireland.

Patrick is believed to have died on 17th March,

around 460 A.D. and Irish people all over the world

mark this day with parades , par$es and the wearing

of green.

The Irish Flag

Congratulations on your engagement, Claire and Rob!Congratulations on your engagement, Claire and Rob!Congratulations on your engagement, Claire and Rob!Congratulations on your engagement, Claire and Rob!



The Cinnamon Bar and Indian Restaurant

Shamim and his team invite you enjoy

First Class Indian Cuisine

See our totally refurbished Restaurant,

Bar and Recep$on Area

• Every Thursday night is ‘Banquet Night’ –

a 3 course meal for £10.90

• Cinnamon Special – a drink and a starter for £5.50

• 10% discount for takeaways

• Outside Catering

Please call Shamim on 812211 to book a table,

a takeaway or to arrange a func$on

Reader Offer

“Book up for a Weed Control Treatment and we’ll apply the Spring Fertiliser FREE OF CHARGE. (existing Customers will receive an additional treatment free of charge too)

LAWN CARE FOR SPRING 2013 - See Special Offer below

• Apply Moss Control Treatment • Mow Lawn At Least Once Per Week • Apply Spring Fertiliser To Produce Vibrant Green Lawn • Spray Weeds In Lawn With Selective Herbicide

Ask the Lawn Ranger for advice (we promise he will reply within 24 hours) www.prolawncare.co.uk/ask-the-lawn-ranger

Call Deborah, Simon or Richard on 01480 812393

“for that lawn you’ve longed for…….”

To advertise, email:

[email protected]

Community notices are free;

business adverts are priced

according to size,

payable in advance. They start at

£3.00 per advert, 50p of which goes

to the Restoration Fund of All Saints,

Grafham

- Don't leave your home unprotected - Introducing the latest Enforcer "intelligent" wireless Burglar Alarm System by Pyronix.

* Installed in a few hours * No cables * No mess * Outbuildings/sheds/garages can be included on a house system (subject to distance) * The system can be used to protect vulnerable items stored outside of the house as well * Texts sent to your mobile when activated (if required) * Installed by our own engineers who live and are known locally * All that’s required is a mains supply for the Control Panel and a live telephone socket, if you wish to receive texts * Hawkeye is a local company established in 1983

For a free no obligation survey followed by written quotation please call: 01480 811276 or email [email protected]

An engineer (not salesman) will explain how the system will work, how other areas or items outside the house can be protected and how the system will be configured to suit your own application. If you have any particular applications you would like to con-

sider please do not hesitate to call.

We are a friendly company who treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated, we do not follow up quotations with telephone calls unless asked to do so.

All information is held in the strictest confidence.

Hawkeye Security & Surveillance Systems Ltd Huntingdon Business Centre Blackstone Road Huntingdon Cambs PE29 6EF



BT Chosen to Roll Out Superfast Broadband in Rural Cambridgeshire On 4th February 2013, Cambridgeshire County Council announced that BT had been chosen as the winning bid-der to roll-out improved broadband across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The contract will ensure that more than 90% of homes and businesses in the area will be able to receive superfast broadband (at least 24Mbit/s) by 2015.

The contract will be signed in March 2013, following the completion of the procurement process. Among other things, this will include liaising with the government body, Broadband UK (BDUK), to finalise state aid, which will contribute £6.75 million to the project, alongside up to £20 million from the County Council. Further details of the contract will not emerge until March, following a “closed period”, which allows any unsuccessful bidder(s) to chal-lenge the contract award.

There are always mixed views when BT wins contracts of this sort, because of its dominant market position. How-ever, BT Openreach is a robust company with many years’ experience. It is well able to roll-out optical fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the home (FTTH) to anywhere in the UK, including here in Grafham.

We now have an anxious wait to see if and when Grafham is included in the roll-out plan. BT will take a variety of factors into account in defining this plan, including the number of customers connected to each local exchange, the size and location of individual villages and the proximity of existing infrastructure and cable routes. We keep our fingers crossed that the outstanding performance of Grafham during the Connecting Cambridgeshire registra-tion process, which indicated strong latent demand for superfast broadband, will help to move us up the queue.

2012 came to an end with Grafham riding high in the Connecting Cambridgeshire registration league table, which was dominated by villages west of Huntingdon. With 282 parishes in Cambridgeshire, the top four were all within a few miles of Grafham, as shown below:

Rank Parish Registrations as a % of total premises

1. Grafham 97.0%

2. Great Staughton 95.2%

3. Perry 92.0% 4. Spaldwick 86.2%

Thank you to everyone in the village who helped to achieve this fantastic result. Cambridgeshire as a whole achieved over 24,000 registrations by the end of the year. In the six months to December, more homes and busi-nesses in Cambridgeshire registered their demand for better broadband than in any other campaign in the country, which put the project team in a strong negotiating position with their potential suppliers.

As always, if you have any questions about the Connecting Cambridgeshire project, or about broadband services in general, please contact one of your local broadband champions, below.

Alastair Brydon ([email protected]) and Chris Bulow ([email protected])

With recent news of well-known high street retailers fac-ing financial difficulty, you may be wondering what to do if goods you have paid for are not delivered or they are faulty and the company goes into administration.

Trading Standards have put together the following ad-vice to help you to protect your money:

Credit card purchases When buying goods or services with a cash price of more than £100 but less than £30,000, it is advisable to pay for at least part of them with a credit card. That way, if the retailer is unable to deliver the goods or there is a fault with them, the card provider will be liable for the goods too.

Debit card purchases If you pay by debit card, the provider (bank) or Visa/Mastercard terms may help with any claims you may have. However, unlike a credit card, this differs between providers so you should be clear about what assistance you will get for non-delivery or faulty goods. The card agreement will state any terms you need to meet for claims - such as timescales for reporting a breach of contract by the retailer and any evidence you must provide. If you meet the terms for making a claim but are unhappy with the card provider’s

response you should follow their complaints procedure. For both credit and debit card purchases, if you remain dissatisfied with the card provider’s response you can raise the matter with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk who decide if the complaint is valid and award damages if applicable.

Buying by PayPal The same procedure for claims for debit card payments also applies to PayPal payments as they are signed up to the FOS. Other money transfer services have similar terms to PayPal but may not be signed up to the FOS for dispute resolution. You are therefore advised to check their terms.

Cash or cheque If buying goods by cash or cheque then unfortunately this is a case of ‘buyer beware’.

Another concern is the validity of gift cards or vouchers for a company that has entered administra-tion. These are accepted only at the discretion of the administrators. There is no express right to use them - even though they are effectively cash.

If you require any further advice or information about any of the matters in this article please contact our part-ner, Citizens Advice Consumer Service, 08454 040

What can you do when retailers face financial difficulty?



Your advert could be here! Email: [email protected]

PET & WILD BIRD FOOD

www.petfoodsdirect2u.co.uk

GRAFHAM WATER

(NEXT TO THE VISITOR CENTRE)

WIDE RANGE AT LOW PRICES

OPEN WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY 09.00-17.30

TEL:01480 819730

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ANGELS Frances Knight Delicious home cooking for every occasion

parties, buffets, dinner parties, christenings, weddings and funerals

Tel: 01480 810457 Mob: 07759438178 Email: [email protected]

Grafham Computers Web: www.grafhamcomputers.co.uk Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01480 810381 Mob: 07795663168

• Desktop PC Repairs & Upgrades

• Virus Removal

• Laptop Repairs & Upgrades

• Data Transfer & Recovery

• Slow Computers Made Faster

• Wireless Broadband Issues Solved

Kevin Hutchinson • Reliable Local Carpenter and Joiner

• All carpentry work undertaken

• Fitted kitchens, new doors, wood flooring

and much more • No job too small

Tel: 01480 811863/07889 414274



Traffic officers target drivers using mobiles

Motorists who use a hand-held mobile phone while driving are being targeted as part of a road safety

campaign.

So far 74 motorists have been fined as part of the ‘Think’ campaign.

Inspector Bob Turner said:

"Officers will be carrying out regular patrols targeting those flouting the law in relation to mobile phones when driving. It only takes a few seconds dis-traction from a mobile to cause

a collision, which can have fatal consequences. Roads can be a dangerous place when the law is not respected and adhered to. If we are to reduce the number of fatalities and casualties on the county’s roads it is vital people comply with the law.”

Last year 2535 drivers were issued with the £60 fixed penalty notice and three points on their

licence.

Ten road patching and pothole repair teams are now working across Cam-bridgeshire to fix winter damage to the county's roads.

The county council has identified an extra £90 million of funding for high-way maintenance in the county over the next five years and the teams will con-centrate their efforts on fixing the areas of minor dam-age patching and filling potholes.

Since the beginning of January, nearly 1,500 potholes have been reported to the County Council and the crews have already dealt with more than 1,200 areas of damage, some of which had multiple potholes, on a temporary or permanent basis and they will continue to concentrate on this patching and filling throughout the winter period.

More extensive areas of repair work or road resurfacing projects will be carried out by other teams working for the County Council across Cambridgeshire.

County Council Cabinet Member for Community Infra-structure, Councillor Tony Orgee, said: “The Council

has committed substantial extra financial resources to highway maintenance including pothole repairs. By cre-ating ten repair teams dedicated full-time to fixing pot-holes and minor damage to the roads we hope to carry out any emergency or routine repairs as quickly as pos-sible.” "I would urge the public to report any damage to the road surface as quickly as possible. We can only fix problem areas if we know about them. People can re-port a problem via our telephone contact centre on 0345 045 5212 or preferably online at: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/roads/reportingafault.htm which allows them to follow the progress of repairs to the damage they have reported.”

The online Highways Fault Reporting System has been upgraded to provide:

• Easier data entry for the public

• Improved tracking so people reporting on-line can follow the progress of a repair

• The ability to enter a second fault without the need to re-enter personal/contact details

• Better system capacity to ensure fault reports do not fail

• Better on-line access to advice and information from the County Council's Contact Centre

REPAIR TEAMS WAGE WAR ON POTHOLES

Happy Easter!Happy Easter!Happy Easter!Happy Easter!



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