Councillor calls speeding fines to be waived in Wokingham
The changes were initiated on Monday 30 June using a traffic regulation order.The longest of these five stretches is the A329 Reading Road, running from Winnersh Triangle all the way into Wokingham town centre.Mr Harper said he conducted a "brief survey" and he said "of the 40 people I spoke to, only 11 had heard about the speed reduction"."None of them were aware of it before it was introduced."We at Winnersh Parish Council believe there are still people who are unaware of this."Due to the lack of resident communications, are the council prepared to rescind any fines issued during the period when residents were likely to be uninformed?"Mr Harper's question was answered at a full council meeting by Adrian Betteridge, the executive member for active travel, transport and highways.He said: "I do accept there could have been proactive in our communications around the date of the change, and the change process, and that doing so may have reassured residents about the transition."Lessons have been learned from this for any future such changes."He went on to say that notifying neighbours by letter would have been an "impractical proposition" and added that speed limits are enforced by Thames Valley Police, not the council.He added: "In the unlikely event that a resident has received a fine, they can, as ever, appeal the penalty."
You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Lenders deserve a pasting over the motor finance misselling scandal, says ALEX BRUMMER
The cloud of mistrust surrounding British finance will not be lifted by the Supreme Court ruling on motor finance. Modern history of the Square Mile is littered with examples of unwitting consumers being gulled into buying products they don't need and being cheated by finance providers. Pensions mis-selling and payment protection insurance come to mind. The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 may be a distant memory, but it was only two months ago that NatWest escaped from government ownership after an eye-popping £45.5billion taxpayer rescue. Indeed, the lingering costs of 2008 and the compensation culture it engendered are among the reasons why the UK's public finances are in the worst condition since the 1950s. Yet despite this, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves felt it was fine to go to the Mansion House and declare it time to place 'the boot on the neck' of the red tape of financial regulation. Quite the contrary. After scandals such as motor finance, the collapse of the Neil Woodford investment empire and the London Capital & Finance mini-bond scam, ever more vigilant enforcement is required if consumer confidence is to be nurtured. Tracing back victims of motor finance scandals to 2007 will be hard, and finding the data difficult. Yet it is unbecoming for Stephen Haddrill, who represents the Finance and Leasing Association, to shout foul and describe the proposal to pay out up to £18billion in compensation as 'completely impractical'. 'Caveat emptor' is fine as a mantra, but we shouldn't underestimate the deviousness of second-hand car merchants acting as agents for finance groups. I recall buying a second-hand VW and being told by the dealer that he didn't want cash because he would miss out on finance commissions. Investors in Lloyds Bank, Close Brothers et al yesterday enjoyed a relief rally at the expense of consumers treated unfairly. They should not escape retribution for unfitting behaviour. Private grief There is a prevalent view, fuelled by fee-hungry investment banks, that fending off private equity offers for FTSE-listed companies is impossible. Yet the bidding war which ended up with Primary Health Properties (PHP) fending off KKR and merging with rival Assura shows there are other choices. The outcome should be a plus for the NHS as it adopts Wes Streeting's desire to switch from big hospital provision of medical services to community-based health. PHP and Assura fended off private equity by fully engaging UK long-investors with 35 per cent of the votes, such as Schroders and Baillie Gifford. If the deal is approved next week, then it could free up to £300million for investment in updating and expanding facilities and building new health hubs. This is a more satisfactory outcome than some other recent private equity bids. Corporate ghouls Advent outbid rival KKR for Spectris, a vital British precision engineering firm which serves two critical industries: pharma and semiconductors. It is disappointing that no white knight offers emerged or that the Spectris board showed such little fight. Similarly, at a time when warehouses and data centres are all the rage, Warehouse REIT threw in its lot with Blackstone, reversing a decision to merge with Tritax Big Box. As customers of private equity-owned vet practices and dental surgeries would testify, unscrupulous owners rarely benefit the end-user. Lost love All hell has broken loose after Donald Trump fired the independent Bureau of Labour Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer because he didn't like 'rigged' jobs data which didn't suit his claims. The reality is that there is concern among some economists about the quality of data which showed that 258,000 fewer US jobs were created in May and June. Sound familiar? Here, the head of the Office for National Statistics Ian Diamond stepped down in May and UK Statistics Authority chair Robert Chote resigned in July. The departures came amid loud criticism from the Bank of England, among others, of poor labour force data. Lies, lies and damned statistics...
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teacher, 56, who was dubbed 'Islamophobic' after labelling Lucy Connolly's prison sentence as 'two-tier policing' hits out and says he is fighting to clear his name
A teacher who was branded 'Islamophobic' has revealed it is now 'very difficult to find another job' after two Facebook friends reported him for a post criticising Lucy Connolly's prison sentence. Simon Pearson, a former employee of Preston College, was subject to an internal investigation following his comment that Connolly 'should not have been jailed'. Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, had been handed a 31-month sentence in October after pleading guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred in a social media post following last year's Southport riots. The post, which the 42-year-old later deleted, said: 'Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care... if that makes me racist so be it.' In his online comment, Mr Pearson described Connolly's words as 'obviously wrong', but said he believed her prison sentence was a 'two tier policy from the top down'. Speaking to GB News, the 56-year-old this evening said he 'very much' agreed his free speech had been 'violated'. Mr Pearson explained: 'I've served at Preston College for 20 years - I've served my students faithfully, I've been defending their rights as well from whatever race, from whatever religion. 'I've demonstrated to the college as well that they have no basis in their actions and unfortunately they dismissed me.' Pictured: Mr Pearson's Facebook post that eventually resulted in his dismissal. Preston College's investigation deemed the post a violation of its policies, damaging of professional relationships and likely to bring the college's reputation into disrepute The teacher said he had stated Connolly's post was 'appalling' and 'indefensible' - but also that she had deleted it soon after and 'obviously didn't mean what she said'. Mr Pearson added: 'Policing social media is awful for our country - it has been for me; being labelled Islamophobic has made it very difficult for me to find another job. And it's not true. 'You should be able to express what you really believe - what is of concern in society - without fear of recrimination.' He clarified it had not been his Union that made the report but in fact 'two people who were on my Facebook friends (list)'. 'They were the ones who'd told the Union what I'd written and through the Union they brought that to the college,' he said. Mr Pearson concluded: 'It's a travesty really and that's why I'm fighting to clear my name.' An internal investigation was launched following a complaint submitted by a Muslim representative of the National Education Union (NEU) at the school who alleged that the post was 'Islamophobic' and 'racially discriminatory'. Mr Pearson said that following the concern, he apologised and also claimed to have provided evidence of his support for both Muslim students and asylum seekers. Simon Pearson, a teacher at Preston College, has said he fell victim to an unfair 'witch hunt' which resulted in his dismissal from his position at Preston College after he publicly criticised Lucy Connolly's (pictured) prison sentence However, the college's investigation deemed the posts a violation of its policies, damaging of professional relationships and likely to bring the college's reputation into disrepute. Mr Pearson previously said he had been left 'appalled' by the decision, particularly given his long-standing commitment to helping support and educate students 'from all walks of life'. Describing his dismissal as a 'grave injustice', he told The Telegraph: 'As soon as I was branded "Islamophobic" for expressing concern about violent crime, I became a marked man. 'It was clear that I had to be found guilty by the college, it became a witch hunt, and I had to be eliminated no matter what.' Mr Pearson, who has now launched legal action at an employment tribunal, has claimed wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, harassment and discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Lord Young of Acton, founder of the Free Speech Union, told the Daily Mail he was 'shocked' by the decision to sack Mr Pearson, criticising the NEU (National Education Union) for 'siding with the bosses rather than the workers when it comes to breaches of workplace speech codes'. It comes after Connolly, of Northampton, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in October and imprisoned at HMP Drake Hall, Staffordshire after admitting to making her 'racist' post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The 42-year-old former childminder, wife of Conservative councillor Ray Connolly, lost her 19-month-old son, Harry, in 2011. With around 9,000 followers on X at the time, Connolly's message was reposted 940 times and viewed 310,000 times before she deleted it around three and a half hours later. The mother-of-one was arrested on August 6 last year, by which point she had deleted her social media account. But other messages which included other condemning remarks were uncovered by officers who seized her phone. Her X post was made just hours after killer Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls and attempted to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, sparking nationwide unrest. A number of public figures and politicians have spoken out since Connolly was handed her sentence, claiming that she is a victim of 'two-tier justice'. Connolly's husband, Raymond, a former West Northamptonshire Conservative councillor, said on the day she lost her appeal: 'Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she will release 40,000 prisoners, some of them dangerous men on tag. 'Lucy has not been allowed out on tag and she has been denied leave to see our child who is struggling. 'The court had the opportunity to reduce her cruelly long and disproportionate sentence, but they refused. That feels like two-tier justice.' Adelle Healy, 42, who has been friends with Connolly for nine years, previously told the Daily Mail: 'Lucy was horrified and heartbroken that three little girls had been murdered. She let her emotions take over and wrote something that she definitely shouldn't have done but she has paid a very dear price. 'She should not be behind bars for a tweet. I think it's ludicrous that it's got to this point.' In May, Connolly lost an appeal to shorten her 31-month sentence despite telling the Court of Appeal in London she 'never' intended to incite violence and did not realise that pleading guilty would mean she accepted that she had. Meanwhile, earlier this week, The Daily Mail revealed a friend of Connolly had shared a post to X saying she believed the convict would be 'with a glass of Whispering Angel in-hand' this time next month. It is understood Connolly will be released on August 21. The National Education Union said in a statement: 'The management of Preston College reached a decision to dismiss the teacher following disciplinary procedures. 'The NEU was not directly involved in these processes and it will be for the Employment Tribunal to consider the fairness of the dismissal if and when the claim reaches a hearing.' Preston College added: 'Upon receipt of complaints from a number of our staff, an internal investigation was undertaken into whether some of Mr Pearson's social media posts were a breach of the College's Staff Behaviour Code and Values. 'Following an investigation and subsequent disciplinary process, Mr Pearson was dismissed from his employment at the College.'
The Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Sun
Brit investors face triple-whammy of taxes at Budget, Tories warn
Last month, the Chancellor opened the door to painful tax hikes after a week of Labour chaos A TRIPLE-whammy of taxes could hit British investors at the Budget, the Tories warn. Measures such as removing a tax break on shares, scrapping the £500 tax-free dividend allowance and increasing dividend tax rates will dent confidence, they say. 2 'The Government needs to urgently rule out these tax hikes on savers and investors', warned Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride Credit: Getty An estimated five million people would be dragged into paying dividend tax if that allowance went. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: 'The Government needs to urgently rule out these tax hikes on savers and investors before speculation causes further economic harm.' Labour last night laughed off the jibes. A spokesman said: 'They have some brass neck. They've still not apologised for the damage caused by the Liz Truss mini-Budget.' Last month, The Sun reported that Brits were bracing for higher taxes after Rachel Reeves warned Labour's welfare U-turns would come at a 'cost" - with experts saying the bill could hit £40 billion. The Chancellor opened the door to painful tax hikes after a week of Labour chaos, which saw her break down in the Commons and lose control of key spending plans. In her first public comments since the dramatic scenes in Parliament, Ms Reeves admitted the Government's retreat on welfare cuts had blown a multi-billion-pound hole in the public finances — and taxpayers would be left to fill the gap. Pressed on whether she would raise taxes, she said: 'Of course there is a cost to the welfare changes that parliament voted through this week and that will be reflected in the budget. 'But I'm also very, very clear that [the] stability that we've been able to return to the economy, which has enabled the Bank of England to cut interests rates four times, is only possible because of the fiscal discipline which is underpinned by the fiscal rules. "And we'll be sticking to those because they're absolutely vital for the living standards of working people and also the costs that businesses face.' Tax and spending package of €9.4bn to form basis of Budget 2026
