News for the Nottingham Area

Truck 'rat run' route ban

RESIDENTS living on �rat runs� across the county have welcomed a truck and lorry ban after years of living with the misery of noise and pollution.

Notts County Council is set to undertake a 400,000 scheme to divert heavy vehicles away from nearly a dozen conurbations.

Among those set to benefit are residents living in Bramcote. Heavy vehicles thunder down Town Street blighting homeowners� lives.

Peter Howe, 50, has spent 22 years living on the congested road.

He said: �The sound of traffic in the garden is pretty severe. Over the last 10 years it has got particularly bad. The heavy lorries get caught on what�s known as devils bend.�

Judith Raggett, 63, who owns a two hundred year old cottage on another sharp bend, said she fears for her safety.

She said: �It�s become a night mare here over ten years. It�s frightening coming out of the drive although I have never had an accident. Cars come so fast down here it�s so dangerous.�

�There�s no pavement on my side of the road so you have to stand on the road to cross and there is a blind spot. It�s just an absolute nightmare with the heavy lorries its constant and I feel very strongly.�

�Two years ago we put the house up for sale and lots of people loved the cottage but didn�t like the road and parking. It�s so disheartening. It�s awful and dangerous.�

Drivers in trucks over 7.5 tonnes caught flouting the rules will be fined up to £1,000 under new measures being drawn up by the County Council.

Drivers will also face licence penalty points.

Bill Graham who has lived in the area for ten years said the noise was unbearable.

He said:� In a decade its has got worst and every morning with the heavy cement lorries you can feel the vibrations shaking through the house and it always wakes me up.�

Jane Lewin lives onTown Street lives with her family in her detached period property and has considered moving house.

She said:� The cars come up here really fast and I worry about my children�s� safety. The road is too narrow at the top there have been serious accidents.�

�If they stopped the heavy lorries we would think again and stay a lot longer.�

Gedling: Heroes- a tribute to our greatest singers

THE RICHARD Herrod Millennium Suite is pleased to announce their latest great show- Heroes- a tribute to our greatest singers.

On Friday February 26 experience the thrill of Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles and Whitney Houston to name but a few.

Book your tickets now by calling 0115 961 2949.

Carlton: Firefighters make temporary move

FIREFIGHTERS in Carlton have temporarily moved in with

colleagues from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS)

while their 50-year-old fire station is demolished and rebuilt.

Crews based at the station have relocated to the ambulance

station just 200 metres away on Manor Road. They will be

based there for the next 10 months until the brand new

£3.5 million replacement fire station is complete.

The move has been carefully planned for months, and a

programme of refurbishment work has been completed

at the ambulance station to accommodate the fire crews

and their equipment. This includes internal refurbishment

and the delivery of portable buildings which will be used

for storage and office space.

Mansfield: Soldier caught in fire in Afghan war

MANSFIELD soldier Brian Tucker was forced to down tools last week when the bridge he was building in Nad-e Ali, Afghanistan came under attack from enemy fire.

The firefight started as the 31-year-old Sergeant was laying the foundations for a new bridge which would carry military vehicles into the area occupied by the insurgents on the other side of the canal

Sergeant Tucker, who is with Arno Troop, 10 Field Squadron (Air Support), attached to 28 Engineer Regiment Group (part of the Grenadier Guards Battle Group), said:

�We were shoring up the verges in preparation to assemble and secure the bridge the next day. Just then, out of the blue, there was gunfire whizzing around our ears. We all jumped into the ditch to take cover. One of the guys was stuck in his digger. Lucky they are very solid machines so he was perfectly safe in there.

�There were all sorts of small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades coming down on us. We returned fire with support from the Afghan National Army soldiers. After an hour of fighting, we managed to see off the enemy and everyone picked up where they left off.

�As Engineers we know that we have to get the job done. It�s always difficult after a contact but you still have to get the lads back up to finish the job.�

�We put the bridge in place during the early hours of the following morning but clearly the enemy wanted another go. When the shots came in we all got down in the ditch again. Smoke was called in to provide us with cover and the digger that was fired on yesterday was used to actually scoop some of the men into a safe position.

�The end result was that the bridge was built and secure and nobody was hurt.�

Sergeant Tucker was in the South Notts Hussars Combined Cadet Force and his father was in the Royal Green Jackets so the Army was a natural choice for him. Brian, who is married to Susanne, worked initially as a butcher�s apprentice and market trader before joining up in 1996.

City: Notts helps Haiti disaster relief effort

AID is being promised from the county to help victims of the earthquake that hit the Caribbean country of Haiti.

Notts County Football Club has pledged 5,000 bottles of water to the charity Save the Children, in response to the natural disaster which happened last week.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Caribbean country, affecting an estimated three million people.

The International Organization of Migration has estimated that 200,000 families, comprising up to one million people, need immediate shelter and non-food assistance.

Lifeline coordinator at the football club Lynn Lawson said the decision to make a contribution was made after seeing the heartrending images coming from Port-au-Prince.

She said:� There are thousands and thousands of people in dire need of shelter, food and water.�

�Following the worldwide appeal, we felt the need to do our part and we decided to make this donation.�

�Usually the funds raised by our members go to the club, but in these circumstances we felt the need to help those in need in Haiti.�

Meanwhile, the wives of the GMB Panthers players will be asking the fans at this weekend�s big game against arch-rivals Sheffield to dig deep for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Heather St Pierre, wife of netminder Kevin St Pierre is mobilising the wives to stage a collection as fans arrive at Saturday�s big game.

She said: �The pictures are so distressing and the people there have so little in the first place and they need every bit of help we can sort out. �

�The money raised on Saturday to the Red Cross who are helping to co-ordinate the relief effort.�

Web and phone donations to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal added £10m to the £2m already raised.

The British Red Cross is appealing for volunteer collectors across the county to help raise money.

Tesco gave the Red Cross permission to hold a charity collection in each of their stores through to January 24.

To make a donation to the DEC Haiti appeal visit www.dec.org.uk or call 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque made payable to �DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal� to �PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA

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