Bromley Borough Commander's Newsletter February 2012

Marie Curie Cancer Research Collection

Betty Jones (93 Ridgeway Drive) wants to thank everyone who contributed to the Marie Curie Cancer Research collection in Ridgeway Drive during February.

Bromley Safer Award for the Safer Neighbourhood team

Our Safer Neighbourhood team Sergeant David Morbin Received the first of this year's Bromley Safer Awards for "Working Together".

This Award is in recognition of his and his Teams incredible achievements on this Ward over the past couple of years. The full original nomination as sent to the Bromley Safer Awards Adjudicators can be seen on the SNT website at :-

 Bromley safer award for safer neighbourhood team

Twitter users can follow Bromley Gritters

If you are a twitter user you can get information about when and where gritting vehicles will be sent out. You can get information about what routes will be salted and why. The address is @bromleysnow

If you are not a twitter user you can read the tweets on the council website at  www.bromley.gov.uk/gritting where you can suggest other routes to be gritted or report broken or empty salt bins.

Another very cold night is expected tonight.

Burnt Ash Library Reading Group February

Bromley libraries support a number of local reading groups and there is one at Burnt Ash Library. The book appreciation groups are for adults wanting to read something different, meet other readers or look more deeply into particular novels and factual books.

Reading groups are open to anyone who loves reading and are free. At each meeting the library provides copies of a book that has been previously chosen, which is taken away and read by members of the group and then discussed the following month. Some groups are already over-subscribed and times are subject to change so please contact the library for confirmation.

The next meeting at Burnt Ash Library is on Thursday 23rd February at 2.15 pm and everyone is welcome. The book to be discussed is

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

For David Copperfield, orphaned and with a cruel stepfather, the future looks bleak. But a new start beckons with the magnificent Mr Micawber, then with his eccentric aunt, Betsey Trotwood.

For more details visit the library or contact the librarians on 020 8460 3405 or by email at burntash.library@bromley.gov.uk

Well Done Snow Friends and others

It is very heartening to see how many people had cleared the footpaths outside their homes. Many must have been Snow Friends but others will have just been thoughtful people. With forecasters saying that we must expect more of these cold snowy winters it will be helpful if everyone enrolled next year.

In a short walk it seemed that folk in Broadlands had cleared more than half their paths and it would just need a few more people to clear the whole road.

Congratulations to Bromley gritters who gritted Ridgeway Drive although it did trigger my car alarm but made the road safe to drive on this morning.

SNOW FRIENDS SNOW ALERT!

Dear Snow Friend

 

Thank you for volunteering to be a Snow Friend – the first 24 hours after snow has settled are crucial – our experience shows that after this period, clearing snow is much harder as the snow compacts, freezes and turns to ice.  In our summer conferences, we promised to try and give warning that snow was on the way and we can confirm, as you are probably aware from national weather forecast reports, there is a distinct probability that parts of our borough will see snow over this weekend. 

 

Whilst we cannot be completely sure, the latest forecasts indicate that it will snow from Saturday mid evening into the early hours of Sunday morning, with temperatures predicted to fall at or below freezing in much of the borough, including Biggin Hill and Orpington from mid afternoon on Saturday.  The possibility of snow will remain at least into the middle of next week, with night time freezing temperatures and low day time temperatures meaning that any snow may not melt that quickly.

 

Once again, the Council is on 24 hour standby, ready to salt and clear snow from priority routes across the borough.  We will also be focussing on clearing snow from pavement areas in town centre shopping areas, transport interchanges and outside schools.

 

Please make your fellow Snow Friends or neighbours aware of the probability of snow and feel free to forward this e-mail if appropriate.  Thank you in advance for your time and effort and if you do need specific advice, please let us know.

 

Please don’t forget, unless it snows heavily and ‘lifting’ the snow becomes unavoidable, always try to use the scoops as ‘brooms’ rather than ‘levers’ to save energy

and help get the task completed more quickly.

 

Good luck and thank you once again for contributing to this fantastic team effort!

 

 

Councillor Colin Smith

Executive Councillor for Environment

 

Snow Friends Team

Environmental Services

London Borough of Bromley

Civic Centre

Stockwell Close

Bromley BR1 3UH

 

Tel : 020 8313 4557

email: snow.friends@bromley.gov.uk

web: www.bromley.gov.uk/winter

 

Hackers fool bank security system

Criminal hackers have found a way round the latest generation of online banking security devices given out by banks, the BBC has learned.

After logging in to the bank's real site, account holders are being tricked by the offer of training in a new "upgraded security system".

Money is then moved out of the account but this is hidden from the user.

More details are available on the BBC Click web page Hackers fool bank security systems

A report on this topic will be shown on BBC NEWS CHANNEL (UK): Saturday 0130, 1130, 1530 and 2030, Sunday 0430, 0745, 1130, 1530 and 2030 and Monday 0030. It will also be available on BBC IPlayer from Saturday


Banks and experts say customers must continue using online security anti-virus products.

How to spot if you might have been infected

• If your transaction seems to be taking longer than normal, there is a chance it is going via a fraudster's system
• If you are asked for more information than normal, especially entire passwords where previously you were only asked for part, your machine may have been infected
• Computers that have been infected often slow down while malware monopolises both the processor and the internet connection

What to do if you suspect something

• Contact your bank by phone, not by email
• Tell them the time and date you believed you were accessing your bank account, and if the bank's records do not match, it is likely your computer has been compromised
• In the UK, banks usually refund victims of online fraud as a matter of course

More help with computing is available on the AGEUK website at the following webpage

ageuk technology-and-internet

There is also a leaflet available for download ageuk Internet_security_inf.pdf

Possible Snow this coming weekend

The forecast for Saturday and Sunday (and maybe next week) says that significant falls of snow can be expected. Those who have enrolled in the Snow Friends scheme should be well prepared but everyone should consider the advice in a leaflet from Bromley Council which can be downloaded using the link below

snow_friends_leaflet

Details of roads that will be gritted are also available on the Bromley website at the link below

gritting the roads in winter

If you are not already a Snow Friend then you can't join for this year but you can apply on a form available on the Snow Friends page:-

Snow Friends Web Page