Civil Parking Enforcement

You may already be aware that Wealden District Council’s Cabinet agreed to not support the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement in order to retain the economic health of its rural town and villages. There are a lot of residents and retailers breathing a sigh of relief! Without the support of the District Council, East Sussex County Council cannot apply to the Department of Transport for Civil Parking Enforcement to be introduced.

Wealden District Council has informed that they will urge Sussex Police to do their job and fulfil their legal responsibility to enforce parking restrictions. They will work with Town and Parish Councils to change public behaviour and to make vehicle owners take responsibility and think about where they are parking. The Parish Council and Chamber of Commerce continually requests that residents do not park on the double yellow lines (although blue badge holders are permitted to) and to not exceed the two hour parking restriction in the High Street. There are car parks available in South Street, Court Meadow and to the rear of the Memorial Hall in Tunbridge Wells Road for anyone that needs to park in excess of two hours.

There are numerous complaints received that vehicles parked on double yellow lines are obscuring visibility and limiting access at road junctions. Vehicle owners need to think responsibly about where they are parking or the issue of Civil Parking Enforcement will raise its head again in the near future.

Mayfield library

Discussions are still taking place on how to save Mayfield library from closure and the council is looking at the funding required to retain this service. One of the issues that needs to be taken into consideration is the low number of residents that currently use the library. East Sussex County Council informed that Mayfield Library currently has 699 registered members and in the past twelve months, only 220 people (32% of those registered) have borrowed an item from the library. We believe however that the number of visitors does not include those attending to use the computers rather than borrowing books. Disappointingly, at the time of writing this article, following the February edition of the newsletter only two residents contacted the Parish Council to support saving the library. The post on Facebook from MAYFACS got 148 likes although we cannot tell whether anyone who responded to that will actually use the library if it is saved.

Temporary road closure

East Sussex Highways has informed of a closure of the B2100 Mayfield Lane at Wadhurst from the junction with the B2099, Durgates to the junction with the C14 Tidebrook Road at Best Beech Hill. The works are anticipated to take 18 days to complete from 28/2/2018 to 23/3/2018 to allow South East Water to carry out new cross connection works between existing water mains. The diversion route is via the B2100 Wadhurst Road – A267 Tunbridge Wells Road – A267  Mayfield Road – B2099 Wadhurst Road and vice versa

Free advice service for the deaf

East Sussex Hearing Resource Centre is a registered charity working in partnership with Adult Social Care to provide a no charge mobile information and advice service for Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people living in East Sussex. The bus is equipped to offer demonstrations of assistive equipment and hearing screening tests.

The mobile unit will be visiting Mayfield on Thursday 1^st March 2018, and will be in the Memorial Hall car park (or overflow car park), Tunbridge Wells Road from 1.30pm – 3.30pm.The bus is accessible to wheelchair users and representatives from both the East Sussex Hearing Resource Centre and Adult Social Care will be available to provide individual information and advice on all aspects of hearing loss.

For further information please contact:

East Sussex Hearing Resource Centre, Tel: 01323 722505 (voice/text/fax) e-mail: info@eshrc.org.uk

Information from UK Power Networks

UK Power Networks has requested that following information is shared residents so that they are aware of who to contact in the event their electricity is interrupted by the weather.

Anyone experiencing a power cut should:

• Call 105 to report power cuts and damage to the electricity network, or 0800 3163 105 (from a corded phone or mobile phone if you have no power)
• Visit ukpowernetworks.co.uk for the latest updates
• Visit ukpowernetworks.co.uk/powercut and type in their postcode to view our live power cut map
• Tweet @ukpowernetworks to report a power cuts or to receive updates

They advise people to stay clear of power lines and report damaged power lines immediately by calling 105 free from either a landline or a mobile phone. If they see electricity lines that are down or causing significant risk to the public they should call 999.

They provide extra help to customers on our Priority Service Register during a power cut.  Households with older or disabled people, those with children under five, or where someone uses medical or mobility equipment that requires electricity as well as other reasons can join the register.  You can find out more information about our Priority Service on our website: ukpowernetworks.co.uk/priority.

Keep active, keep healthy

Wealden District Council has a new Healthy Wealden website is an online pick-me-up for the winter. It is full of information about activities, support and advice to help you stay healthy and happy at: http://healthywealden.co.uk/

It includes a range of targeted health and fitness programmes are available at the Freedom Leisure Centres,

Fun and Safety Days that focus on personal and community safety and Walking for Health that encourages more people to become physically active in their local communities.

Wealden Do Sussex

This is a new tourist website from Wealden District Council which includes places to stay, things to do and local events at: http://www.wealdendo-sussex.co.uk/ If you visit the site you can download the comprehensive 2018 guide to visitor attractions in the area

Telephone fraud advice from Sussex Police

Telephone fraudsters use well-rehearsed stories, designed to gain their victim’s trust. For example, they pretend to be police officers who have just arrested someone using a copy of your bank card and alerting you that your money is in danger, or pretending to be from your phone or computer service provider and claiming that there is a problem with your system that they need to fix.

Fraudsters often claim to be officials and can seem very genuine but you should always bear in mind that callers might not be who they claim to be, even if they already seem to know details such as your name and address.

Genuine police or bank staff would never ask you to withdraw or transfer cash from your account, nor would they ever ask for your four-digit bank PIN number. Never tell anyone this number, it is for you to use in cash machines and shops only.

Genuine computer firms will not call unexpectedly to help fix your computer. Fraudsters make these calls to try to gain access to your online bank account or to trick you into paying for something you didn’t need or to damage your computer with harmful software.

The most common type of fraud affecting older residents in Sussex is “advance fee” fraud, where fraudsters persuade victims to make advance or upfront payments for goods or financial gains that do not then materialise.

Beware of anyone asking for money in advance. For example, fraudsters may claim that you are entitled to PPI compensation or that you are to inherit money from a relative but you need to pay legal or administrative fees first. Genuine firms don’t ask for this, it is likely to be a scam.

If you’ve already been a fraud victim, beware that fraudsters may pretend to be lawyers or police claiming they can help recover your money.

What can you do to protect yourself?

• Be skeptical of callers, even those who claim to be officials
• Don’t be afraid to put the phone down with a brief ‘No, thank you’
• NEVER give personal information, such as your date of birth or bank details, to unexpected callers
• NEVER allow an unexpected caller to talk you through processes on your computer, like downloading new software or accessing your online bank account
• Remember that the police or your bank would NEVER unexpectedly call you and ask you to withdraw cash or move your money to another account, as a result of fraud or any other reason
• If callers suggest you call your local police or bank to check who they are, use another phone or ensure the line has been fully disconnected by phoning a friend or relative first, or by waiting at least 3 minutes, otherwise you may think you’ve phoned a number but you’re simply talking to the fraudsters again. This is a common fraudsters’ tactic.
• If a caller asks you to type your bank PIN number into your telephone handset – do not do this, as fraudsters can use technology to identify the numbers.
• You can opt out of many cold calls by registering for free with the Telephone Preference Service on 0845 070 0707

Stopping nuisance calls with call-blockers

Sussex Police is committed to reducing the risk of telephone fraud and have protected a number of the most vulnerable people across the county by assisting in the installation of call-blockers. trueCall devices work by ensuring that only trusted callers already known to the user can get through and this company is accredited by Secured by Design. Unrecognised callers are asked for their identity before they are put through to the recipient, meaning that unknown or ‘cold’ callers can be refused. You may be interested in finding out more about call blockers if you know someone vulnerable who is being plagued by nuisance and scam calls. If you do purchase trueCall, please provide consent for the police to collate any intelligence you may gain of the nuisance callers. https://www.truecall.co.uk/

Flight ticket fraud alert

Fraudsters are attempting to entice victims who are looking for cheap flights abroad. Victims have reported booking tickets via websites or a “popular” ticket broker, only to discover that after payment via bank transfer or electronic wire transfer, the tickets/booking references received are counterfeit. In some cases, all communications between the company or broker and the victim have been severed. Fraudsters are targeting individuals who are seeking to travel to African nations and the Middle East, particularly those wishing to travel in time for popular public and religious holidays.

Prevention advice:

• Pay safe: Be cautious if you’re asked to pay directly into a private individual’s bank account. Paying by direct bank transfer is like paying by cash – the money is very difficult to trace and is not refundable. Wherever possible, pay by credit card or a debit card
• Conduct research on any company you’re considering purchasing tickets from; for example, are there any negative reviews or forum posts by previous customers online? Don’t just rely on one review – do a thorough online search to check the company’s credentials
• Check any company website thoroughly; does it look professional? Are there any spelling mistakes or irregularities? There should be a valid landline phone number and a full postal address so that the company can be contacted. Avoid using the site if there is only a PO Box address and mobile phone number, as it could be difficult to get in touch after you buy tickets. PO Box addresses and mobile phone numbers are easy to change and difficult to track
• Be aware that purchasing tickets from a third party, particularly when initial contact has been made via a social media platform can be incredibly risky
• If tickets to your intended destination appear cheaper than any other vendor, always consider this; if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
• Look for the logo: Check whether the company is a member of a recognised trade body such as ABTA or ATOL. You can verify membership of ABTA online, at abta.com
• If you have been affected by this, or any other type of fraud, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting actionfraud.police.uk