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By Sarah Cliss Senior reporter @ Cambs Times ©
Councillors voiced their concerns at Whittlesey Town Council’s meeting on Thursday when they discussed a Local Highways Initiative bid to have an automatic barrier installed on the town’s High Causeway.
The area is a pedestrianised zone where vehicles are banned between 10am and 4pm, but drivers regularly ignore the signs putting shoppers at risk.
Cllr Dee Laws said: “We have to do something, I have nearly been knocked over, and I know a child was knocked over down there.
“Delivery vans come far too fast down there and someone is going to be seriously hurt or even killed if we don’t do something.”
Mayor Cllr Alex Miscandlon added his wife had also suffered a near miss.The town council has already put in a Local Highways Initiative bid (LHI) to Cambridgeshire County Council to have an automatic barrier installed, with the town council footing 10 per cent of the cost, and the county paying the rest.
However, Cllr Barry Wainwright gave an update on the bid and warned it may be unsuccessful as the county council was not in favour of automatic barriers.
He said an application for a manual barrier was more likely to be successful.
But Cllr Dee Laws said a manual barrier would involve someone having to open and close it at the relevant times, and she said most people were already too busy.
Cllr Chris Boden claimed the county council had given various reasons why they would not support an automatic barrier including that it would go against policy.
However, he said that upon investigation the county did not have any policy relating to automatic barriers and so he was putting pressure on for them to introduce a policy, but accepted it might be too late for the LHI deadline.But agreed action was needed as drivers simply ignoring the pedestrian only signs was not acceptable.
There was a suggestion that ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras could be an alternative solution to a barrier.
Cllr Roy Gerstner said the council had been trying to get something done for the past 10 years and said it would be an “absolute travesty” if it was not sorted now the bid had been made.
It was agreed that Cllr Boden and fellow county council Michael Fisher should put a motion forward to the county council calling for a policy to allow automatic barriers to be considered by Cambridgeshire highways.
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For many months I have asked….. “Where is the money coming from” to pay for these very nice projects for both Whittlesey & Fenland, no one gave me an answer, to which I could already guess – some of it will be borrowed money…..fine, but someone (ratepayer) in the future will have to pay it back.
Nothing wrong with Inspire/Aspire for the benifit of our town….
Action Fraud is urging people to look out for rogue QR codes, after 784 reports of ‘quishing’ were made to Action Fraud between April 2024 and April 2025, with almost £3.5 million lost.
A new alert has been issued by Action Fraud, warning about quishing, a form of phishing where a fraudulent QR code is scanned, designed to steal personal and financial information. The warning encourages people to stay vigilant and double check QR codes to see if they are malicious, or have been tampered with, before scanning them online or in public spaces.
Claire Webb, Acting Director of Action Fraud, said:
“QR codes are becoming increasingly common in everyday life, whether it’s scanning one to pay for parking, or receiving an email asking to verify an online account. However, reporting shows cyber criminals are increasingly using quishing as a way to trick the public out of their personal and financial information.
“We’re urging people to stop and check before scanning QR codes, to avoid becoming a victim of quishing. Look out for QR codes that may have been tampered with in open spaces, or emails and texts that might include rogue codes. If you’re in doubt, contact the organisation directly. You can follow our advice on quishing, on our website at www.actionfraud.police.uk to help protect yourself.”
Action Fraud can reveal that quishing happens most frequently in car parks, with criminals using stickers to tamper with QR codes on parking machines. Quishing also occurred on online shopping platforms, where sellers received a QR code via email to either verify accounts or to receive payment for sold items.
Reports also showed phishing attacks were taking place impersonating HMRC, or other UK government schemes, targeting people with QR codes designed to steal personal and financial details.
What can you do avoid being a victim of quishing?
If you receive a suspicious email, report it by forwarding it to phishing@report.gov.uk
Find out how to protect yourself from fraud: https://stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk
If you’ve been a victim of fraud, report it at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, contact Police Scotland on 101.
We were attending today Robin Sutton, Robert Boddington and Myself on our Neighboirhood Watch stand, along with Fenlands Safer Neighbourhood Partnership.
Over 200 attendee passing through in the 3 hours the event ws open.
