Thursday 31st March 2011 Surrey ‘cycling town’ banishes bikes from town centre
Surrey county councillors have voted to scrap shared cycle and
pedestrian use of parts of the town centre. The move seems to run
contrary to the Woking’s ambitions to become bike friendly, the town
is one of the UK’s designated ‘cycling towns’. Woking received funding
in 2008 to help it be more bike friendly. The move comes despite there
having been no reported incidents involving cycles and pedestrians in
Woking town centre. However the Chief executive of Surrey Disabled
People's Partnership Clive Wood described the decision as a partial
victory saying: "The committee members have recognised the legitimate
concerns vulnerable pedestrians have about sharing a pedestrianised
area with cyclists." Surrey

Tuesday 11th January 2011 Chaos as Surrey drivers fail to slow down for bad weather
Roads in Surrey were thrown into chaos on Sunday and Monday (December
10 and 11, 2011) when black ice and excess speed conspired to cause a
number of accidents. The A31 at Hog’s Back was shut on Sunday after 14
crashes between Guildford and Farnham. The northbound carriageway of
the A3 was closed on Monday morning after several accidents between
Milford and Hindhead. Police Sgt John-Paul Davis said motorists were
driving much too fast for the conditions, adding: "Thankfully there
were very few injuries but thousands of pounds worth of damage has
been caused to the cars involved and the road closures obviously
caused a great deal of inconvenience." Drivers are being warned to
slow down and increase stopping distances in poor driving conditions. Surrey

Friday 12th November 2010 Magna Carta celebrated
Although the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta is not until 2015,
celebrations to mark the event are already getting underway. Master of
the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke will speak at
a public launch to be held at a memorial site in Runnymede, Surrey,
where King John sealed the document in 1215. The charter of rights
will be exhibited in the UK and Commonwealth. The Magna Carta Trust is
hoping to increase awareness of the legal, political and
constitutional importance of the document, which has World Heritage
status. The Magna Carta has its roots in a row between King John and
English barons and formed the basis of much of the present day legal
system, such as the right of trial by jury. Surrey

Wednesday 6th October 2010 Man arrested after driving onto railway station platform
Travellers and staff got a shock on Saturday afternoon (2 October,
2010) when an 80-year-old motorist drove his car onto a station
platform. The man took a wrong turn, drove up a footpath and ended up
on the platform at Surrey’s Esher station. Police had to reverse the
vehicle off the station and the man was subsequently arrested for
dangerous driving. Witnesses said the pensioner drove up the footpath
next to the Lower Green Road railway bridge and ending up on the
London bound platform. The car was eventually collected by a recovery
vehicle. Surrey

Friday 1st October 2010 Men arrested for moving goalposts
Two men were arrested on suspicion of theft after they were spotted
making off with four goalposts, worth about £1,000, from a Surrey
football club. The men were seen leaving Horley Town Football Club
with the goalposts in a van and were subsequently stopped by police
officers on the A23 while driving towards Redhill. "This theft has
inconvenienced the club as without goal posts no football can be
played," said Sgt Simon Ward."Metal theft is a real concern to us as
it is seen as an attractive and expensive commodity for thieves.
However, anyone who steals metal could face up to five years in
prison. Neighbourhood Officers visit nearby dealers and scrap metal
yards to obtain valuable information on those attempting to sell scrap
metal on." Surrey

Thursday 2nd September 2010 Valuable paintings rescued from dustbin
A 75-year-old Surrey woman ready dump to two paintings the dustbin has
now learned that they could fetch up to £30,000 at auction. The
paintings were purchased by the woman's father 60 years ago but had
subsequently been kept in the attic because his wife did not like
them. She wanted to throw the oil paintings away, but luckily she
first asked her neighbour Spencer Wright how best to dispose of them.
Mr Wright decided to check the paintings using an iPhone app to
contact Christie's where a specialist immediately recognised their
value. The works are by Australian artist William Blamire Young. Mr
Wright said: "I knew they were something special because they were
very old, and in old frames. They were under glass, but you could tell
it was oil on canvas. Having the Christie's app allowed me to go to
them directly, and stopped the paintings going to the dump." Surrey

Tuesday 29th June 2010 Bank raid ends in arrest of gunman
Police said they have arrested a man in his 30s after staff and
customers were held hostage at gunpoint at a branch of Barclays Bank
in Surrey. Police and the force helicopter attended the scene at
Barclays Bank in Church Road, Ashford, in Kent shortly before 1600
BST. Hostage negotiators managed to persuade the man to surrender and
he came out the bank to give himself up just after 1900 BST. No-one
was seriously injured in the raid but one hostage endured the horror
of having gun pressed to his head during the ordeal. Surrey

Thursday 15th October 2009 Pink bananas help make seed bank milestone
A milestone was reached at Kew Garden’s Millennium Seed Bank, with
help from a pink banana plant. Their target to stock 10% of the
world’s wild plants has been reached with seeds from the banana,musa
interans, entering the bank as species number 24,200.


120 partner organisations across 54 countries have participated in the
project which now aims to collect a quarter of the planet’s flowering
plant species by 2020. The seeds are stored underground in vaults kept
at a constant -20C both in their country of origin and at Kew Garden’s
Wakehurst Place, West Sussex facility. Plant material coming to the
collection, described as a biological “insurance strategy”, goes
through a process of careful selection to ensure only the best,
healthy specimens are stored. Surrey

Wednesday 7th October 2009 Get married on Concorde
Couples wishing for something a little different for their wedding
service can now add the cockpit of Concorde onto their list of unusual
venues. Surrey County Council have succumbed to a large number of
requests to allow the former passenger jet, now parked up at
Brooklands Motorsport and Aviation Museum, to be used as a wedding
venue.

Concorde was the iconic aeroplane from the jet age but was finally
retired from service in October 2003 after 40 years of supersonic
flight.

Surrey Councillor Denise Saliagopoulos said:

"We were more than happy to provide a civil wedding licence that will
mean this much-loved icon of the air can continue to be a place for
happy memories long into its retirement." Surrey

Wednesday 26th August 2009 Unlocked cars targets of police ‘thefts’
Police forces in Richmond, south-west London are trying to drive home
a message about the dangers of leaving possessions in unlocked cars
using rather a extreme method. In what at first seems like a case of
‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ police officers in the district
are removing valuables left on display in unlocked cars and leaving a
note for the owner.

The move is part of a campaign to cut the amount of theft from
vehicles, often made worse because too many people leave valuable
items on view in their cars. This visibility of tempting items in a
car, locked or unlocked, is thought to increase crime. The police are
keen to stress how much care they take to safeguard valuables as well
as any personal data that might be stored on phones and laptops taken. Surrey