18/04/2013 BBC Oxford News

Hello and welcome to South Today from Oxford. In tonight's

programme: Fine dodgers. Councils paying

companies to track down unpaid parking fines racked up by foreign

drivers. The main reason there are so many foreign tickets is that

they believe they cannot be identified, it cannot be enforced,

and they will get away with it. Also, its owner is charged with ill

treatment of a child, but a nursery reopens under new management.

Later, row, row, row your boat, across the Atlantic - the 16-year-

old aiming for the record books, Hundreds of thousands of pounds in

unpaid parking tickets and speeding fines clocked up by foreign drivers

are going uncollected by our councils and police force. A

Freedom of Information request by BBC South Today has revealed that

over the past four years more than 6,000 parking tickets issued to

foreign-plated vehicles by Oxfordshire County Council remain

unpaid, more than any other authority in the South. That's

�358,000 of penalties. Meanwhile, foreign drivers have been caught

speeding by Thames Valley Police more than 10,000 times in the past

four years, yet not one has received a fixed penalty notice.

But that could all be about to change. Emma Vardy has this

exclusive report. Parking in Oxford is in short

supply, and the charges are some of the most expensive in the country.

A thriving tourist industry means the City welcomes many visitors

from abroad, but if drivers with foreign-plated vehicles do not pay

the fines, there is Murray little that authorities can do.

Oxfordshire County Council says it has no way of tracing drivers if

vehicles are registered overseas. We have no agreement with various

European companies to go cross border. And the traffic management

act is only for England and Wales. Most councils told us they simply

write off the tickets if vehicles are registered abroad. In some

places, wardens do not issue fines at all to foreign vehicles because

of the slim chance of recouping the money if the owner does not pay.

But a few councils have started to chase up the thousands they are

legally Oh would. -- they are legally entitled to. They make

contact with foreign vehicle Licensing Agency's, ask for the

keeper details and send letters requesting -- requesting payment.

We have seen one out of every three foreign vehicles has 10 or more

parking fines. The main reason there are so many foreign tickets

is that I believe they cannot be identified -- they believe they

cannot be identified and they will get away with it. Oxfordshire

County Council is considering using the same firm to collect its unpaid

fines. We have to pay, so everybody else should. You cannot have one

rule for one and one rule for everybody else. That is not right.

It is robbery. We would not get away with it in their country.

While council finances are tight, this is a potentially large

untapped revenue stream for some authorities, with �350,000 that

could be claimed for Oxfordshire alone.

We can get more on this with Emma now. Emma, is it possible to chase

up drivers anywhere in Europe? quite. About 80% of countries will

give out driver details if requested. But in particular France

and Belgium will not. They say they do not recognise these penalties,

so it is still impossible to trace drivers with outstanding fines in

these countries. Some councils are lobbying for Government to get this

changed and put pressure on those countries to change their policies.

What happens if a British driver gets a fine while they are

overseas? The same thing applies. The firm we spoke to when we were

filming will also chose UK drivers who have outstanding fines and

other countries to recoup the money. But procedures vary in different

countries. In some places, you could get much to a straight to the

cashpoint to pay their own them. What about speeding fines? How can

foreign drivers be held to account for speeding fines? Police have

much the same problem as the councils, in that they cannot track

down drivers abroad. At the moment, foreign plated vehicles that get

caught speeding do not give issued with fines or points, but there is

a pilot scheme under way in London to change this, so the Met police

are working on it. They are looking at ways to be able to chase drivers

for speeding points overseas. When they have those legalities ironed

out and have it all working, they hope to roll it out to other forces

like Thames Valley. The owner of a nursery school in

the Cotswolds has been charged with the ill treatment of a child in her

care. Ofsted closed the nursery in Bourton on the Water in February

while police investigated a serious incident which was alleged to have

taken place there. It has now reopened under new management.

Stuart Tinworth has the details. The nursery school in Bourton-on-

the-Water has reopened today for the first time since Ofsted and

police closed it down following what was described as a serious

incident back in February. We understand the former manager has

been charged with assault, or ill- treatment of a child in her care.

66-year-old Carole Court from Beckford will appear before

magistrates on May 2nd. I have been speaking to parents and staff today.

Staff assure me that they have reopened under a new registration.

They are keeping the name of the nursery but they insist the woman

in question is no longer working here. Parents have paid tribute to

the staff, telling me they do an excellent job. In a statement from

Gloucestershire County Council, they say that although this nursery

is independently and privately run, they have got involved with Ofsted

and police to ensure the protection and safety of the children.

The RSPCA was alerted to the condition of animals at an

Oxfordshire animal rescue nearly two years before it was eventually

closed down. The owners of Crunchie's in Longworth were told

to make improvements following a visit by an inspector in 2010, a

court heard. Eight people deny more than 100 animal neglect charges.

Jeremy Stern reports. Crunchies it and more rescue Centre, days after

a joint police and RSPCA raid. -- Crunchies animal rescue centre.

Eight people are charged with neglect. Defence barristers claim

to the RSPCA caused the damage and set up the defendants. An RSPCA

inspector told the court these accusations were preposterous. Luke

Hughes led the raid, and he said conditions were appalling, with

animals running free. The court also heard the charity had

previously visited Crunchies in April of 2010. There was a warning

but no significant action was taken until the raid in nearly two years

afterwards. The owner, Angela Russell, seen here at an earlier

hearing in the black-and-white top, denies animal neglect. Several

other defendants, including her father, say they were not

responsible for the animals. Millions of extra pounds is being

put towards tackling potholes in Oxfordshire. The county council has

recently received an unexpected Government grant of �3.5 million.

It says it's decided to use the money to repair roads which have

been badly affected by the weather over the past three years.

Freedom of Information requests have uncovered a high level of hare

coursing in West Berkshire. In the two years up to December 2012 there

were more than 130 reports of hare coursing, and 19 arrests. Hare

coursing has been an issue of concern in the area for a couple of

years with many claiming not enough is being done to address the

More than �160,000 of equipment has been stolen from military bases in

Wiltshire over the last two years. Figures obtained by the BBC, show

there were just a handful of prosecutions, as Tom Hepworth

reports. Between 20th January 11 and 20th

December 12, �160,000 worth of equipment went missing from bases

in Wiltshire alone. For example, a Land Rover form of communication

equipment and worth �38,000 disappeared from Salisbury Plain.

Copper piping were �13,000 vanished from bases across the county. So

did a vacuum cleaner, two tumble driers, a microwave oven and a

television. Four diving helmets are unaccounted for, as well as a set

of night-vision goggles, worth over �13,000. In total, there were 58

separate incidents of theft but just six prosecutions. It comes at

a time when the Government is looking to cut 80 military police

jobs in Wiltshire. As defence spending cuts run into billions of

pounds, reducing any unnecessary losses, even comparatively

insignificant, would appear to make sense.

Plans for a new cinema and theatre at Abingdon's historic Guildhall

have been unveiled. The �3.5 million project will see the

building transformed into a social and cultural hub. The plans include

a 100-seat cinema, a renovation of Abbey Hall, with theatre seating,