A Cut Above The Rest...

BEXLEY'S of Old Swan, Liverpool was named UK Butcher’s Shop of the Year at a lavish ceremony held at London’s Sheraton Park Lane hotel (November 18).

Bexley’s impressed the judges with its rapid development over the past 12 months. This included some imaginative marketing initiatives, the development of a website and an online mail order service, the setting up and participation in the Old Swan Traders Association, and the planning of a second shop in nearby Huyton that is due to open in the New Year. In between all of this, Bexleys also found time to supply the meat to this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards. Operating within this tough economic climate, this is a good news story for small businesses as owner Paul Brereton says his marketing campaign helped increase like-for-like sales by a whopping 44% this summer.

The Butcher’s Shop of the Year Awards are run by Meat Trades Journal. Editor Ed Bedington comments:- “Once again we were overwhelmed by the number of entries we received and also by the quality of them; it definitely made the judges' jobs harder than ever. But it's been great to see so many butchers thriving during these difficult trading times. It's their hard work and determination that sees them through and that's what we try to recognise in our awards."

The awards also included regional prizes with Bexleys taking the North England Butcher of the Year title too. Other awards included Farm Shop of the Year and Young Butcher of the Year.

Serious sexual assault - Duke Street Cemetery, Southport

TWO men have been arrested in connection with a serious sexual assault according to Merseyside Police on 24 November 2008. Merseyside police added that they have have since been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Merseyside Police are continuing to appeal for more information, following a serious sexual assault of a 24 year old woman in Duke Street Cemetery in Southport, Merseyside on Thursday 20 November 2008.

Merseyside Police has released to the media six CCTV images of two men in conection with this incident. The CCTV tracks the two men from outside Bakers Bar at around 4am, through Southport town centre.

According to Merseyside Police:- "The first man is described as white, 6ft tall, 28 to 30 years of age, of medium build with a full head of short fair coloured hair parted on the side with, what sounded like, an eastern European accent. He was wearing a cream/beige coloured hooded top with a dark jacket on top. The jacket has white writing on the bottom of the coat at the rear. He was also wearing blue jeans and white training shoes on.

The second man is described as white, 5ft 7 in tall, 25 to 30 years of age, of slim build, short cropped hair with a high forehead; clean shaven, thin nose with, what sounded like an eastern European accent. He was wearing a dark top with a hood, blue jeans with faded areas at the back and dark coloured shoes."

Merseyside Police added that:- "High-visibility police patrols have been stepped up throughout Southport town centre and officers will be visiting clubs, pubs and bars in the town tonight to obtain more information."

If you have any information which could help Merseyside Police with their inquiries regarding this incident, or if you recognise the CCTV images and know these men to contact Merseyside Police on 0151 777 3165, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Crimestoppers is an independent UK-wide charity. Calls to Crimestoppers are free and will not appear on your telephone bill.

United campaign to make travel safer

RECORDED incidents of antisocial behaviour on Merseyside’s bus network are falling, according to TravelSafe, a multi-agency body targeting criminals on public transport.  Using innovative methods to tackle crime, incidents on buses have dropped by around 50% this year, compared with baseline figures for 2006.

Neil Scales, Chief Executive of Merseytravel and Chair of the TravelSafe partnership, said:- “While we are delighted with this marked decrease, no incident of disorder is acceptable.  Most bus journeys pass incident free and the vast majority of passengers are good people who just want to get from A to B.  But when something does happen it can leave a lasting impression about the whole bus network.

We need to clamp down hard on the small element who are looking to cause trouble and upset. We need to let them know we won’t accept it, we will catch them and we will take all necessary action to prosecute them.  No one organisation has a solution to crime and criminality on the network. That’s why we are working so closely in partnership, through TravelSafe, to come up with some very clever and innovative new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour on the network.  The TravelSafe partnership in Merseyside, with support from police and private operators, is doing more to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers than any area outside of London.”

Merseytravel has jointly funded CCTV in every one of the Stagecoach bus fleet in Merseyside, as well as many smaller operators.  The organisation will also have jointly funded 100% CCTV coverage in the Arriva fleet by the end of the year.

TravelSafe has completed is busiest year since the partnership was reinvigorated by Merseytravel in 2003, with more than 70 operations alone from the start of October 2008. Among the range of operations were ‘Trojan’ style buses out on the network, passive drugs dogs and shield operations to tackle knife possession.  TravelSafe has supported the use of DNA ‘swab kits’ for bus drivers and is extending their use to other staff on the network to catch and deter those who assault staff by spitting at them.  The operation means DNA samples can be collected will be passed on to Merseyside Police for analysis on the National DNA database.

Operation Snowball, a campaign targeting passengers travelling with fraudulent passes and tickets, is providing to be particularly successful. Through better detection methods, the number of prosecutions this year (340) is double those when the campaign started in 2006.

Using a pioneering approach, TravelSafe has a unique system of tracking all instances of anti-social behaviour in Merseyside.  Drivers are encouraged to report all incidents of anti-social behaviour, which are then logged on the unique IRiS (Incident Reporting System) tracking system.

Julian Westwood, Merseytravel’s TravelSafe Officer, added:- “We need drivers to report every incident, and we would encourage the unions themselves to ask all drivers to take this up.  We log every reported incident on our system, therefore, we have the best intelligence on what is happening, where it is happening and we can focus elements of our campaigns and operations to match this.  Results from our operations this year show our approach is working.”

Positive, respectful engagement with young people is also at the heart of TravelSafe.  A total of 15,000 Merseyside schoolchildren have taken part in “Your Choice” Conferences in the last 4 years. The conferences, unique in the UK, use arts, music and drama to create and enact scenes of anti social behaviour, encouraging children to learn from their negative consequences.

TravelSafe is backed by Merseytravel, as well as bus operators, Network Rail, the Rail Passengers Council, Merseyside Police, British Transport Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Government Office North West, the Safer Merseyside Partnership and Crime and Reduction Partnerships from across Merseyside.

Merseyside Police Statement regarding BNP membership

ON Wednesday, 19 November 2008 Merseyside Police issued this statment to the media:- "Merseyside Police is very clear that membership of the British National Party is totally incompatible with the duties and values of the police service and Merseyside Police. Merseyside Police will not accept a police officer or police staff being a member of BNP and an investigation into all aspects of this case has been launched. We will be keeping an open mind until all of the facts are established.  ''Due process must be allowed to take place''  Merseyside Police stands side by side with Merseyside Black Police Association. MBPA Chair Vinny Tomlinson, explains the MBPA position: "MBPA believes that due process must be allowed to take place and we appeal for calm in that respect. MBPA also supports Merseyside Police to ensure the safety and security of those who it feels may be at risk as a result of being associated with the BNP.  ''MBPA continue to be available to assist Merseyside Police to ensure that this matter is concluded in a way that is fair to all and reflects the seriousness of what is being alleged.''  This is supported by Merseyside Police Federation."