A warning to drivers to be on their guard

WHEN you’ve been in this game as long as I have you become pretty cynical about the criminal elements.

Nothing is sacred and they’ll do anything from mugging pensioners to stealing lead off church roofs, but even I was left shaking my head by this snippet told to me by a friend.

Apparently he was driving along in a rural location one morning and spotted an infant car seat by the side of the road with a blanket draped over it.

He didn’t stop but continued to mull over what he had seen and when he reached his destination called the police, who said they would check it out.

What made me sit up and pay attention was what police then revealed to the driver before they even set out to make that check.

They said: “There are several things to be aware of. Gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person - mostly women - to stop their vehicle and get out of the car.

“There is a gang initiation reported by some local police where gangs are placing a car seat by the road with a fake baby in it waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the abandoned baby.

“Note that the location of this car seat is usually beside a wooded or grassy field area and the person – woman – will be dragged into the woods, beaten and raped, and usually left for dead.

If it’s a man, they’re usually beaten and robbed and maybe left for dead too.

“Do not stop for any reason. Dial 999 and report what you saw, but don’t even slow down.”

This slightly stunned me but my friend was on a roll and added this second sobering snippet to it.

If you are driving at night and eggs are thrown at your windscreen then do not stop to check the car, do not operate the wipers and definitely do not spray any water because eggs mixed with water become milky and block a driver’s vision by more than 90 per cent.

This is apparently another new technique being used by gangs to force drivers to pull up only for the gang to pounce on them.

My friend was so concerned at what he had uncovered that he urged me to pass it on to my friends and relatives, so I’ve gone one better here.

Dorset Police confirmed that such incidents have yet to hit the county while local officers endorsed drivers being on their guard, not stopping and dialing 999 if such situations arise.

A quiet resting place on the bridge should do it

MOST of us have had to push our way into a shop but how about having to push your way out?

This particular “No Exit” tale involved the front of the WH Smith store in St Thomas Street, Weymouth.

Customers normally climb or descend a small set of steps to get in or out but they couldn’t on the day I witnessed this scene.

It must have been a very tiring day for the family group in question because all six of them were sat completely blocking the steps.

I’d been about to exit the store myself when I suddenly realised that the people in front of me were moving very slowly.

The reason for the delay became quickly obvious, but it was the reaction of the six sitters which took the biscuit because they became first exasperated and then annoyed at all these rude people pushing past them disturbing their throne.

And they weren’t bashful about it either with muttered swear words and little or no attempt to move out of people’s way.

Perhaps they could be found a quiet place to rest in the centre of Town Bridge. About 11.59.59am should do it!

THERE is a famous display notice joke that to err is human but to really foul something up you need a computer.

How true that was emerged at a recent council meeting in Weymouth when more than 30 people had to talk among themselves while a computer display glitch was sorted out.

An attempt had apparently been made to install more information so it would be available for use at the meeting. Instead the computer threw a fit and froze everything.

An expert was brought in to try and make what use of the facility was possible during the meeting but it proved heavy going and council staff sometimes had to hold up bits of paper with various information on them as it was occasionally impossible to display what was wanted.

Difficult to believe, isn’t it, that the first programmable computer was invented 75 years ago. It seems that the more intricate they get the more can go wrong with them.

MOTORISTS are notorious for pinching an extra bit of road to cut corners, but cyclists do it as well and how!

An elderly couple were descending into Westham underpass in Weymouth when the woman was scared by two boys on bikes cutting the corner right in front of her.

Another woman on a bike was nearby and remonstrated with them whereupon they gave her a mouthful of abuse and shot off.

Now they may have been young and they may just have been highly strung but, as Basil Fawlty would have said, "so they should be!"

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