Friday news niblets

THAME based commercial vehicle manufacturer, Kubota, has recently delivered a vehicle specially designed for fighting rural crime, to Thames Valley Police – the first force in the country to use this rugged all-terrain vehicle.

A Kubota vehicle very similar to that delivered to Thames Valley Police, pictured taking part in the recent Thame carnival (Image edited to resemble TVP livery – just for fun!)

The high-performance Kubota RTVX900, which costs about £10,000, is designed to transport officers to areas that were previously impossible to access.

AFTER an arson attack gutted its headquarters in Crowmarch back in January, Oxfordshire District Council will be moving to its new HQ at Milton Park, Milton, near Abingdon.

For more information about the new location and how to get there, visit the website: LINK HERE

THAME Town Council is to consider reversing a decision taken by the previous administration to end monthly drop-in sessions for the public to talk to councillors about any problems or querries. Cllr Mary Stiles, who suggested the change, is to meet with the Town Clerk to come up with a format and rota for councillors.

AFTER some discussion about the format and who should be included in the formation of a Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Group, Thame Town Council has allocated the task of coming up with an acceptable balance of town councillors, Residents’ groups and others to be included in what will be a monitoring group, to make sure the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan are followed through and adhered to.

Cllrs Mike Dyer and Bob Austin are to work with Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, to come up with a suitable Terms of Reference and potential sources of membership, to take back to the full council. The town council will have the final say on what comes out of the group.

FRAUDSTERS are targeting classified advertisement websites like AutoTrader to advertise vehicles for sale. Buyers are then contacting these ‘sellers’ to find out more about the vehicles and are being told to pay for them via ‘Apple Pay’. In this case the fraudsters are not using the genuine Apple Pay service and potential victims pay money directly to bank accounts in control of the fraudsters. Individuals receive emails claiming to be from Apple Pay with a web link to a cloned website with false terms and conditions of the ‘escrow’ service. Any money remitted to the fraudsters is then unrecoverable and the vehicles are not delivered.

To protect yourself, always meet sellers face to face.