Reduction in recycling centre opening times

From 28^th October Gloucestershire County Council’s Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) will be closed one day mid-week, either on a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a Thursday.

As the evenings get colder and darker, the HRCs across the county receive almost 30 per cent less waste and recycling. In order to reflect this and save taxpayers money, HRCs will be open from 10am until 4pm, six days a week.

On Tuesdays, Fosse Cross (Cirencester) and Oak Quarry (Coleford) will be closed.

On Wednesdays, Pyke Quarry (Horsley near Stroud) and Wingmoor Farm (Bishops Cleeve) will be closed.

On Thursdays, Hempsted (Gloucester) will be closed.

The council collected data from recycling centres which showed that midweek is the quieter period at the sites. Importantly, the closure rota also means HRCs in the county will still be open on Bank Holiday Mondays and Good Friday, which are especially busy days at the sites. 

Residents will have a reasonable alternative recycling centre with this closure pattern, by closing sites at opposite sides of the county. The new opening arrangements and how the sites are used will be monitored.

The information on the closure days and new seasonal times are now online at www.recycleforgloucestershire.com .

Cyber criminals' extortion scam

Cyber criminals are attempting to blackmail unsuspecting victims by claiming to have used the victims' password to install spying malware on the victims' computer. The criminals claim they’ve recorded videos of the victim watching adult material by activating their webcam when they visit these websites. What makes this scam so convincing is that the email usually includes a genuine password the victim has used for one of their online accounts. We believe criminals obtain the passwords from data breaches.

What to do if you get one of these emails?

Don’t reply to the email, or be pressured into paying. The police advise that you do not pay criminals. Try flagging the email as spam/junk if you receive it multiple times. Perform a password reset as soon as possible on any accounts where you’ve used the password mentioned in the email. Always use a strong, separate password for important accounts, such as your email. Where available, enable two-factor authentication (2FA). Always install the latest software and app updates. Install, or enable, anti-virus software on your laptops and computers and keep it updated.
If you receive one of these emails, report it to Action Fraud’s phishing reporting tool. If you have received one of these emails and paid the ransom, report it to your local police force.

November Parish Council agenda published

The agenda for next Monday's Parish Council meeting (5th November) has now been published here.  The draft minutes of the October meeting are also on this website here.  Agendas and minutes of previous meetings are available on the Agendas and Minutes page.

Agendas and minutes are also posted on the Parish Council notice boards at the Village Hall and in the Persh Lane bus shelter.

Another attempted scam

This time they tried it on me!  I got this email:
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This email confirms the Amazon Prime subscription: #811-5695601-58635

Product Name: Amazon Prime

Order Number: 8056201

Receipt Date: 10/01/2018

Payment Method: Amazon Account

Membership Price: 179.00 GBP

The subscription period will automatically renew unless you turn it off no later than 24 hours before the end of the current period. To cancel auto-renewal or manage your subscriptions, click below and sign in.

If you did not initiate this purchase, we recommend that you go to:
Manage/Cancel Subscriptions
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It's not one of the most convincing I've seen.  The email address from which it supposedly came wasn't an Amazon one and I don't have a Prime account.  I wasn't tempted to click on the link - which is disabled in this post.

There is no obvious link on the Amazon website to allow for reporting a phishing scam such as this.

Watch out for these fake TV Licensing emails

Message Sent By
Action Fraud (Action Fraud, Administrator, National) 

We’ve seen a sharp increase in reports about fake TV Licensing emails claiming to offer refunds. 

The emails state that the refund cannot be processed due to “invalid account details”. 

The links provided in the emails lead to phishing websites designed to steal personal and financial details.

Always question unsolicited requests for your personal or financial information in case it’s a scam. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.
 

Royal Mail warns of postal scams

The Parish Council has received a warning from Royal Mail about attempted scams arriving through the post.  There's a poster about it here.  Scam mails are illegal and target the most vulnerable people in our community.

Royal Mail never knowingly delivers scam mail, but it can get through.  Mostly it originates from overseas - and it's hard to detect.  RM has stopped over 4 million pieces of scam mail at its distribution depots.

If you're concerned that you or someone you know has received a scam letter, please report it to Royal Mail:

Send it to FREEPOST SCAM MAIL
Call the Royal Mail Scam Mail Helpline on 0800 0113 466
Email scam@royalmail.com

Full fibre broadband coming soon.

Full fibre broadband should reach Maisemore before the end of the year, according to a spokesman for Gigaclear who attended the last Parish Council meeting.

Provision of the service to rural areas with very poor broadband speeds is part of a scheme funded by the government in conjunction with Gloucestershire County Council under the Fastershire banner.

Gigaclear were awarded the contract last year and have engaged local company Complete Utilities to carry out the work in Maisemore.  It will bring the fibre tp a 'pot' (point of termination) on or adjacent to the roadway near each property.  

There's more information at www.gigaclear.com, where you can also register your interest.

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Maisemore's oldest resident, Margaret Hamblin, reached the age of 100 last week and received the traditional letter from the Queen.

Her birthday was celebrated at the Maisemore Friendship Club and the event was attended by Radio Gloucestershire's Pete Wilson.

Margaret moved into her bungalow in the Rudge in the late 1950s and has lived there ever since.