Agencies making an impact

A MULTITUDE of agencies flooded Ipswich town centre today hoping to make an impact on crime, truancy and the environment.

Ipswich's seventh impact day began early with a briefing at the Rosary Conservative Club in Bramford Road.

Three teams were then deployed in the Bramford Road, Handford Road and Portman Road areas all with the aim of making Ipswich cleaner, safer and greener.

A fourth team, focusing on vehicle enforcement, spent the day stationed in Portman Road.

Denise Whiting, co-ordinator of community safety for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, led the briefing.

She said: “The teams are on the eye out for anything untoward.

“There are fire officers doing inspections on public premises like shops and there is a truancy sweep.”

Suffolk police's road policing unit, inspectors from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Immigration, Trading Standards and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs spent the morning in Portman Road car park.

Police officers combed the streets for light goods vehicles and brought them to the base where inspections were conducted on the mechanics and fuel.

Within the first hour of operations four vehicles had been stopped and two were issued with immediate prohibition notices.

One, a minibus, had a slash in a tyre and no working handbrake.

It was deemed unroadworthy and was immediately taken of the road.

One driver was also found to have no tax on his vehicle.

Don Beatty, senior vehicle examiner for VOSA, said: “We carry out mechanical inspections on the vehicles to see if they are in good operation.

“We check the darkness of the glass and exhaust emissions. We expect over the course of the day to make a handful of prohibitions.”

Community caretakers, Ipswich Borough Council's community safety officers and officers from Suffolk police were also out on the streets.