Kingsway Villagers

I would like to make the Kingsway community aware that reports of a rogue trader have come to our attention in recent weeks. A few people have mentioned about someone taking their computer away for repair and later returning and telling them it can’t be repaired. Some of these people have in my opinion been conned into selling the item for a few pounds. After hearing about the faults with one person’s laptop it is clear this was an easy fix and would not have cost much at all to rectify. One person was told that her Nintendo DS was not repairable and this was never returned to her. I am sure this is theft even if it is a broken item.

This kind of behaviour is damaging to the community and for local businesses trying to provide a legitimate service.

I would like to urge people to ask to see proof of qualifications before allowing anyone to attempt any repairs on your electronic devices. I would also like to tell the residents of Kingsway and the surrounding areas that even if their item cannot be fixed it still remains their property and they are entitled to it back in the same condition as it was when taken away.  Search for a second opinion. This kind of thing was happening all the time in my previous location.

The people of Kingsway need to know that rogue traders are everywhere. In this present financial climate we all want to save money but the three people I have spoken to have lost their laptops and had to replace them at a cost much more than a repair would have been. Don’t throw it away along with your hard earned cash. Also faulty laptops and computers make good money when sold online so even if it is broken consider selling it yourself online before accepting a few pounds for it.

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who may have suffered regarding this con.

I moved to Kingsway almost four years ago living in Marham Drive. I had a lovely view looking over the largest pond in Marham Drive and a Great view of Robinswood Hill and the surrounding hills and valleys. A lot of that view has now been replaced by recent building and new homes. I didn’t mind this too much as it was expected and I knew there would be homes there sometime.

I now wake up today only to see that some bright spark has decided to cut down all the trees and hedging that provided a lovely screen between Marham Drive and Tuffley. I now have a beautiful line of sight right into other peoples back gardens and windows with their broken down sheds and dirty greenhouses. I am sure the people living in these houses would rather we couldn’t look into their homes too.

Who is responsible for this scarring of the local area? Why have trees been planted around the pond only to cut twice as many down a few months later. I don’t mind a road linking Kingsway with Tuffley but did we really want this ugly view into all of the back gardens belonging to our neighbours. I am very disappointed. Now when I look out of my window and see that the once tranquil natural view has been replaced with old sheds and messy back gardens I would rather just close my curtains again.

I would like to extend my thanks to whoever decided to do this. At least now we will be able to see the Tuffley residents that have huge street arguments during the early hours of the morning instead of just hearing them. Yet another very poor decision taken by the powers that be. I knew trees lose their leaves at this time of year but for whole trees to disappear that’s just wrong.

Recently the local police and the Neighbourhood Watch in our area have been reporting – believe it or not: Thefts of catalytic converters from parked cars and vans!

It comes as no surprise that this has happened what with the price of precious metal nowadays. Many people don’t realise that a catalytic converter uses platinum rhodium and palladium inside the unit to filter the gases the car produces. All of these are precious metals and worth quite a bit in the scrap metal market.

Now I am not a mechanic but I do work in the electronics industry and know that gold is used on circuit boards because of its good conductive properties. I recently found out that one ton of gold ore on average will produce one gram of gold. Where one ton of mobile phones will produce five grams of gold. So it is easy to see why so many companies are offering just pence for your old mobile. They know which ones contain the most gold so it is not based on the value of the phone but the value of the gold it contains.

The recent thefts of catalytic converters have hit the local news and will surely give the criminals in Gloucester ideas. I would like this posted here on the Kingsway Villager’s site for all to see so we can be on our guard. Cars in Kingsway have recently been hit by vandalism (please see broken mirrors post by aleksuu), and some have been broken into with things being stolen, but it seems now things are being stolen from underneath our cars too. I would also like to add that the recent theft from a car in Marham Drive where a handbag was taken. If the person responsible reads this please note you may have been caught dumping the handbag on CCTV when it was discovered nothing of value was inside; you made the mistake of dumping it in full view of our cameras.

Thieves operating in Kingsway are being watched and will be caught I’m sure.

For residents living in Marham Drive, you can contact our neighbourhood watch representative Debbie Lailey at e-mail: marhamdrive@hotmail.co.uk  to report or find out about law breakers in our area. I am sure Debbie won’t mind me placing these details on here.

MS PC Repairs would like to also state that law breakers will not be tolerated and will be reported to the Police and any suspicious behaviour caught on our cameras will be forwarded to the appropriate organisations. We are sure all residents living in Kingsway will feel the same and we should all be vigilant and keep an eye out for each other making Kingsway a no crime place to live.

We are looking for old broken laptops and other computer systems to recycle for good causes and to stop the unnecessary dumping of recyclable computer parts.
Many broken computers and laptops etc can be fixed or used to fix others. So why are we just throwing them in the skip? After seeing what happens to our electronic and electrical waste we have decided to try to reduce this by sending out notices like this one to the local community. It seems to make sense that instead of letting your computer get crushed, buried or shipped abroad, why not make it into a donor to fix other computers for others to benefit from, and maybe make some cash in the process?

It was recently highlighted that a lot of our electronic waste ends up in other countries being sifted through by children at great danger to themselves. MS PC Repairs would like to offer an alternative to just dumping your laptop or desktop computer and could also give you cash for your item, (depending on condition).

We offer free collection of your unwanted computer, we also could give you cash for your item, and we could even repair your item and return it to you for a very good price. Saving the landfill and the possible chance that it doesn’t end up on a tip somewhere cutting into a childs feet as they sift through some of Britain’s waste. Also now that it will cost you money to have these items collected by the Council why not see if you can make money and have it collected?

We live in a wasteful society and we at MS PC Repairs and Servicing believe that old saying: “One person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure.”

Any items that can be repaired will end up being used again by someone who can’t afford to buy a new top of the range computer like students people on benefits and the elderly or disabled. Of course policing who ends up with a refurbished item will be done to ensure only the truly needy will benefit.

MS PC Repairs & Servicing – Located in Kingsway.

So why not get in touch? mspc-repairs@talktalk.net

Please has anyone got any spare paving slabs that they want to get rid of or sell?

The slabs we are looking for are the sandy coloured ones used all over Kingsway. They measure 60cm x 60cm.

We have looked in various garden centres but can’t find the same type to match our existing slabs.

We are hoping to extend our patio but don’t want mis-matched slabs.

Please if you can help post on here or please contact on
email: mspc-repairs@talktalk.net

I read with interest and also confusion regarding anti social behaviour in Kingsway. It seems we all know about it, we all have suggestions on how to deal with it; sadly some of us have experienced it – myself included – but no one has actually dealt with it.

Anti-social behaviour is a very tricky subject and great care should be used when placing blame on people regardless of how they pay for their home. I do wish to make a point though as it seems HA residents tend to get a lot of the blame.

I am HA myself and can honestly say it was a private rented family that caused me distress in the first few months of me living here back in 2008, to the extent that I was going to move and at first thought moving from the village of Randwick to live here was a huge mistake. I am happy here now but this neighbourhood divide still bothers me.

Firstly I would like to point out that all Housing Association tenants are bound by a strict tenancy agreement and do run the risk of eviction if they are anti social. This is made even more of a threat with the proposed plans set out by Housing Minister Grant Shapps on the 11th of January this year… see link.
I do find that most HA residents are very well behaved and cause no problems to other residents because of this fact.

I know that an awful lot of homes in Kingsway are indeed private but not actually lived in by the owners and instead rented out privately. The agreements these tenants have to enter into differ greatly and with most of this being handled by lettings agencies and not the owner themselves, I wonder what stops these people from behaving in an anti social manner. This added with the fact that most of these properties are let on a six-month basis, what stops them from behaving badly in the knowledge that this is not their house and they might not be here long anyway?

I just wanted to point this out and tip the balance a bit in favour of all the decent HA residents. Private renters have no real reason to behave and the threat of eviction is not a real threat to them. They don’t own the house so they tend not to care about how it looks or how they behave. Some of the scruffiest homes in Kingsway are in fact private rented and not Housing Association.

Regardless of how the house is paid for taking pride in how your home looks and the way you conduct yourself is down to the individuals who live there. If you only have six months short term assured tenancy what exactly stops you from behaving in an anti social manner?

Finally private home owners must have been made aware that they would be sharing this little part of the world with people who prefer to rent rather than buy. I run my own business and could if I wanted buy my home. My confusion is merely why do HA tenants get the raw deal, who gives them the bad name and is it just private owners extending there ownership of their homes to the rest of Kingsway?

Kingsway is not a private village and it seems that most of the anti social parking is being committed by private homeowners who believe they have this right because they pay a mortgage. Well hey guess what we pay for our homes too you know, only the bank doesn’t own it, a Housing Association does.