This one feels a bit like a local FOI request greatest hits!
We’ve got speeding, dog mess, bad cyclists, and stolen cars…
Zombie knives
From Tuesday (September 24), it became illegal to possess “zombie-style” knives and machetes in England and Wales. The number of recorded crimes that mentioned machetes, swords or zombie knives has almost doubled in five years, figures obtained using Freedom of Information requests indicate.
In 2023, these kinds of large, bladed weapons were mentioned in more than 14,000 crime logs, according to data from 32 police areas in England and Wales. Machetes alone make up almost 10,000 of these – double the number from five years earlier.
Drug dealing in hospital
This is an interesting follow-up – the police put out social media posts about drug dealing at Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, and Belfast Live followed up with an FOI asking for how many incidents there had been.
The issue is apparently ongoing as the BBC has now done a follow-up. Figures obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) show an increase in anti-social behaviour, including drug usage and drug dealing.
From January to August 2024, there were 22 reports of drug dealing in and around the hospital compared to five reports in the same period in the previous year.
The figures also showed 19 arrests were made in the first half of 2024 for at least one drug offence, such as possession or trafficking. But the FOI request notes state that due to the nature of gathering information, there could be more incidents that fall outside the method of data search.
Assaults on hospital staff
More than 600 assaults on staff at a hospital trust have been reported in recent years and peaked during the pandemic.
A Freedom of Information request by SuffolkNews revealed there have been 625 attacks on staff at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds since 2019.
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) recorded 130 assaults in 2019, 143 in 2020, 122 in 2021, 99 in 2022, 83 in 2023 and 48 so far this year.
Council house building
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Northampton Chronicle has provided a detailed breakdown of the number of council homes completed and available for occupancy from April 2021 to the present.
Over the past three years, Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), West Northants Council’s (WNC) housing arm, has delivered only 226 homes, falling well short of its annual target of 200 council homes.
Stolen cars
According to North Yorkshire Police, there have been more than 550 car thefts in the county over the last five years (2019-2023). The annual number of thefts has remained broadly similar each year. You can see the breakdown below.
The figures were released following a freedom of information request for a breakdown of the amount of cars stolen in the county. The response also detailed the make, model and colour of reported stolen cars.
The five most commonly stolen vehicle makes were:
- Ford – 82 (cars stolen)
- Land Rover – 71
- Vauxhall – 60
- Volkswagen – 51
- BMW – 44
Speeding
The Birmingham road where drivers are caught speeding most often has been named. Around 53 motorists are recorded speeding every week on a section of the busy A38 Bristol Road, making it the city’s speeding hotspot.
Latest speeding details were released by West Midlands Police following freedom of information requests. A total of 2,785 motorists were caught breaking the speed limit on Bristol Road, between Speedwell Road and Priory Road, in the year to April 2024 – with average speed cameras operating in both directions.
Illegal e-bikes
Across the UK, figures show 937 illegal e-bikes were seized in the year to 11 August – up from 511 in the previous 12 months, an 83% increase.
Among the forces with the largest year-on-year increases in e-bike seizures were Wiltshire Police (from 24 to 64), Police Scotland (from 60 to 233), Derbyshire Police (from four to 23), Northumbria Police (from 18 to 58) and South Wales Police (from 66 to 13
Dog mess
Again.
Fines for dog fouling have not been issued in Denbighshire since June 2023, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
Former councillor Paul Penlington made the FOI request to Denbighshire County Council, which revealed that, from January 2022 to June 2023, eight fines totalling £800 were issued.
But the council added in its response that no fines have been issued since its contract with an external agency, District Enforcement Ltd, came to an end in June 2023.
Train cleaning
The Piccadilly line is the tube line going the longest between cleans, an FOI has revealed. According to a Freedom of Information request to TfL, Piccadilly line trains only receive full-service cleans once every 43 days.
The cleanest of all of the Underground lines is the Jubilee line, with full-service cleans taking place once every 18 days. According to the Showers to You FoI, Central line trains are cleaned every 27 days, Bakerloo line and Northern line trains every 25 days and Metropolitan, Hammersmith and City, Circle and District lines every 28 days.
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