Chris Woodhead, who has motor neurone disease, praises ‘dignified’ Swiss Dignitas facility Chris Woodhead, the former head of Ofsted, is considering ending his life at Dignitas , the Swiss assisted-suicide clinic. Woodhead, who was head of the schools’ inspectorate between 1994 and 2000, was diagnosed with motor neurone (MND) disease five years ago and uses a wheelchair. The disease gradually destroys the nerves that control muscles for moving, speaking, swallowing and breathing. Despite his poor health, Woodhead remains one of the UK’s most controversial education commentators. He told the Times Educational Supplement (TES) that a BBC documentary about Dignitas, aired in June, showed that those who ended their lives there did so in a “dignified” way. “I thought it wasn’t a bad way to go,” he said. The programme – Choosing to Die – was presented by the author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer’s disease. It showed Peter Smedley, a British hotelier with MND, ending his life. “It was very dignified,” Woodhead said. “His wife was there and they sat on the sofa together. It was 30 seconds or so, and he was coughing a bit and he looked in some discomfort, but I thought it wasn’t a bad way to go.” The former teacher and Oxford University lecturer said that if he waited too long, he might be unable to swallow the pill used by the clinic. “It is an issue for me, an incredibly difficult issue, in fact, as to what point in time you decide you’ve had enough and you kill yourself,” he said. “The decision cannot be entirely your own: Christine, my wife, Tamsin, my daughter, maybe even my granddaughter, the oldest one – they’ve all got views. If it weren’t for them, I might already have said I’d had enough.” Woodhead said politicians would never “have the balls” to legitimise assisted dying in England. “They’ve decided that there could be a badger cull – maybe they could agree, too, that there should be a cull of the terminally ill.” In the last five years of his parents’ lives, he began to wonder why they could not “just hold hands together and go”, he said. “They became increasingly irascible as they became increasingly desperate about their plight. “Their experience, and my experience watching them, and my experience now, makes me feel that there are no persuasive arguments against [assisted dying].” In 2009, Woodhead said he would be more likely to “drive myself in a wheelchair off a cliff in Cornwall than go to Dignitas and speak to a bearded social worker about my future”. He is renowned for attacking teaching unions and for castigating progressive teaching methods and continues to rage against them. Woodhead told the TES that teaching unions were a “huge negative influence on the public perception of the profession”. He added: “They’re not prepared to acknowledge that anything is wrong, that any changes are necessary.” Woodhead once claimed there were 15,000 “incompetent” teachers and that he was paid to “challenge mediocrity, failure and complacency”. He resigned in 2000. More than 1,000 people have travelled to Dignitas to end their lives. Assisted suicide Motor neurone disease Health & wellbeing Ofsted Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Chris Woodhead, who has motor neurone disease, praises ‘dignified’ Swiss Dignitas facility Chris Woodhead, the former head of Ofsted, is considering ending his life at Dignitas , the Swiss assisted-suicide clinic. Woodhead, who was head of the schools’ inspectorate between 1994 and 2000, was diagnosed with motor neurone (MND) disease five years ago and uses a wheelchair. The disease gradually destroys the nerves that control muscles for moving, speaking, swallowing and breathing. Despite his poor health, Woodhead remains one of the UK’s most controversial education commentators. He told the Times Educational Supplement (TES) that a BBC documentary about Dignitas, aired in June, showed that those who ended their lives there did so in a “dignified” way. “I thought it wasn’t a bad way to go,” he said. The programme – Choosing to Die – was presented by the author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer’s disease. It showed Peter Smedley, a British hotelier with MND, ending his life. “It was very dignified,” Woodhead said. “His wife was there and they sat on the sofa together. It was 30 seconds or so, and he was coughing a bit and he looked in some discomfort, but I thought it wasn’t a bad way to go.” The former teacher and Oxford University lecturer said that if he waited too long, he might be unable to swallow the pill used by the clinic. “It is an issue for me, an incredibly difficult issue, in fact, as to what point in time you decide you’ve had enough and you kill yourself,” he said. “The decision cannot be entirely your own: Christine, my wife, Tamsin, my daughter, maybe even my granddaughter, the oldest one – they’ve all got views. If it weren’t for them, I might already have said I’d had enough.” Woodhead said politicians would never “have the balls” to legitimise assisted dying in England. “They’ve decided that there could be a badger cull – maybe they could agree, too, that there should be a cull of the terminally ill.” In the last five years of his parents’ lives, he began to wonder why they could not “just hold hands together and go”, he said. “They became increasingly irascible as they became increasingly desperate about their plight. “Their experience, and my experience watching them, and my experience now, makes me feel that there are no persuasive arguments against [assisted dying].” In 2009, Woodhead said he would be more likely to “drive myself in a wheelchair off a cliff in Cornwall than go to Dignitas and speak to a bearded social worker about my future”. He is renowned for attacking teaching unions and for castigating progressive teaching methods and continues to rage against them. Woodhead told the TES that teaching unions were a “huge negative influence on the public perception of the profession”. He added: “They’re not prepared to acknowledge that anything is wrong, that any changes are necessary.” Woodhead once claimed there were 15,000 “incompetent” teachers and that he was paid to “challenge mediocrity, failure and complacency”. He resigned in 2000. More than 1,000 people have travelled to Dignitas to end their lives. Assisted suicide Motor neurone disease Health & wellbeing Ofsted Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Copper thefts from railways escalating out of control, warns union leader
September 30, 2011 No Comment
Bob Crow calls on rail train companies to get a grip, as Essex commuters suffer delays The problem of cable theft on the railway network is “out of control”, a union leader warned as passengers suffered fresh delays during the Friday morning rush hour. Services run by c2c between Essex and London were hit after a theft at Rainham, the latest in a spate of incidents in recent months causing huge disruption to train services across the country. Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said rail firms were partly to blame. “The problem of cable theft on the railways is escalating out of control. If a chunk of the excessive profits of the train companies was invested in visible staffing, track patrols and security, we could get a grip on this criminal disruption to rail services.” Alan Pacey, assistant chief constable of the British transport police, said the threat to railway infrastructure was unlikely to recede because of the scale of demand for copper. The price of copper has more than doubled since 2009 to more than £5,000 a tonne. “The need for copper, particularly in some of the growing economies like China, is going to mean that there is always going to be demand. External analysis predicts the price staying high or increasing so we know we have a challenge,” said Pacey. According to one rail industry estimate, copper theft costs the UK economy £770m a year. Pacey echoed the rail industry’s call for a crackdown on rogue scrap metal merchants who process stolen copper with no questions asked. “The core issue is new legislation around scrap metal dealers and the metal recycling industry, particularly around better licensing and better identification of who is bringing the metal in.” Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s director of operations, said: “Nothing has changed since the 1964 Act. Scrap metal is still a cash business. We believe that the quickest way round this is to make scrap metal a business that is properly accounted and documented.” He added: “We have written to ministers to try and get this legislation changed. We have got to stop the supply chain working in some way. Our view is: regulate the scrap merchants, make them worry about receiving stolen copper, and we will choke off demand.” Gisby said copper wire was being stripped off rail lines in clinical, well-rehearsed operations. “It goes in a container to Hull docks, goes to China, we [inadvertently] buy it back and then it’s back on the railway again.” Network Rail has deployed cameras and listening devices along the most theft-blighted track sections to head off metal thieves but it cannot cover every inch of a 20,000-mile network. “This is quick, organised and mechanised stuff and over 20,000 miles it is not easy to stop.” Gisby urged tighter legislation and tougher sentences for handling stolen copper because of the damage caused to the economy by severe rail delays. “The view is ‘slap on the wrist, don’t do it again’ even though it crucifies the railway. It is hard to get across to magistrates that the consequences of this crime are not just £200 worth of copper.” Network Rail has seen the copper theft phenomenon spread from former mining areas in the north-east and Nottinghamshire to London, with commuters on South West Trains and the Stansted Express services among those suffering severe disruption. Rail transport Transport Network Rail Crime Commodities Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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Sheikh Raed Salah was held unlawfully after entering the UK despite being banned, the high court rules A Palestinian activist detained on the orders of the home secretary, Theresa May, was held unlawfully and is entitled to compensation, the high court has ruled. The decision is the latest embarrassment for the government over the case of Sheikh Raed Salah, 52, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who entered the country despite being banned. Since his arrival on 25 June, it has emerged that no one informed him he was prohibited from coming to Britain and that a Heathrow immigration officer who scanned his passport ignored a live alert to exclude him. Three days after entering the UK he was detained at his west London hotel, handcuffed and taken to Paddington Green police station. He had been due to address a series of public meetings, including one at the Houses of Parliament. The home secretary subsequently served a deportation notice on him, on the grounds that his presence in the UK was “not conducive to the public good”. Salah challenged his removal and obtained bail in July. He is appealing against the decision to deport him in separate proceedings before an immigration tribunal which continues next week. In the judgment released on Friday, Mr Justice Nicol found for Salah on one of three grounds that his detention was unlawful. He rejected his claim on two other grounds. Any compensation is likely to be small since it only covers a period of two days until the time when the Palestinian preacher was finally informed correctly why he was being detained. The judgment says immigration officers who detained him failed to ensure information was translated and failed to include the necessary details. Earlier this week, it emerged that senior officials at the UK Border Agency had opposed the home secretary’s decision to deport the Palestinian, warning that the evidence against him was disputed, open to legal challenge and the case “very finely balanced”. Salah had sought damages for illegal detention, arguing in an earlier hearing that he had been “confined without lawful authority” and subjected to what was essentially “false imprisonment”. Neil Sheldon, appearing for the home secretary, had argued that she had acted reasonably and was legally entitled to order Salah’s detention pending deportation. A review of his case by the chief inspector of constabulary also revealed that overseas consular staff were not monitoring Home Office immigration alerts seven days a week. The inquiry report by Sir Denis O’Connor found “insufficiently robust processes” led to UK Border Agency staff at home and abroad, missing six separate chances to intervene overseas, at departure to, and on arrival in, Britain. The chief inspector even recommends that a criminal offence be created of an excluded person “knowingly travelling to the UK in contravention of an exclusion order”. The incident was highly embarrassing for the home secretary as the Palestinian activist was the first high-profile case under her policy of broadening the definition of “non-violent extremists” who encourage terrorism that she pledged to take pre-emptive action against. Salah is the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and has been imprisoned for funding Hamas and leading a violent demonstration. When the order banning him from entering the UK was issued, MPs were told the decision followed allegations of antisemitism and fundamentalist activities. Palestinian territories Theresa May Immigration and asylum Middle East Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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Scientists hope to overcome tabloid anger after US trial suggests clubbers’ drug can bring dramatic improvements for PTSD sufferers Doctors are planning the first clinical trial of ecstasy in the UK, to see whether the clubbers’ drug can be beneficial in helping the traumatised survivors of child abuse, rape and war. Ecstasy and some other illegal drugs, such as LSD and psilocybin (magic mushrooms), are potentially useful in treating people with serious psychological disturbance who cannot begin to face up to their own distress, some psychiatrists and therapists believe. But because of the public fear and tabloid anger generated around illegal drugs, scientists say they find it almost impossible to explore their potential. Professor David Nutt, the psychopharmacologist who used to head the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he fell out with the Labour home secretary over the classification of ecstasy as a class A drug, said: “I feel quite strongly that many drugs with therapeutic potential have been denied to patients and researchers because of the drugs regulation. “The drugs have been made illegal in a vain attempt to stop kids using them, but people haven’t thought about the negative consequences.” Nutt and the Taunton-based psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa are two of the British scientists who hope to repeat an experiment on patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) undertaken in the US which, although small, was dramatically successful and has caused some in the scientific community to think what was until recently unthinkable. It involved 20 people who had been in therapy and on pills for an average of 19 years. Twelve were given MDMA – short for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the chemical compound found, often adulterated, in ecstasy tablets. The rest had placebo pills but were later also given the chance to take MDMA. Each one had a therapy session, lying back in a reclining chair in a pleasant flower-decorated room in South Carolina, wearing an eyemask. Sometimes they listened to music on headphones and sometimes they were encouraged to talk to the therapist – all the while thinking about the events that had caused them such profound distress that they had been unable to revisit them in previous psychotherapy sessions. The response rate was a remarkable 83% – 10 out of the 12 showed lasting, significant improvement two months after the second of two MDMA therapy sessions. That compared with 25% of those on placebo. There were no serious side-effects and no long-term problems. “I expected that it was going to be effective,” said Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist who ran the study and carried out the psychotherapy with his wife, Ann. “I suppose we wouldn’t have done it otherwise. But I didn’t necessarily expect we’d find such statistical significance in that number [of people]. That was the icing on the cake.” The flood of servicemen and women returning with PTSD from Afghanistan and Iraq is attracting special attention to this study in the US. Only one of the 20 was a veteran, while the rest had suffered childhood sexual abuse, rape or other kinds of assault, said Mithoefer. His next study will be on veterans alone. Nutt believes MDMA could be invaluable. PTSD, he said, “is an extraordinarily disabling condition and we don’t have any really effective treatments. In order to deal with trauma, you have to be able to re-engage with the memory and then deal with it. For many people, as soon as the memory comes into consciousness, so does the fear and disgust.” Mithoefer said the participants did not appear to have joined the trial in hopes of some sort of high. “I don’t think that was much of a factor at all. Some people were referred by their therapist and had never taken any drugs and were quite anxious about the whole thing and for them it was a last resort. “Interestingly, several people said after their session: ‘I don’t know why they call this ecstasy’ – because it was not an ecstatic experience. They were revisiting the trauma. It was very difficult and painful work, but the ecstasy gave them the feeling they could do it.” People talked of getting past a barrier. One said: “I feel like I’m walking in a place I’ve needed to go for so long and just didn’t know how to get there. “I feel like I know myself better than I ever have before. Now I know I’m a normal person. I’ve been through some bad stuff, but … those are things have happened to me, not who I am … This is me. The medicine helps but this is in me.” Another said: “I have respect for my emotions now (rather than fear of them). What’s most comforting is knowing now I can handle difficult feelings without being overwhelmed. I realise feeling the fear and anger is not nearly as big a deal as I thought it would be.” Sessa said he hoped to recreate the study in the UK but “with an added twist – lots of neuro-imaging”. The only brain scans that have been done are of recreational ecstasy users, whose drugs may be contaminated and who have probably taken other substances too. The death in 1995 of Leah Betts after taking ecstasy, from drinking too much water in response to a campaign warning ravers of the danger of dehydration, had prevented rational debate or scientific advance. MDMA, he said, “is not about dancing around nightclubs – it’s a really useful psychiatric drug”. Nutt said it made him quite angry that MDMA and LSD had been banned before any doctor could establish their potential benefit. LSD was being tried in terminal cancer. “When I started in medicine in 1969 they were starting to see some interesting data in the use of LSD to help people make sense of dying. I don’t think it is fair that because a drug is misused it should be banned from use in medicine. Heroin has been around for a hundred years so although it is illegal for street use, at least we have got that.” Leading the movement to get MDMA licensed for medical use is Rick Doblin, the founder in 1986 in the US of Maps, the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which backed Mithoefer’s trial. “I think the chances of getting a licence are excellent. We have demonstrated an excellent level of safety. It’s worked. It’s necessary,” he said. “It is probably going to take 10 years and $10m to do it.” Doblin, whose organisation relies on philanthropic donors, has no idea where that money will come from. Nutt and Sessa, whose proposed trial in the UK would boost the chances of MDMA entering the (locked) psychiatric drug cabinet, are waiting for a response to their modest grant application from one of the UK’s leading medical research funders. Sessa is optimistic; battle-scarred Nutt less so. Ecstasy will for ever be controversial. “If we get the study funded and into the public domain,” says Nutt, “the Daily Mail will try to have it banned.” Drugs Drugs Health Drugs policy David Nutt Science policy Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk
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Prosecutor in Meredith Kercher murder appeal reminds court Knox and Raffaele Sollecito would risk lethal injection in US The prosecution has wound up its case against Amanda Knox by saying that “fortunately” she and her Italian former boyfriend could not be executed for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. It was a reminder that, in her US home state of Washington, Knox would risk lethal injection or even the gallows if her appeal were rejected. Last week, the prosecution asked for the sentences passed on Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to be increased to life. “They killed [Kercher] for nothing,” said prosecution counsel Manuela Comodi. “But they killed her. And it is for that reason they should be found guilty and given the maximum sentence which, fortunately, in Italy is not the death sentence.” The tangled case, which has fascinated amateur detectives the world over, is due to end on Monday. In line with Italian court practice, each of the parties has a final chance to sway the two professional and six lay judges who will decide. Comodi was speaking after her colleague Giuliano Mignini, who oversaw the original investigation, made an emotional speech in which he claimed, as evidence of the appellants’ guilt, their reaction to gruesome images of the murder scene shown in court. “At the trial, Amanda never looked at them. Never. Raffaele looked every so often with one eye – icy, expressionless. Here … Amanda had her eyes cast down. Raffaele looked away,” said Mignini. “These are little things that are important.” He went on to tell the court the Knox family had spent a million dollars on their campaign to establish her innocence. And, to the visible astonishment of defence lawyers, he ended by quoting a US tourist in Perugia, who had apparently said: “They are guilty – but will get away with it.” The defence argument is that a third person, Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast, who has been convicted of the murder, killed Kercher on his own during a break-in. Mignini described him as a “poor black man” having earlier, pointedly, referred to the appellants as being “of good families”. The prosecution argued the defence had yet to explain two points: evidence that a broken window in the flat Knox shared with Kercher could not have been smashed by an intruder because the shutters were closed, and footprints in the bathroom that could not have been Guede’s. Comodi said they were Sollecito’s, adding: “They didn’t belong to Martians.” Amanda Knox Meredith Kercher Italy Europe United States John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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Former News of the World senior reporter breaks silence, saying he ‘took no part in the matter which led to his dismissal’ Neville Thurlbeck, the former News of the World chief reporter, has sensationally broken his silence on the phone-hacking scandal, saying he “took no part in the matter which led to his dismissal”. In his first public statement since he was arrested and bailed for alleged phone hacking in April, Thurlbeck said the “truth will out” and “those responsible will eventually be revealed”. In a clear shot across his former employer’s bows, Thurlbeck claimed there was “much I could have said publicly to the detriment of News Interntional”, but had so far chosen “not to do so”. Thurlbeck had applied for “interim relief” at an employment tribunal hearing scheduled to be heard on Friday but pulled out late on Thursday. His solicitor Nathan Donaldson, employment partner at DWF, also issued a statement on Friday confirming that Thurlbeck was continuing his action against News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the News of the World, “for unfair dismissal and whistleblowing”. The Guardian revealed more than two years ago the existence of a “for Neville” email – believed to be a reference to Thurlbeck – sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, which contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor. The “for Neville” email contradicted the defence that News International had maintained until late 2010, that phone-hacking was limited to Mulcaire and one “rogue reporter” on the News of the World, former royal editor Clive Goodman. Both were jailed in early 2007 for phone-hacking offences. Thurlbeck was due to attend an “interim relief hearing” about his unfair dismissal claim on Friday, but withdrew because the “issues to be determined by the employment tribunal will require key individuals within the News Group Newspapers being cross-examined”. His solicitors added that “unfortunately” Friday’s hearing was limited to “a review of papers” and because of this “procedural limitation” Thurlbeck and his legal team decided to withdraw. They wanted to ensure the benefits of a full hearing where “complete disclosure” from the parties would be made. The 49-year-old former chief reporter at the News of the World was sacked by Rupert Murdoch’s News International earlier this month, prompting him to sue his former employer for unfair dismissal. “Scotland Yard has now made me aware of the reason for my dismissal, a reason which News International has withheld from me for almost a month,” Thurlbeck said, in a statement issued by his solicitors that shows he is fighting back against his former employer. “For legal reasons, I am unable to go into the reason cited. However, I will say this. I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal after 21 years of service,” he added. “I say this most emphatically and with certainty and confidence that the allegation which led to my dismissal will eventually be shown to be false. And those responsible for the action, for which I have been unfairly dismissed, will eventually be revealed.” Thurlbeck also claimed that for more than two years, News International had accepted he was not responsible for the matter in question and there was “no valid or reliable evidence now to support their sudden volte face. At the length, truth will out.” Thurlbeck also said he would “fight my case to the end” and accused News International of “giving ‘off the record’ briefings” to the press. “This has compelled me to speak for the first time since my name became linked to the phone hacking scandal through the ‘For Neville’ email more than two years ago,” he said. “I would request that
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UK broadcasters told to be more careful about showing sexually explicit music videos before the 9pm watershed Ofcom has ordered UK broadcasters to be more careful about showing sexually explicit music videos before the 9pm watershed. The regulator issued new guidance on Friday, focusing on the visual as well as the verbal content of some music videos in a bid to tighten the enforcement of existing watershed rules. Broadcasters have been told to take particular care masking or editing offensive language where possible, in order to protect children. The new guidelines follow recent scrutiny by the regulator into pre-watershed programmes that it judged to be either unsuitable or close to unsuitable for children. Ofcom’s move also follows the publication of a government-backed report in the summer by Mothers’ Union chief executive, Reg Bailey, which called for tighter control of sexualised imagery including raunchy music videos. It also follows the controversy over last December’s The X Factor final, which attracted 4,500 complaints to Ofcom due to its raunchy performances by Rihanna and Christina Aguilera. Ofcom’s warning to broadcasters was accompanied by new research involving more than 1,000 parents and primary carers which showed that 11% of parents found music videos the greatest cause of concern regarding the kind of programmes shown before the watershed. Other types of programme that most concerned parents were soaps (14% of respondents) and films (14%) followed by reality programmes (12%). However, the research indicated that 58% of parents and primary carers surveyed were not concerned by what their children had watched on television before 9pm in the past 12 months. Less than a quarter – 24% – said they were “fairly concerned”, although 9% said they were “very concerned”. Just under a quarter (23%) of the 768 teenagers surveyed said that in the past 12 months they had seen something on TV before the watershed that had made them uncomfortable or had offended them. Earlier this week Ofcom upheld complaints against the music channel Greatest Hits TV for showing a quarter-hour segment of videos by the US rap star 50 Cent at 9am. The watchdog upheld a series of complaints about the scenes depicted in the videoes which included “dancing with two topless female performers in a sexualised manner” in the music video for the song P.I.M.P, as well as images of two females being walked like dogs with leashes. The video for the song I Like the Way She Do It contained the lyrics: “It never enough she like it rough. We keep it going and we switch positions, listen”. Another video for the song If I Can’t contained the words “pussies”,”nigger”,”motherfucker” and “fuck”. Ofcom ruled the screening was a “clear breach of broadcasting code” and put licence holders Mushroom TV “on notice” following the incident. This year has seen an increase in efforts to curb the broadcast of raunchy pop videos at times when children were watching. Following the Bailey report, prime minister David Cameron called for a Downing Street summit of retailers, advertisers, broadcasters, magazine editors, video games and music industry chiefs and regulators to gauge progress over issues including the exposure of children to sexualised imagery, which is due to take place in October. The summit is still due to take place according to Ofcom, but it is unclear if Cameron will accede to calls in Bailey’s report for legislation in 18 months if demands for tighter voluntary controls are not implemented. •
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Car appears to be same one left on top of Mount Snowdon on 3 September A 4×4 vehicle has been abandoned near the summit of Mount Snowdon in north Wales for the second time in a month. The Vauxhall Frontera is neatly parked next to the visitors’ centre at the highest peak in England and Wales. National park bosses, police, mountain rescue teams and the Snowdon Mountain Railway Company are working out the best way to get the vehicle down. It is thought that the vehicle is the same one that was left on the mountain on 3 September. Then the car was loaded on to a truck and taken down the mountain on the railway. Following that incident, the alleged owner of the vehicle, Craig Williams, 39, was arrested and is due in court charged with dangerous driving next week. But the 4×4 reappeared next to the £8m visitor centre Hafod Eryri on Thursday morning. Witnesses have said the car had a sign placed in the windscreen that claimed it was to be sold on an internet auction site in aid of the local mountain rescue teams. Ian Henderson, secretary of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said: “Even if it is auctioned for the charity we could not accept the donation as this the result of an illegal act. “Clearly we are unhappy that a car was driven up Snowdon and it presents all the authorities and those who care about the mountain with a very serious problem — how to remove it safely. “Snowdon is a mountain for all of us to enjoy and it is not a playground for motorists.” Snowdonia National Park Authority chief executive, Aneurin Phillips, said: “This irresponsible behaviour is totally unacceptable and I urge the police to prosecute the offender and impound and dispose of the vehicle.” A spokesman for the park said removing the vehicle this time would be even trickier. It had been parked next to the railway line last time, making it relatively easy to load on to a truck. This time it has been driven higher across steep, rocky ground. Getting it back down to the railway is likely to be even more difficult and dangerous. Park officials are particularly angry because the good weather means that the mountain is particularly busy. Snowdon stands at 1,085m (3,560 feet). In Welsh, Snowdon used to be called Yr Wyddfa Fawr (the Great Tomb or the Great Throne) or Carnedd y Cawr (the Cairn of the Giant). Nowadays it is simply called Yr Wyddfa. Wales Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Car appears to be same one left on top of Mount Snowdon on 3 September A 4×4 vehicle has been abandoned near the summit of Mount Snowdon in north Wales for the second time in a month. The Vauxhall Frontera is neatly parked next to the visitors’ centre at the highest peak in England and Wales. National park bosses, police, mountain rescue teams and the Snowdon Mountain Railway Company are working out the best way to get the vehicle down. It is thought that the vehicle is the same one that was left on the mountain on 3 September. Then the car was loaded on to a truck and taken down the mountain on the railway. Following that incident, the alleged owner of the vehicle, Craig Williams, 39, was arrested and is due in court charged with dangerous driving next week. But the 4×4 reappeared next to the £8m visitor centre Hafod Eryri on Thursday morning. Witnesses have said the car had a sign placed in the windscreen that claimed it was to be sold on an internet auction site in aid of the local mountain rescue teams. Ian Henderson, secretary of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said: “Even if it is auctioned for the charity we could not accept the donation as this the result of an illegal act. “Clearly we are unhappy that a car was driven up Snowdon and it presents all the authorities and those who care about the mountain with a very serious problem — how to remove it safely. “Snowdon is a mountain for all of us to enjoy and it is not a playground for motorists.” Snowdonia National Park Authority chief executive, Aneurin Phillips, said: “This irresponsible behaviour is totally unacceptable and I urge the police to prosecute the offender and impound and dispose of the vehicle.” A spokesman for the park said removing the vehicle this time would be even trickier. It had been parked next to the railway line last time, making it relatively easy to load on to a truck. This time it has been driven higher across steep, rocky ground. Getting it back down to the railway is likely to be even more difficult and dangerous. Park officials are particularly angry because the good weather means that the mountain is particularly busy. Snowdon stands at 1,085m (3,560 feet). In Welsh, Snowdon used to be called Yr Wyddfa Fawr (the Great Tomb or the Great Throne) or Carnedd y Cawr (the Cairn of the Giant). Nowadays it is simply called Yr Wyddfa. Wales Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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