Wisbech councillors discuss issues around speeding, drug-dealing and dangerous bike riders

Councillors acknowledged the efforts of the police - but are still asking for them to crack down on speeding and potential drug dealing.

During Monday evening's Wisbech Town Council meeting, councillors praised the work of officers but are still urging them to tackle crime in the area.

Cllr Peter Human said he would like to compliment the police for the work they have done recently with speed traps around Wisbech, particularly the “F1 track” on Churchill Road.

“I am also pleased to see that the DVL wheel clamps have slowly started to appear in Wisbech on Elm Road and Victoria Road, along with other places in the town, taking those cars off the road,” he said.

However, Cllr Human urged the police to do a speed check on Elm Road. He said: “We have three schools there – Thomas Clarkson, the junior school, and the nursery – and children are there all the time.

“Some of the cars and motorbikes going along that road are well in excess of the speed limits.

“I urge the police to put a speed check on there more than once to see what's going on.”

Cllr Nick Meekins suggested that decreasing the speed limit in the area near the schools would be a good idea.

Meanwhile, Cllr Samantha Hoy said she has noticed dirt bikes in Wisbech Park quite frequently at night time driving across the grass.

She said it is “frustrating when you have little kids playing, so perhaps the police can look into that”.

Cllr Hoy added that she is disappointed with the response of the police in the town.

She said: “A little bit of criticism, which I don't like to do, but they were called at about 6am on Saturday and did not come all day. It is very disappointing.”

Adding to her disappointment, she also acknowledged that officers did not originally put out any statements regarding the incident that happened at the Clarkson Surgery on June 20.

She said: “There was a video made on social media. There were definitely some lies told in his video because he said a nurse was hospitalised, which was not the case. However, we don't know if the rest of his story was true or not.

“So the police really should have – in my view, once he did that – put out a reactive statement as either he is not telling the truth or he is telling the truth, in which case we need to know either way.”

Fenland Police have since said that officers were called after reports of a fight where a man suffered serious injuries and was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.

It confirmed that a member of staff was assaulted.

Meanwhile, Cllr Steve Tierney said he received an email from a man who raised concerns after walking his friend's dog last Wednesday in Tillery Field Park when he saw a man on a bike giving a teenage girl what looked like a small packet of drugs.

He said he made “no attempt” to hide what he was doing.

He then said that, on Monday, he saw a man on an electric bike speeding faster than 30mph over the grass and pathways in Wisbech’s main park.”

The man reportedly told Cllr Tierney: “He seemed to have no regard for anybody walking, and if he had hit someone, he would have injured them, or probably killed them.”

Cllr Tierney added: “What this shows is that people are always seeing things around the town. People are often stopping me and saying, ‘There's a drug deal here, we think there is a drug deal going on there’, he said.

“We have told the police about this in the past, and they have always said to us, ‘We are working on it, but we are trying to get the bigger fish because the smaller fish get replaced straight away’.

“It has been going on for years and does not seem to be getting better.

“I would like to say to the police that we would really like to see them pick up some of the little fish, as it may put some of them off doing it.”