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Passengers waiting at a bus stop in Forest Gate got the shock of their lives when a BMW crashed just inches from where they stood.
Eyewitnesses told of their shock at the sight of the oncoming vehicle and recounted how one man had to run out of its path, writes JAMES GRAINGER in the Newham Recorder.
The incident happened in the middle of Katherine Road last Tuesday, in front of the new flats complex - previously the site of the old Trebor factory.
Bystanders said the car mounted the pavement and travelled briefly on only two wheels before hitting some railings and coming to a halt. The BMW 4x4 may have suffered a punctured tyre.
Two ambulance crews were despatched to the scene and the 41-year-old driver was treated for minor injuries.
The man was seen shaking his head as his car was towed away hours later after the BMW had been prised free from the railings.
Fortunately the railings and a solitary bollard were the only victims of the crash.
Newham Council has once again joined forces with the Metropolitan Police’s Volunteer Cadets in bringing to justice more traders caught selling prohibited goods to children, including a number in Forest Gate.
Stratford Magistrates handed out total fines and costs of £6,700, together with two six-month conditional discharges to 12 traders across the borough found guilty of selling alcohol or fireworks to children.
The Forest Gate traders caught selling alcohol to the young police cadets who posed as undercover test purchasers were:
Bharat Samji and Meeta Samji of Katherine Food & Wine, 521 Katherine Road, Forest Gate; and
Janice Bonsu of Somerfield, 67-73 Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate.
Councillor Ian Corbett, Mayoral Adviser for Anti-Social Behaviour, said, "Traders who think they can make a quick buck by selling dangerous goods to children should think again. We will not hesitate to bring them before the courts and press for the harshest penalties."
The school with the highest proportion of students gaining grades A* to C in Newham was St Angela's in Forest Gate, where 88 percent of pupils received five or more A* to C grades, an improvement of 6 percentage points on last year.
Overall, the number of Newham students achieving five or more top GCSE grades (A* through to C) rose by around four per cent from 46 per cent in 2003 to 50 per cent this year.
The most improved school in the borough was Sarah Bonnell, where results improved by 27 percentage points on last year's results - from 45 percent A*-C in 2003 to 72 per cent in 2004.
Cllr Graham Lane, Cabinet member for Education, said: "Education in Newham is going from strength to strength and we are delighted with the individual achievements today which are a credit to Newham. This is due to hard work by the students, support from parents and extremely effective teaching by our dedicated teaching force."
Cllr Lane praised the borough's teaching staff as "one of the most effective in the country".
Elsewhere in Forest Gate St Bonaventure's achieved a 'five A* to C' rate of 68.5 per cent; Stratford got 54.5; and Forest Gate scored with 48.4.
A Forest Gate catering assistant has been sentenced to a two year Rehabilitation Order for benefit fraud amounting to more than £13,000.
Kelly Rowley, 33, of Ham Park Road, Forest Gate, deliberately hid her work as a catering assistant while claiming benefits.
Rowley had been in receipt of Housing Benefit and Income Support since 1997 after telling the council that she was unemployed.
As a result of an anonymous tip off Newham’s Benefit Investigation Team and the Department for Work and Pensions launched a joint investigation in September 2003.
Investigators found that Rowley had been working since May 2001, a fact that would have affected her benefits.
The fraud lasted over two years and resulted in Rowley being overpaid nearly £10,978 in Income Support, £2,123 in Housing Benefit and £736 Council Tax Benefit. She will have to repay all monies.
Rowley appeared at Stratford Magistrates Court on August 12 2004, where she pleaded guilty to ten charges of making false representations contrary to the Social Security Act 1992.
Councillor Lester Hudson, Cabinet member for Finance, said: “Fraud will not be tolerated and we have no hesitation in prosecuting those we believe are responsible for it.”
A TODDLER fell to his death from a block of flats in Forest Gate on Sunday evening, according to a report in the Newham Recorder.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Ahmed Ali plunged three floors from his home in Katherine Road at around 9pm.
He was taken by ambulance to Newham General Hospital in Plaistow but pronounced dead on arrival.
Chief Insp Dave McKelvy, at Forest Gate Police Station, said: "We spoke to the mother initially on Sunday night.
"She went to stay with friends but left in the early hours of Monday. She was obviously distressed and went missing for a short time. We are now trying to help her deal with the whole thing, by supporting the family. We are also trying to find the child's father."
The officer said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.
"It looks on the face of it like a tragic accident. We await the result of the post mortem, but we are keeping an open mind at this stage," he added.
The post mortem was taking place yesterday at East Ham.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident to get in touch with them on (020) 7275 5794.
Pupils from St Angelas Ursuline Convent School in Forest Gate attended a week long residential course in Aberdeen last week. This major new initiative gave young people an unrivalled insight into the workings, challenges and opportunities facing the energy industry. Made in London, an organisation which gives support to manufacturing businesses across the Capital, arranged for 19 lucky pupils to attend Energy Challenge 2004, which aims to make young people aware of the damage fossil fuels do to the environment and the importance of renewable sources of energy to our future.
The Energy Challenge 2004 held at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen was organised by the Smallpeice Trust which is an independent UK based charity which promotes engineering to young people as a career. Made in London is a London based organisation which promotes and supports London’s manufacturing sector and arranged for the school to send pupils on the course for no charge.
Pupils were split up into teams and over the course of four days put to use their team building skills, presentation skills, working to tight timescales as well as applying mathematical knowledge, analysis, measurement and calculations. The teams had to generate electricity using wind and wave energy within fixed timescales and to a fixed budget.
Materials allowed were string, corrugated sheeting, duct tape, tubing, balsa wood, 6V motors and high density foam. Once the research had been carried out and the generators built the wind tunnel and wave machine in the engineering department at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen tested each to discover the one able to generate to greatest amount of power in the most efficient way.
It wasn’t all work however with bowling, visits to Shell’s virtual reality suite and the Maritime Museum and a formal dinner on the last night. Accompanying the pupils were teachers and parents and everyone had a fantastic time.
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