The Clitheroe


Thursday, September 9thi 2004 No. 6,165 news and views from the Centre of the Kingdom


vertiser an imes '


PC’s comments leave young mum in tears


by Andrew Bellard


A CLITHEROE mother has told how she was reduced to tears by a policeman who told her she must not love her chil­


dren. Julie Jeffries revealed how the


officer’s comments came after she was stopped driving with her daughters aged 10 and two in the front seat and neither of them was wearing a seat belt. But she said the officer's inter­


vention came just moments after her youngest daughter, Casey, had an “accident” in her car seat and at a time when she was doing every­ thing possible to sort the situation. “I couldn’t stop because there


were cars parked either side of the road, but had slowed to less than 20 m.p.h. while my elder daughter,


.Louise, and I tried to get Casey strapped in again,” said Mrs Jef­ fries. “The officer was totally unsym­


pathetic and I was mortified when he accused me of not loving my children. I went home and cried. I was upset for days. “I wouldn’t have spoken to a dog


the way he spoke to me and I don’t think it is for a police officer to comment in that way. He had no right to say what he did and it left me heartbroken,


“I love my children very dearly


and would never do anything to deliberately put them at risk,” she


added. Jeffries (32), of Hayhurst Street,


pleaded guilty to failing to wear a seat belt, driving with a child under 14 in a front seat without a seat belt and using a vehicle in a way that caused danger of injury. She was fined £100 with £35 costs. Mr Tom Snape (prosecuting) said PC Paul Travis stopped Jef­


fries driving in Brownlow Street. He said there was a child seat in the


rear of the car and that when she was stopped Jeffries said; “I know it's dangerous.” In a letter read to the court Jef­


fries said she had explained to the officer that when they had set out everyone had been correctly wear­ ing seat belts. Casey had wet her child seat and climbed out of her restraints and into the front. Her elder daughter, Louise, had undone her seat belt to try to get Casey on to a booster seat that was also in the back of the car and Jeffries had imdone her belt to help. “I couldn’t find a safe place to


park and all this was explained to PC Travis but he seemed not to be listening,” she said. “He also accused me of not lov­


ing my children, which deeply upset me.”


FAMILY NOTlOES i . PAGES B ■


www.clitheroetoday.co.uk Price 55p


Jobs to go in closure plan


A COMPANY which makes Arab headshawls could close its Clitheroe site by the end of the


year. Lappet Manufacturing Co. Ltd has


announced that it is proposing to shut its hem­ ming factory in Lowergate. The factory has 37 employees, but in a bid


to reduce the number of redundancies the pos­ sibility of transferring some staff to Lappet’s weaving factory at Calder Vale, near Garstang, is being explored. Over the past eight years the Clitheroe fac­


tory has seen its workforce gradually decline from more than 100 as Lappet increasingly transferred its hemming work overseas to cut costs in response to competition from Far Eastern products. Lappet managing director Mr Bob Quick


said: “We very much regret having to announce the proposed closure of the Clitheroe factory. “Unfortunately a position has now been


reached whereby the volume of output of the factory makes it economically unsustainable, with no prospect in the foreseeable future of even maintaining existing production levels.” He continued: “We have been under great


pressure to reduce production costs following the significant wecdcening of the US dollar at the end of last year. “It is proposed that any work which cannot


be moved abroad will be taken on by our sis­ ter company in Paisley, Scotland. Before any final deciaons are made, we shall consult our employees and unions on this issue.” The future of the Clitheroe branch will be


decided at the end of a 30-day consultation period which started on Thursday.


TALENTED Clilheroe singer Jonny Lloyd competed against the best in a VIP boy band final held in London. Find out how he fared by turning to page 3.


■■ PAGES 8,9 ■ VILLAGE NEWS... PAGES 13,14,15


H O W A R T H & . J E P S O N Tiiulitfoiutl and conltrmporary fim /umisKings


Mo„..Frt9.m-5p„ S.. 10.™-4pm W«U., b, . p p o « • A . / /— S y . . ■ P~Jle Mill, tod l. Road. C llterc T.l.phon. 01200 425522


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33