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Friday 16th September, 2005

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REVEALED: HOW GANGS GRAB PEDS

STOLEN mopeds worth more than £2,000 can easily be bought on the borough’s streets for less than £100, a New Journal investigation has revealed.
An organised crime ring using builders’ vans is cruising Camden, stealing up to 40 mopeds a month and selling them on to drug dealers.
As a police clampdown on moped-riding troublemakers in Regent’s Park and Somers Town entered its fourth week without any arrests, stolen bikes were offered to reporters by a gang of older, professional thieves and teenagers working the streets of Kentish Town.

AL FRESCO CAFES FACE ‘CHAIR TAX’

CONTINENTAL style al fresco dining in Islington is under threat from a plan to charge £40 a year for every chair placed on the pavement.
Small café owners fear the proposals could signal the death knell of the borough’s open air café culture, with only big business being able to afford the new rates.
The charges are being introduced as part of a new licensing scheme with the aim of removing obstacles and “making the pavements more people friendly”.
The Islington Tribune spoke to café owners from across the borough, from Archway to Exmouth Market, and all were agreed the proposals would cripple business.

CITY HALL FACES £50M BLACKHOLE

CITY Hall is facing a massive cash hole as a landmark block of flats is set to be sold for tens of millions of pounds less then expected.
It is understood that as much as £50 million could have been knocked off the price of the Dolphin Square block following protracted negotiations between Westminster Council and Westbook, the American pension fund.
Contracts were exchanged between the council and the company this week but some details still need to be sorted out.
But the council hopes that the figure would have been in the region of £220 million have proved to be too high.

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