08:24 Friday 1st April 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
PAUL STAINTON: Something is wrong on Priestgate. .. Brass plaques displaying the names of businesses in Priestgate have just disappeared into thin air. Our reporter Miss Kerry Devine has been down Priestgate to see what’s going on. She started by talking to Carol from Priestgate Business Centre. (TAPE)
CAROL: I came to work on Tuesday, and my tenant said to me, I don’t know if a lorry’s backed into the building, but the brass plaque outside the door is lifted up. So I went to look and somebody’s tried to prise the brass plaque with the 26, Priestgate on. It’s not very nice, is it? It’s ruined the plaque, and somebody’s going down the street stealing brass plaques.
PUBLIC ONE: It actually looks disgusting. I’m a history student anyway. It looks like somebody’s tried to lever it off with a crowbar, without any regard for the beauty of the building, and the beauty of the plaque itself.
PUBLIC TWO: Stealing plaques. They should concentrate on the source of the problem, which is why people steal.
KERRY DEVINE: What did you do after you found it?
CAROL: I phoned the police to report it to the police, to get an incident number. I phoned my boss, the owner of the business, to report it to him. And I was given a number at the Council to phone for the CCTV. And they got back to me today to say, it’s nothing to do with them, it was to do with the police.
KERRY DEVINE: We’ve put calls into the police, so hopefully you’ll be speaking to them this morning. So you’ve obviously tried to put it flush with the wall now.
CAROL: Yes. We got a piece of wood and hammered it back, to try to put it back, but it’s all scratched and rough and doesn’t look good. They’ll be back.
KERRY DEVINE: I’m just coming out of our building here, on the corner of Priestgate. And I’m going to have a little walk up the street to see how many plaques have actually gone. Straight away I have got one down. I think this is the Kidney Research building. That plaque’s gone. .. I’m stood outside another building, but I’m actually not sure what this company is, because their plaques have been stolen as well, both plaques on there have gone. They’ve been taken off seemingly with a screwdriver. I’m at the next building. It’s G M Towns and Partners Insurance Brokers, and their plaque has gone as well. Their plaque has been stolen. Yours is the last surviving plaque on the street.
CAROL: I think they’ll be back. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well, police say three plaques have been reported stolen on Priestgate. We counted seven though. And the police went on to say they’re investigating the incidents of them being tampered with or stolen on Priestgate. This kind of crime they say may appear victimless, but it’s not the case.
=============