A bus operator has responded to concerns raised by Boroughbridge parents about a new service serving schoolchildren.

East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd, which trades as East Yorkshire Buses, this week took over the 22 service, which French-owned Transdev ran between Ripon and Boroughbridge.

The move, funded by North Yorkshire Council, means Boroughbridge High School pupils now have to use the 82 or 83.

However, parents claimed they were “not informed” about the change of operator and pupils’ pre-paid Transdev tickets were no longer valid.

The Stray Ferret put these concerns to East Yorkshire Buses. A spokesperson yesterday said:

“East Yorkshire Motor Services commenced operation of several public service routes on April 8, 2024, following a contract award from North Yorkshire Council. On our first day of operation of one of these services which calls into Boroughbridge High School, we became aware that some customers possessed period tickets issued by the previous operator which were yet to expire.

“To prioritise customer satisfaction and ensure a smooth transition, we took immediate action to accommodate these existing tickets for a grace period of one week. This decision was made to afford customers ample time to transition onto our service offerings seamlessly.”

Duncan Gray, whose granddaughter is a pupil at the school, told the Stray Ferret some children were “were initially refused to travel” with Transdev tickets, but after “protests from parents” they were permitted.

The spokesperson said in response:

“We have not been made aware of any reported instances where customers were denied travel due to possessing tickets from the previous operator. In fact, during the inaugural journey to Boroughbridge High School from Ripon, all such tickets were accepted without issue, as confirmed by our managing director who was present onboard.

“To further reinforce this commitment, a senior staff member was onboard the service this morning, and all legacy tickets were once again accepted without hesitation. We have also reiterated this message to our drivers and controllers to ensure that there are no issues.”

Another parent Tasha Newcombe, who also expressed concerns to the Stray Ferret following the change of operator, today said ticketing was “not the issue” now — instead the problem is “how late the bus is running”.

She added:

“On Tuesday they arrived at school at 9.30am as it was so late, and yesterday after school the children were waiting for 40 minutes to be picked up. It’s just ridiculous, some of these children, I believe year 7, have had exams this week which they have been late to.

“The timings really need sorting as this is going to impact on their education, and being late after school means missing clubs etc.”

Mr Gray reiterated Ms Newcombe’s concerns, adding his wife is driving their grandchildren to school this week as the bus has been “15 to 20 minutes late in the mornings”. He also said:

“The situation has to change otherwise the kids will be late every morning!”

East Yorkshire Buses said its priority was the “provision of reliable, efficient and customer-centric transport solutions”.

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Ripon Spa Surgery has responded to an announcement that a merger between GP practices in the city will move forward without it.

Last year, the NHS proposed merging the city’s Ripon Spa Surgery with North House Surgery and Park Street Surgery.

However, in an update sent to patients on Friday, partners at Park Street Surgery and Park Street said they will be moving forward with the merger but without Ripon Spa Surgery.

This was after they said it was found to be in after it was found to be in an “unexpectedly poor financial position” during the due diligence process.

The partners at Ripon Spa Surgery have now issued a joint statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that outlined their sadness at the decision.

They sought to reassure patients that the practice remains financially viable and said bosses are looking to make improvements in the coming months.

Dr Charles McEvoy, Dr Penny McEvoy, Dr Matt Mielcarek and managing partner Samantha Miles said:

“Due to the extremely difficult financial climate that general practice is facing, along with some specific challenges we have faced in the past couple of years, it will not be possible to bring our finances in line with the other practices in Ripon in time for the merger to proceed as planned.

“Although we still wanted to be part of the merger, it is with heavy hearts that we must acknowledge North House and Park Street’s decision not to proceed. This is truly sad and a huge disappointment for us, but we must emphasise that we remain financially viable as a business and will be working hard to improve the situation over the coming months.

“We are already discussing the way forward, both as a partnership and as a practice team, in order that we can continue to provide a service to our patients and safeguard the future of our practice for staff and patients alike.”

The merger between North House Surgery and Park Street Surgery will take place before October 2024. The new practice will be called Fountains Health.

The two practices will close for four afternoons over the next six months so staff can be brought together to prepare for the merger.

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Anyone who has driven around the Harrogate district recently will have noted the poor state of the roads, with a prolonged spell of wet weather making the pothole problem worse.

But there are now hopes the situation could finally improve for road users after the government announced that £1.3m previously allocated for the rail scheme HS2 will be spent resurfacing roads in the area including in Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Ripon.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of HS2 last year and pledged to use money intended for the scheme on improving transport in the north.

Today the Department for Transport has revealed which local authorities across Yorkshire will benefit from the latest tranche of funding for road resurfacing, which it says will result in £991 million in reallocated HS2 funding for the region.

Roads in the Harrogate district that will be resurfaced are below along with how much each set of works will cost:

• Park Row, Knaresborough £128,700.
• C262, Spofforth £111,540.
• Duck Hill, Ripon £130,000.
• Follifoot Lane, Spofforth £85,800.
• Green Lane, Harrogate £243,100.
• Kirkgate, Ripon £130,000.
• Lancaster Park Road, Harrogate £221,000.
• Roecliffe Lane, Boroughbridge £137,280.
• New Road, Sharow £143,000.
• Sharow Lane, Sharow £143,000.

Councils across Yorkshire will now be required to submit quarterly reports from June, announcing work which has taken place over three months.

The government says it means residents will be able to scrutinise the progress of the works as these reports will be published online.

Transport secretary Mark Harper said:

“We’re on the side of drivers, which is why this Government is getting on with delivering our plan to invest £991 million in Yorkshire and the Humber as part of the biggest-ever funding increase for local road improvements, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.

“Alongside this unprecedented funding, which is already being used to improve local roads, we’re making sure residents can hold their local authority to account and see for themselves how the investment will be spent to improve local roads for years to come.”

Meanwhile, it was announced last month that North Yorkshire Council will receive £3.5m from HS2 to put on extra buses across 20 different routes.

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Parents at Boroughbridge High School have expressed concern about the lack of information on changes to a Boroughbridge bus service.

Duncan Gray, whose granddaughter is a pupil at the school, contacted the Stray Ferret after the number 22, which formerly took students from Ripon to the school, ceased operating.

French-owned Transdev, which operated the route, has handed over the service to East Yorkshire Buses. According to East Yorkshire Buses’ website, the changeover has been funded by North Yorkshire Council, and pupils now must use the 82 or 83 to get to school.

The new service runs between Ripon bus station and York, via Boroughbridge and surrounding villages.

However, Mr Gray said parents were “not informed” about the change of operator and he added pupils’ Transdev tickets were no longer valid on the new service.

He said:

“The timetable has changed, meaning the kids arrive at school five minutes before start time. My granddaughter and dozens of other kids didn’t get to school until 9.30 today.

“There was no consultation on this transfer of service.”

Mr Gray also said pupils with Transdev tickets were initially refused to travel on the new service. However, after “protests from parents” the pupils were eventually permitted, he added.

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Another parent, Tasha Newcombe, also expressed concern about the short time pupils now have to catch the bus after school.

She told the Stray Ferret the changeover had been an “absolute shambles”, adding:

“I know that on pick-up in the afternoon the new bus gets there slightly earlier, meaning the children are now having to rush as soon as the end of the day bell goes.

“The [new] bus is smaller, so on the way home yesterday the kids were all stood up all the way back on country lanes.

“There were a lot of anxious children yesterday when they saw the new bus and were told their pre-bought tickets were not valid for the new bus.”

The Stray Ferret contacted Boroughbridge High School to ask about the new service, including whether the school was aware of the change, but it declined to comment.

We also approached Transdev and East Yorkshire Buses about the move, but neither firm replied by the time of publication.

The news comes after major changes to several Harrogate district buses were announced last week. However, the termination of the 22 was not included in the listed changes.

A Ripon man has pleaded guilty to damaging cars in the Bishopton area of the city this year.

Mohammad Ahmadi, 38, of Bishopton Place, faced three charges of criminal damage when he appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday last week.

He admitted smashing the wing mirror of a Kia Sorrento at Bishopton Place on February 15, causing £200 damage.

Ahmadi pleaded guilty causing £1,000 damage to a BMW at Bishopton Place on January 22 by keying the door and also admitted keying the door of a VW Polo on January 13, causing £1,000 damage, on Bellman Walk.

He will be sentenced at York Magistrates Court on May 3.

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A Ripon student is organising a fundraising concert in aid of paralysed Ripon Grammar student Alan Nowicki.

Daniel McClean, 17, is organising the event to take place next week.

In December, 15-year-old Alan had a life-changing accident that left him paralysed from the waist down. He fell from a pull-up bar in his bedroom and as he landed, hit his head on the hard floor.

Alan was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary where it was discovered he had suffered a spinal fracture resulting in a severe spinal cord injury. After 11 days and emergency surgery, he was transferred to Wakefield Pinderfields Hospital.

Alan’s mum, Kamila began a £20,000 fundraising campaign to fly her son to Poland for rehabilitation after she was quoted UK treatments at over £10,000 a week. The fundraiser is still live and has now reached over £23,000.

Kamila said:

“Most of it has been spent already on our nine-week rehab stay, flights, wheelchair and other rehabilitation equipment that I’ve bought for home use. I don’t have a top figure in mind really – every little helps.

“Alan is doing really well, he’s super strong and fit, positive thinking throughout. No change in terms of the paralysis but he has regained feeling further down on his tummy, so fingers crossed.”

Alan Nowicki at the Polish rehabilitation centre, Donum Corde.

Alan aims to get back to school to sit his GCSEs and begin A-levels. Before the accident he was in the RAF Air Cadets and aspires to be a pilot, a dream Daniel McClean shares.

Daniel said:

“When I heard what was happening and what we had in common it struck a special chord. For someone wanting to be a pilot it is potentially a career-ending injury.

“I don’t know Alan but when I read about his accident I couldn’t abide the thought that the help he needed wasn’t immediately being provided to him. It really struck me that I or anyone could be in that situation.”

Three student bands will take part in the concert. Mr McClean is a drummer in the band Yellow Number 5, which is among them. He told the Stray Ferret he aims to raise over £1,000 towards Alan’s treatment.

Daniel McClean’s band, Yellow Number 5

He said:

“I have spoken with Alan’s family and had confirmation that they are coming to the concert. They are very grateful we are doing this. I am also very grateful to Ripon Grammar for going out of their way to support me with this. This is definitely the biggest thing I have organised but everyone has been very supportive and at the end of the day it is about getting Alan the care he needs.”

The concert is among a number of fundraising events organised by members of the Ripon Grammar School community, including a home baked foods stall run by students and a non-uniform day where students paid £2 each to wear non-uniform.

The concert will take place April 18 from 7.30-10pm and is only open to students of Ripon Grammar School and their families. There is no ticket fee but volunteers will have donation buckets at the event. To donate online, click here.

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Plans to merge three Ripon doctors’ surgeries have been limited to two surgeries after it was revealed the third practice was in a “poor financial position”.

A proposed merger between North House Surgery, Park Street Surgery and Ripon Spa Surgery was scheduled to happen on July 1, 2024.

North House Surgery said at the time the move would improve patient care, safeguard healthcare in Ripon, enable patients to have a stronger voice and trigger economies of scale.

But a social media post signed by North House partners Dr Kate Dickinson, Dr Peter Johnson and Dr Hannah Thomas on Friday revealed only two of the surgeries — North House and Park Street — will now merge. They will become known as Fountains Health.

Spa Surgery will no longer be involved.

The post said:

“Unfortunately, during the due diligence process, Ripon Spa Surgery were found to be in an unexpectedly poor financial position. They have permitted us to share this sensitive piece of information. As a result of this situation North House and Park Street partners do not feel able to merge with Ripon Spa at this time and so they will no longer be involved in the merger process.

“This is hugely disappointing for all concerned as we have all been working closely on these plans for some time and everyone had been looking forward to working together as part of a larger combined team at Fountains Health. We still believe that a merger between North House Surgery and Park Street Surgery is a positive option for our practice, its patients and our staff.”

Ripon Spa Surgery

The merger has now been delayed until October this year due to the change in plans.

North Spa Surgery said:

“The proposed date to merge has been put back to October 2024 to allow us extra time to complete the work that is now needed to enable a smooth merger for both our patients and staff.

“To help us achieve this, there will be four afternoons over the next six months when the two practices will need to close so that staff can be brought together to complete this important work. During these times, patients will have access to the out of hours service. We will provide a further update to patients on the progress of the merger in the summer.”

No further details on what will happen to Spa Surgery patients were revealed in the post.

Park Street surgery, Ripon.

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A group of Harrogate and Ripon men linked to serious and organised crime have been jailed today (Monday, April 8) for a collective 25 years and 11 months.

The court heard how the following gang members were linked to an organised crime group who’d been involved in a dispute with a rival group.

• Rivers Lee Wilson, 23, of St Johns Walk, Bridlington, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and two months.
• William Fuller McMillan, 24, of HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and eight months.
• William Henley Davy, 20, of HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. He has been jailed for three years and six months.
• Philip Dean Wilson, 45, of Nora Avenue, Knaresborough, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. He has been jailed for 19 months.

Between Friday 6 and Monday January 9 2023,  North Yorkshire Police organised crime unit carried out an investigation into a suspected organised crime group that was active in the Harrogate district.

Image from footage captured during the arrest

According to a North Yorkshire Police media release today, police gathered intelligence suggesting a man had been kidnapped and held against his will.

It was established Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan were preparing to kidnap the victim and extort him for money, believing that he had a large amount of cash stashed in two addresses in Harrogate.

Information was obtained that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan were planning to use force against the victim. At the time Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan, Philip Wilson and two other gang members had located and taken the victim using force. William Davy visited the two addresses and recovered cash from where the victim had it stored.

Philip Wilson allowed his vehicle to be used to kidnap the victim and commit the offence.  Following the kidnap Philip Wilson arranged for the disposal of his vehicle to destroy any forensic evidence.

After recovering the cash, William Davy communicated the news with Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan and the victim was then released. Intelligence indicated that the amount of cash stolen from the victim was approximately £70,000.

The investigation found evidence to show that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan subsequently and unknowingly at the time had robbed a rival organised crime group from West Yorkshire.

Further intelligence led officers to believe that Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan and another gang member were arranging to source a sawn-off shotgun and live ammunition. They then jointly sourced the firearm and ammunition in order to cause fear to those who sought retribution having had their cash stolen by the gang.

The shotgun found by North Yorkshire Police

A police helicopter was deployed and used to track the gang as they were travelling with the firearm and live ammunition and believed they were getting their ‘crew’ together in readiness to confront the rival gang.

At this point, armed response officers actioned a hard stop of one of the vehicles and detained three members of the gang which included Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan and recovered both their vehicles.

Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan and another gang member were ordered to get out the vehicle at gun point and were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap.

Both Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan’s vehicles were forensically examined, and a long package was recovered in the back seat of Fuller McMillan’s vehicle. Examination of this package showed that it contained a sawn-off shotgun, with four live shotgun cartridges.

The shotgun was heavily wrapped in a bin bag and paper. In a further search, seven more shotgun cartridges were found wrapped in a balaclava within a boxing glove in the vehicle.

NPAS police helicopter footage

Detective constable Helen Quaife, of North Yorkshire Police’s serious and organised crime unit, said:

“We have seen nationally how the use of weapons used by feuding gang members can devastate families and communities. This type of crime will not be tolerated in North Yorkshire.

“The sawn-off shotgun was viable and along with its ammunition was intended to be used.

“This investigation was conducted meticulously with a large number of enquiries conducted dealing with witnesses, forensics, CCTV and specialist expert evidence. The sentences imposed on these gang members illustrates just how serious these offences are taken. I hope this will be a warning to others who think the use of weapons will be tolerated within our communities.  We will intervene, and people will be punished, to keep our communities safe.”

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