The total amount of fines paid Surrey County Council for repeated failures within its education service over the last two years is climbing towards £1m.
Fines have increased from £47,000 in 2020 to more than £500,000 last year.
The majority of fines relate to missed education or missed education support provisions.
The council says the system doesn’t work for families, schools or local authorities and has asked the government for additional funding, and urgent reform.
Two men have been sentenced for their roles in taking a vehicle and setting fire to it near London Gatwick Airport.
Edward Maunder, 37, and Michael Lyons, 28, were due to fly to Peru for charity work for their company.
The night before departure they met a driver of a vehicle from a meet and greet parking company in a bar in Crawley.
They mistakenly believed the driver was a drug dealer, and took the car as reparation when the driver told them he did not have drugs.
The vehicle, a Toyota Rav 4, had been handed to a meet and greet company by a holidaymaker days earlier.
Maunder and Lyons bought a jerry can of petrol, then left the vehicle ablaze below the monorail link between terminals.
The monorail had to be temporarily closed while the fire was put out and any structural damage was assessed.
They were both served with a postal requisition to attend court and were sentenced.
At Hove Crown Court on February 27, Maunder, formerly an office administration worker of Coniston Crescent, Thornton Clevelys, Lancashire, admitted arson.
Lyons, formerly an office clerk of Upper Chorlton Road, Manchester, also admitted arson and theft of a motor vehicle.
The court was told how the incident happened on October 16, 2023.
Lyons and Maunder had gone out to a bar in Crawley High Street the night before they were due to depart, October 15.
They met the driver from a meet and greet parking company who was driving a customer’s vehicle, the Toyota Rav 4.
The pair mistakenly believed the driver was a drug dealer and wanted to purchase drugs from him.
When he later refused, the men took the car in lieu of drugs in the early hours of October 16, leaving the driver behind.
They then drove the Toyota down an embankment off the A23 spur road and set it on fire.
Lyons was arrested on October 16 in a staff car park nearby at London Gatwick, in an intoxicated state, with the key to the Toyota still in his trouser pocket.
Maunder was later arrested in the South Terminal.
At initial interview Lyons claimed he had been handed the Toyota key by a woman in the bar over concerns that the company driver was intoxicated.
He denied driving the vehicle.
But Maunder recorded the night’s events on his mobile phone, showing them in the vehicle and driving it, and discussing how they would set it on fire.
CCTV footage showed them purchasing petrol in a jerry can after they had taken the vehicle.
Meanwhile Maunder also sent messages bragging about the night’s events, and claiming police would have no evidence to prosecute them.
When presented with the evidence at later interviews, both men provided no comment.
Detective Sergeant Ian Warncken said: “Maunder and Lyons’ behaviour was reckless and appalling.
“Their reasons for deciding to not only take the vehicle, but to set fire to it, are inexplicable.
“They risked causing serious harm to themselves and to the public, and risked disruption to the airport.
“This case demonstrated the professionalism of Gatwick officers and detectives to gather overwhelming evidence, which meant Maunder and Lyons had no choice but to plead guilty in court.
“The case also highlights the importance of vehicle owners to do their homework and check the reputation of vehicle meet and greet parking companies.”
Both men were sentenced to two-year suspended prison sentences and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.
They must also pay £3,000 each in compensation to the Toyota Rav 4 vehicle owner.
Maunder was disqualified from driving for 18 months, and ordered to complete 15 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) sessions, and he must also complete 120 days of alcohol abstinence.
Lyons was disqualified from driving for one year and was ordered to complete ten RAR sessions.
Image above from Tandridge District Council
Godstone residents and businesses affected by the sinkholes won’t have to pay council tax and business rates while they are unable to use their properties. Tandridge District Council has assured them they will not have to pay for the period they are impacted by the incident.
The Council is now able to lead the recovery with support from the Surrey Local Resilience Forum after the incident was reclassified as a significant incident rather than a major one. Leader of the Council, Catherine Sayer spoke to Susy Radio’s Neil Munday:
Further testing will take place next week before reconstruction plans can be developed for the High Street. Residents from six of the thirty properties who had to evacuate their homes in the early hours of last Tuesday morning, were allowed to return to their homes on Friday.
In other updates:
Photo credit: Neil Munday. Photo shows Godstone High Street.
The former Horsham Fire Station is to be sold by West Sussex County Council.
The building on Hurst Road, was closed in 2023, with a new fire station opening in Macfarlane Way.
The decision to sell was approved by Jeremy Hunt, cabinet member for finance & property, on 4 October.
A report from Andrew Edwards, assistant director (property and assets), said nine bids for the site have been received by the council.
