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Wednesday August 28 | 2019
Armed police in town centre searching for teenager ‘with imitation gun’
ATTRACTIVE SETTING: Tonbridge School and the town’s athletics club will host a star-studded ‘Twilight Invitational’ track and field meeting on Friday [August 30] – the first such event for more than three decades. Image by Pawel Bachorski. Turn to page 2
Three months of roadworks cause big problem for schools and shops By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk ROADWORKS that are scheduled to last 12 weeks – into the Christmas shopping period – should be postponed to a more convenient date, according to the local MP and the Leader of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. There has also been criticism of the plan from the town’s two representatives on Kent County Council [KCC] over the gas distribution company SGN’s failure to give sufficient notice of its intentions. The High Street will be closed outside Tonbridge School northbound between Bordyke and Portman Park from Monday September 9 until November 29 while SGN replaces a gas main. This will result in a diversion taking
traffic along the A227 Shipbourne Road, down The Ridgeway and onto the A26 Hadlow Road. However, this route is now under review after the plan to use The Ridgeway was criticised as unworkable.
‘The timing provides no respite from High Street works for residents’ The closure will have a heavy impact on the school run as the new term starts. The critics claim it will affect retailers in the run-up to the festive season too. It comes after the High Street was closed to southbound traffic for at least four weeks this month while a new bus stop was installed.
Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge & Malling, has joined with the Leader of the borough council, Nicolas Heslop, and the town’s two Kent County Councillors, Richard Long and Michael Payne, in urging SGN to carry out the works at a later date. Mr Tugendhat points out that the junction where The Ridgeway joins the A26 is narrow and on a steep incline, with a traffic island for pedestrians which prevents anything larger than a car from turning. He adds that the works have not been widely publicised with residents, schools, bus operators and businesses, with only a few councillors first made aware on August 19. Mr Tugendhat said: “I’m concerned at
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ARMED officers were seen at various locations around the centre of town last week. Police were searching for a teenage boy who was charged with possession of an imitation handgun and robbery. Officers were initially called to Golden Green on Wednesday August 21 at 5pm following a report of a robbery in the village near Tonbridge. The youth threatened two others with the weapon. Neither was seriously injured but one is reported to have had his watch stolen. The suspect and victims are believed to be known to each other.
Arrest An armed patrol attended the scene and carried out inquiries to locate the boy, but no arrests were made at the time. Searches later that day took the armed unit and a heavy police presence to Tonbridge railway station, the High Street and other central locations. The following day detectives arrested a 17-year-old boy from London. He was charged with two robberies, three a ttempted robberies, robbery with an imitation handgun and possession of counterfeit currency. The teenager was remanded in custody and was later bailed by Medway Magistrates’ Court to appear at Medway Youth Court yesterday [August 27].