Drivers going past Dial-a-Cab House early in June may have wondered why the glass on part of the door was replaced by a piece of board. The answer shames the police section of the 999 service and compounds stories being heard more regularly than ever regarding police not turning up etc.
   It was around 3.40am when DaC’s overnight security guard heard banging sounds.
   "At first I thought something was going on upstairs," he told Call Sign, "so I went around the building to have a look but saw nothing out of the ordinary. At that time it never occurred to me that the noise was coming from the Client’s Reception in East Road. I came back to my desk and then several minutes later heard yet another banging sound, but this time it sounded like it was coming from the front reception."
   The guard continued: "It would have been very dark in the front reception, so I used the remote CCTV camera and saw someone wearing a crash helmet trying to break in through the glass. I rang 999 but got no help, so I asked the call centre to get the police while I went round to see what

POLICE SHAMED AS DAC ARE BROKEN INTO…

the burglars were in the front
reception for around 5 minutes but
had spent around 10 minutes trying to break the glass. Yet the police – having had two calls already – didn’t arrive until 11am. The security guard added that the two villains actually failed to break the glass first time – when he heard the original bang – and went away to apparently get a heavier implement, then returned and eventually broke through. The guard phoned 999 yet again and was told the police had no one available to send.
   When the police finally arrived some 7 hours later, they checked for prints and took away the CCTV images of the break-in. With both miscreants wearing crash helmets, it seems the best chance of an arrest vanished when they failed to turn up at the time. Perhaps there were some more important speed traps to organise???

Alan Fisher

Good Food Guide Editor Elizabeth Carter told Call Sign:
   "Pied à Terre is a well deserved winner. It is a small but precise restaurant where enthusiasm for the food is universal. Shane Osborn’s cooking is inventive yet simple, care and attention to detail are second to none and there is nothing complacent about the smooth running operation."
   Elizabeth ended by saying: "The British public voted in their thousands for this award. We know from the feedback we receive throughout the year that people feel passionately about great local restaurants and this award is an opportunity to give them recognition."
   Pied à Terre, which is at 34 Charlotte Street, will feature in the 2009 edition of The Good Food Guide and competed with nine other regional UK winners for the Which / Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year award.
   The presentation took place at a ceremony on 17 June at the British Museum where Pied à Terre finished second nationally to Ramsons of Ramsbottom in Kent.