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Employees at a well known haulage firm are driving a hard bargain. The lorry drivers have walked out indefinitely in a long-standing dispute with their bosses Eddie Stobart. The company announced a reorganisation in September after it took over a supermarket distribution centre in Yorkshire, and which union members say threatens jobs. Eddie Stobart said its redundancy pay offer was “the best possible financial package”. The latest industrial action started just after midnight today (December 6, 2012). Contactless key fobs as well as smart cards are used to operate a time and money saving Tensor time and attendance system. All Tensor key fobs use the same well-proven and reliable RF (Radio Frequency) reading technology. This gives a consistent read range which is unaffected by most external conditions. The fobs have no battery, thus an almost infinite life, and can be read thousands number of times. They can be read in under half a second thus enabling factory or office staff to clock in quickly.

A man who helped launder more than £10 million that came from a bogus firm has gone on the run. Michael Voudouri was due to turn up at court to be sentenced last Friday, but failed to appear. He had granted bail despite having a previous conviction for VAT fraud. Voudouri was involved in a company that is said to have made millions by claiming back VAT on fake Europe-wide business transactions in a scam known as carousel fraud. A Visitor Management System (VMS) from Tensor will stop people with bogus ID from entering your premises. VMS allows Signature Capture Tablets to be connected to the system so that the signatures of visitors and contractors can be stored at the point of entry to your premises. This signature can be used for verification purposes or as proof that the visitor/contractor has read and understood the site’s security policies. These signatures can also be printed on to visitor's pass for added security.

Two bungling criminals sold a half-a-million pounds sundial for a fraction of its worth. The judge described their actions as “utterly selfish” after taking the item from the grounds of the Henry Moore Foundation. Judge Marie Catterson said the men, now jailed, stole the Sundial work of art overnight between July 10 and 11 and returned a few days later to steal the plinth of another piece. The damage they caused to the piece of artwork is estimated at £13,000. Implementing a Tensor Access System means you can control most standard types of internal and external electronic and magnetic door releases and devices at a building or its surrounding area. If a Tensor facial recognition system is added it will provide the ultimate in Access Control user authentication applications. Equipped with the most advanced digital signal processing (DSP) technology, it requires no external computer to operate. Near-infrared-based facial recognition technology also provides superior performance and accuracy over colour-based facial recognition.

Turkeys were rescued from a roasting – just in time for Christmas. The festive birds had this week been caught up in a fire which had begun in their barn home. About 100 gobblers were saved from the fire in the Forest of Dean. Firefighters also removed some gas cylinders from the barn which contained 50 tonnes of hay. The blaze is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in the outhouse and was extinguished within three hours. A Tensor security and attendance recording system can be fully equipped with fire roll call technology. For example, the T3510 is the ultimate Smart Card Access Control system which, when linked, can control up to 128 doors from one PC. It contains a Fire Roll Call from fire panel input. In a typical four-door access control arrangement a Smart Card is used to gain entry and a push button to exit. The break glass unlocks the door, from the inside, in an emergency.

Campaigners handed out cards to passengers at railway stations bearing a Christmas mocked-up message from ‘your train operator’. The sarcastic slogan read: “Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to us” set out in the style of a rail timetable. It was intended as a criticism of rail fare rises and planned cuts to services and staff. Transport unions say rail fares have gone up by more than 26 per cent – nearly three times as fast as wages – since 2008. Tensor is the leader in the field of PC-powered automated wages, clocking and payroll systems, working with all the major payroll packages such as Sage or Unipay. A Tensor WinTA Time and Attendance system has a wide range of configuration options to extract payroll information in exactly the correct format. It can share or receive information from third party applications by using readily available interface modules. Data transfers can occur either on demand or more usually as an automated process.

More and more primary schools in England are upping their performance in meeting government academic targets. The latest data shows that in 2012 some 521 schools fell below the expectation for maths and English, compared with 1,310 last year. Of those educational institutions identified as underperforming, 47 had now closed, while 37 had become academies, a government spokesman said. He added that: “Schools have responded to the challenge. The floor standards we introduced were tougher and have improved performance.” WinTA PC Clock from Tensor is a simple PC based booking system ideal for institutions such as schools where each pupil or employee has access to a PC. WinTA PC Clock will help schools improve their standards because it is an aid in ensuring correct attendance. PC Clock’s analysis module consists of a scaled-down version of the acclaimed Tensor WinTA Lite time and attendance software. As no clocking stations are required, PC Clock remains the best product on the market for small-scale attendance monitoring.

The police service is being asked to cut its budget by the Home Office, and one of its points is recommended starting salaries for constables in England and Wales to be reduced by £4,000. The Police Federation’s response to the BBC was: “How this is meant to fit in with the ambition of the Home Office to professionalise the police service and recruit the very best we do not understand.” The Home Office said Home Secretary Theresa May would consider these findings. Tensor makes budgeting at large or small organisations simpler with our Time & Attendance and Personnel systems. Our WinTA networked Time and Attendance system provides total control over working rules, salaries, job costing and shifts. With the quick use of a smart card or key fob, employees book time against their jobs to produce a fully costed analysis and break down of time spent on each one. Reports show jobs that are over budget or those approaching their budget limit.

Bank holiday pay is the sticking point over a strike that will take place on Boxing Day. Tube drivers will walk out on that festive day and 18 and 25 January. It will be the third successive December 26 walkout by Tube personnel, stemming from a dispute which dates back to a 20-year-old agreement. London Underground representative Howard Collins said: “London Underground has a long-standing agreement with all trade unions which covers working arrangements on bank holidays, including Boxing Day.” Tensor is simply the best at all-in-one Smart Card Time and Attendance recording. Labour hours analysis and hours calculation software easily sorts out overtime. Work patterns are a combination of daily rules that are either a repeating pattern of shifts or a list of alternative rules. Tensor’s system will predict the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee clocks on. Each type of pattern can be set up to override the normal pattern and use a specific shift on public holidays.

A school has been forced to shut until the New Year due to thieves causing damage estimated at £30,000. The Midlands based primary school suffered a midnight break-in. Lead from the roof and pipework were taken, which led to flooding in the school’s offices and some classrooms. “We were not left with any choice other than to shut the school while the repairs are carried out,” commented Loxdale School head teacher Trish Scott. If you are looking for a sensibly priced digital CCTV system, look no further than Tensor, the name you can trust. We provide cost effective evidence quality tailor-made CCTV surveillance systems. Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) bring affordable mass storage to a security surveillance system. They store HD footage and are easy to back up. No tapes are required that will clutter up your facility. User friendly DVRs are compatible with Tensor Access Control and Time & Attendance networks. Learn more about Tensor CCTV systems by clicking on this link.

The health service "is not Tesco", says the British Medical Association (BMA) over NHS proposals to increase weekend working for doctors and other staff. Bosses at the NHS want to emulate companies such as the leading supermarket as an example of around-the-clock working. In this situation operations could take place on a Saturday or Sunday. However the BMA objected to this example, and a spokeswoman said: "The health service is not Tesco, I don’t think that is a good comparison." A complete Smart Card Time and Attendance System from Tensor includes software including all the features to manage time and attendance recording for 50 up to 10,000 people. The comprehensive user-definable rosters and shifts in a Tensor WinTA network means you can create a wide range of daily working patterns (shifts) for your staff. An Exception view quickly identifies areas where the normal working pattern has not been followed.

Scapegoats are being sought over a toilet design, as one of its urinals is visible on the street. East Grinstead town councillors raised the issue of how a public toilet was allowed to be so badly designed. One of the councillors, Bob Mainstone, told the local Courier & Observer paper: “Someone should be saying they are guilty for the faults which amount to a total waste of money by the district council if it is going to have to redesign.” Tensor’s turnstiles fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems, while it is imperative to have a durable and reliable system. Tensor will provide you with just that, as our toilet turnstiles come with a two year warranty. Without compromising the safety of those who use the turnstile, speed and reliability are provided even during rush hour periods. For more information on a Tensor turnstile, barrier or gate network, please contact our sales team via this link.

Tensor was this week given accreditation by Constructionline, the UK’s largest register for pre-qualified building contractors and consultants. The advantage of being associated with Constructionline for suppliers to the construction industry is that Tensor no longer needs to repeatedly fill in standard pre-qualification forms for every tender. Tensor’s details have gone live on the Constructionline database and are now available to its registered buyers. There are 8,000 buyers already using the Constructionline database to source contractors and consultants, so Constructionline is another great tool for spreading the word on Tensor’s Access Control and Time and Attendance systems. It means we will not be jumping through the same vetting hoops at every tender – not a brilliant use of time and resources. As leading suppliers of Time & Attendance products, Tensor is only too aware of the need for companies to save time and money! Constructionline is a Public-Private Partnership between Capita and the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. For more on the way Constructionline helps suppliers and buyers, log on to http://www.constructionline.co.uk/static/