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A council wants to end funding for nearly half of its 247 public conveniences to save about £1.2 million. The majority of the WC facilities run by Cornwall Council will be forced to close unless town or parish councils take over the funding. One of the objectors, chairman Kim Wonnacott of St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council, said: “People in the parish feel they are already paying for public toilets in their Cornwall Council rates so it's a case of double charging.” Tensor’s versatile gate, barrier and turnstile access control technology can be applied to toilets. The coin operated versions are suited to controlling access in toilets for a nominal fee, which in turn will help the WC facilities to survive. When absolute entrance or exit security is required, full height turnstiles are the perfect solution. Ideal in unmanned locations, they provide maximum security together with a strong visual deterrent. Tensor's full height turnstiles are tamper-resistant and weatherproof ensuring they can last in even the most unforgiving of environments.  

Research gleaned from 16 UK police forces suggests crime goes up in the winter when the clocks go back. British Summer Time this year closed on Sunday and the clocks reverted one hour. Using figures from those police authorities, insurance company Aviva found burglaries rose by 26 per cent in the week surrounding October 2010’s clock change compared with the weekly average for the rest of that year. Therefore it is time to invest in a crime-busting Tensor Digital CCTV system for a site or office. Our technology works extremely well as a standalone system, and can also be fully integrated with any previously installed Tensor access control or visitor monitoring equipment. Compared to analogue CCTV, a far greater number of digital CCTV cameras can be connected to your network and viewed, all through a single PC monitor. You are not restricted to the type of camera you wish to install as the CCTV software is able to support all cameras within our product range.  

At the same time as it plans to save £670 million the BBC has defended the £1m-plus pay packet it gives its top stars. Conservative MP Damian Collins called for the BBC to justify the large amounts “when every pound they spend is being scrutinised”. A spokesman for the BBC responded: “We never discuss talent pay or talent negotiation.” The broadcaster has published an anonymous list of how many of its employees are paid more than £500,000 in a move to defuse criticism. Tensor supply advanced time and attendance and payroll systems like WinTAnet which cover all major hours calculation methods. Therefore tricky issues such as sorting staff pay when overtime, night shifts, holidays and bonuses are involved present no problem. Additional features are available with WinTAnet which take into account diversity with working rules between different organisations. The Shift Premiums function means complex payment schemes can be used, based on factors such as the time of working to the grade of employee.  

More than 100 jobs face the axe at a naan bread factory. The site’s owner, Allied Bakeries, has issued staff with a 90-day notice of redundancy, saying the cause is “fierce competition” in the bakery market. General manager of Patak's breads Martin Brewis said the planned shutdown early next year of the factory in Cumbernauld (Scotland), was "a very difficult decision". Allied Bakeries said it had not ruled out alternative plans for the plant. Tensor can help companies make efficiency savings with our time and attendance systems that offer swift throughput even at peak times. Contactless smart cards are used to operate your time and attendance systems. Our most popular smart card is the T1305, which is thin and flexible enough to be carried in your wallet. There is no battery, thus cards can be read an infinite number of times. Each smart card reader transmits a 125 KHz frequency field (the electromagnetic field), which is picked up by an aerial in the smart card.  

An attempted robbery on a shop was thwarted by a snatch raid in reverse. This time shop worker Rasaratnam Rahulan grabbed what he thought was a weapon that was threatening him in the Sunderland premises. Mr Rahulan said: “I didn't want to give him the money. I didn't think about my safety, I'm just like that, I follow my instincts and thought I could get the gun off him.” In fact the ‘gun’ was a fake. Tensor can install for businesses a T3512 one door entry Smart Card Access Control system including a T3511 controller and WinACnet PC software. Door control plus Movement Monitoring is just one example of a T3512 configuration. The T3511 is so versatile it can use passive infrared sensors (PIR’s) and the WinACnet software to create a register of date and time stamped movement transactions recorded by the PC. This feature shows when and where movement in an area has taken place, and can trigger the alarm if required.

Police have promoted the Be A Nice Guy (BANG) campaign aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour over this year’s Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night period. Deputy Chief Constable of North Wales Police Ian Shannon said: “We wish for everyone to have a safe and happy Hallowe’en, but would like to remind people to have fun responsibly rather than disturbing others.” Their advice includes not knocking on doors where a ‘No Trick or Treat’ sign is visible. You can ensure a quiet crime-free Hallowe’en for your premises with Tensor’s access control and barrier devices. Tensor’s gates, barriers, and turnstiles fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems giving you full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around your site. Car park barriers are the number one solution for controlling vehicle access to your site's road entry points. Immediately able to recognise and allow or deny access to personnel, the highly adaptable range of automatic barriers from Tensor caters for all sizes of premises.

Daylight Saving Time starts at 2am on Sunday (October 30, 2011). Business will have to adjust their clocks and other systems like their PC networks or clocking regimes which rely on telling the correct time. Also, the EU Working Time Directive provides a complex set of employment rules and regulations that govern the number of hours an employee can work, and ultimately dictates the way all companies within the EU must operate. Tensor supplies time and attendance .NET systems that are the best available at handling all clocking recording methods. Tensor WinTA Lite, WinTA Enterprise, WinTA Access Enterprise, WinTA 16, WinTA CS or Tensor.NET systems will all need their Daylight Saving Time information changed, as this will affect the time shown on your Smart Card clocking stations. The changes are easily done – however, for those who require personal advice, the Tensor Helpdesk is easily contactable by telephone, fax, email or via this link. Helpdesk support is free to customers with current maintenance contracts.  

BBC flagship programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing are threatened with severe disruption if strike action goes ahead. Unions announced on Tuesday (October 25) they are to ballot thousands of BBC staff over job losses. The corporation has had discussions with the likes of the National Union of Journalists since announcing 2,000 jobs cuts earlier this month. The result of the vote is not expected until November 24; therefore any action is likely to be scheduled for December. The time and attendance software for Tensor clocking and payroll systems deals with all manner of working rules and pay bands. Your company’s payroll department can create a wide range of daily working patterns (shifts), with either fixed or flexitime rules. These can run past midnight, making night shifts simple to define. Standard reports in Tensor WinTA include: Weekly Clock Card, Payroll Summary, Absence Summary, Exceptions, Job Booking and Working Time Directive Compliance. Using the Auto Clockout function, employees can be automatically clocked out at a certain time.

Police warned thieves about putting the price of metal ahead of their safety when trying to steal metal from electrical or telephone cables. Officers in Kent have made eight arrests in a fortnight as police confirmed metal theft was becoming a serious issue in the county. Supt Adrian Futers reminded criminals that many cables were live. He said: “Due to the increasing price of metal in the world markets, we are aware that this is becoming a serious issue in Kent.” Beginning with the control of a single door, a Tensor Access Control system can expand upwards to create a large access control network covering a single building or multiple sites. Alternatively, Tensor’s system can remain small granting access to predefined secure areas of your premises. The security system includes real-time monitoring of doors left open, diagrammatically illustrated on an overlay plan of your actual site. In addition, it comes complete with advanced fail-safe features enabling your system to operate even during power failure or in an emergency situation.  

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that taxis are being used to ferry defendants to court by a security company. The prisoners have been going to trial via this unusual mode of transport because the system used by the firm Serco to arrange pick-up and drop-off points failed. Serco, which is paid £42 million per year by the Government to do the job, thus had to rely upon cab drivers around its patch of south and east England. Tensor can supply Visitor Control and Monitoring or Prison Pass software and systems to both private companies and jails. The easy to install computer based pass system registers each visitor, both on and off site. The document scanning facility allows your organisation to make scanned digital copies of special identification documents, accreditations, licenses or insurance documentation provided by the visitor or contractor. Once recorded onto the system, these documents can be retrieved, viewed or recreated and printed on demand. This ensures the proper due diligence procedures have been followed.  

A firm is investigating going over to a regime of longer shift patterns as one way to slash costs. The south-western printing concern Wyndeham has entered talks with the Unite union over the economy drive at its Cornwall base. Wyndeham stated that the depot had “a very positive future” based on implementing changes. Steve Sibbald, Unite national officer, said: “Unite will be urging all employees not to accept any cuts in terms and conditions.” Tensor offers a range of combined payroll and clocking monitoring systems that meet all major hours calculation methods. The WinTAnet time and attendance system can deal with overtime, night shifts and more. Using WinTAnet’s software, work patterns are a combination of daily rules that are either a repeating pattern of shifts or a list of alternative rules. Here, WinTAnet will predict the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee starts work. Each type of pattern can be set up to override the normal pattern and use a specific shift on public holidays.  

A famous landmark has had four plaques stolen from the premises. The bronze information plaques were all taken from mountings within York Minster precinct. York Minster Police said it had increased patrols in the area since the thefts. The incident has left the Minster’s Trust thousands of pounds out of pocket. Police said the CCTV system which usually monitored the Minster precinct was undergoing maintenance when the thieves struck. Tensor can install and maintain surveillance cameras or other security equipment for your premises. A Tensor digital CCTV system works extremely well as a standalone system, and can also be fully integrated with Tensor’s other access control or visitor monitoring equipment. A digital video recorder is able to achieve digital storage multiplexing across up to 16 channels in one standalone box, so all CCTV footage from your site can be recorded on a single unit. Maintenance contracts are available for support of your digital CCTV systems and software, and Tensor supports all of our surveillance products in-house.