News

A meticulously planned raid robbed jewellery worth £430,000 from an auction house. There was no sign of a break-in at the Glasgow premises and the thief left just 10 minutes before staff were due to arrive. The criminal took just 25 minutes to get into the building and turn off the alarm before emptying the safe of items which the auctioneers were preparing for sale. The thief was picked up by a vehicle which pulled into the car park outside. Security experts Tensor offer the T3512 which is a one door Smart Card Access Control system that has everything you need for controlling access through a single door. It comprises a T3511 Door Access controller, WinACnet PC software, magnetic door release, push button, break glass and 10 Smart Cards. WinACnet creates alarm messages when predetermined actions take place, or if a forced entry occurs. These alarms are immediately emailed to a specified address. Optionally a warning email can be sent if communications to the PC are lost.  

The police bill for carrying out evictions at the UK’s largest illegal travellers’ site came in well under budget. The cost of dealing with the Dale Farm site in Essex ran up to almost £2.4 million when original estimates stated it could cost up to £10 million. Last year there were violent scenes as police led an operation to clear protesters from the site. The operation was the culmination of a long-standing row over unauthorised plots on Dale Farm. Tensor can implement a digital CCTV camera and recording system as part of a high-tech security set-up for monitoring and/or preventing criminal activity. We have systems to suit all sites and budgets. Infra Red CCTV Cameras are ever popular due to their ability to see in ‘absolute darkness’. By utilising infra red light these cameras ensure security and safety for your sites throughout any light conditions. Infra red detectors can either be added to body cameras, or often inbuilt infra red cameras purchased for your CCTV solution.  

Legislation designed to tackle the growing problem of stolen metal failed at a second reading just before the weekend. Labour MP Graham Jones had drafted a bill banning scrap yards from making cash payments for metal and requiring them to take proof of identification and an address from any potential seller. The bill did not have government support, so it failed. A disappointed Jones said: “We will now not likely see legislation before the Olympics, possibly not until 2013.” Tensor Access Lite is the latest in our proven range of Windows™ based Access Control products, from simple door and registration point control, through to a fully computerised global network at the workplace. A variety of access equipment, devices and releases can be connected via the T8424 scanner control unit including: alarms and hooters, door locks, door release buttons, fingerprint readers and scanners. The scanner controller is the unit to which all Access Control equipment within your Tensor Access Lite network is connected.  

Business Secretary Vince Cable wants shareholders to hold binding votes over executive pay. He said it was not Westminster's job to ‘micro-manage’ companies but insisted there were steps it could take when there was “clear market failure”. There has been much focus on what is seen as ‘casino-style’ boardroom pay deals. Mr Cable told MPs: “We cannot continue to see chief executives' pay rising at 13% a year while the performance of companies on the stock exchange languishes well behind.” Tensor time and attendance products such as WinTA Enterprise provide total control over working rules, pay rates, job costing and payroll at the workplace. WinTA Enterprise holds details for thousands of employees, including a photograph of each person, if required. There are numerous extra features that can be implemented on your time and attendance system to take into account diversity with working rules between different organisations. For example under Secondary Pay Bands certain pay bands pay into other bands either on a 1:1 basis or by using a multiplier.  

Members of a smash-and-grab gang used two wheels instead of four to steal a safe. One of the cycling thieves took the strongbox containing £2,000 underneath his arm while precariously steering the pedal bike one handed. The biker trio wrenched the safe from a wall in a room inside a bar in Southampton. A witness caught them making their getaway and quickly called the police, but the trio had fled by the time officers arrived. Automatic Car Park Barriers are among the security devices and systems from Tensor which control car park and road entry points at your premises. Not only an efficient and effective way of increasing security at a site, barriers also double up as a way of monitoring the number of vehicles passing through the control point. Boom arms are available in a number of different lengths to suit various road widths. Other features include: an extruded aluminium barrier arm; high visibility red reflective striping; and a white exterior grade powder coat.  

More than 2,000 police workers are to be axed next year while another 3,000 Ministry of Defence posts will go as efficiency cuts continue to bite. The police numbers are made up of civilian staff who will depart when Scotland’s new single police force is created in 2013. They include admin staff, employees who field calls from the public, court liaison officers, forensics and human resources. One-third of workers currently employed by the eight police forces will lose their posts. Businesses can benefit from Tensor’s fast, accurate and easy-to-use system to record employees' hours of working. The large colour display on Tensor's T32xx time and security clocking station makes it simple for workers to confirm their clockings or make job-booking transactions. The Tensor T32xx boasts a 480 x 272 pixel colour LCD screen with video playback; multilingual functions; an illuminated keypad for ease of text input and use; tamper detection; and digital outputs to control door locks, fire alarms and wall clocks.  

Downing Street said it will not interfere with the bonuses of other Royal Bank of Scotland executives, after RBS chief executive Stephen Hester declined his award of £963,000 in shares. Mr Hester waived the 3.6 million shares package, which is his performance bonus for 2010, amid a storm of political protest on Sunday. A government spokeswoman told the BBC: “We are not going to micro-manage bonuses. They [the bank] are doing a good job and making good progress.” Beginning from the basic WinTA Start package, Tensor offers a complete smart card-operated Time and Attendance system including all the features to manage salaries, hours and bonuses. Comprehensive user-definable working patterns, rosters and shifts can be swiftly set up by the software. Overtime is easily monitored with up to four different pay bands in each shift. Bands are selected based on the time and the number of hours worked. Periodic Overtime is used to calculate overtime on weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis.  

The cause is not yet known of a huge blaze affecting a warehouse today (Tuesday, January 31). The fire has sent thick billowing smoke over west London. It started at 09:35 GMT and has now been contained thanks to 15 fire engines attending the scene. A fire service spokesman said the estimated total size of the warehouse area affected was 170m by 90m (557ft by 295ft) and half of that had been on fire. The combination of contactless smart cards and fire roll call software means that security and clocking products from Tensor ensure staff safety in a fire or other emergency. The cards operate using well-proven and reliable Radio Frequency technology, which gives a constant read range. It also means that employees can exit a premises in an emergency in the quickest possible time: when placed within range of your scanner, the smart card will be read in under ½ second, even if that card is covered in oil and grease.  

New seafront toilets opened today (Wednesday, February 1) to replace those which were damaged in an arson attack. Weymouth and Portland Borough Council officially opened the Pier Bandstand toilets in Weymouth. Some of the funding for the upgrade to the toilets in the area has been provided by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Meanwhile, the damaged toilets will remain closed to the public and the temporary toilets which had been used will be removed. In these days of heightened security, Tensor’s gates, barriers, and turnstiles will give your firm full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around your site. The key role of a Tensor barrier system is to prevent unauthorised access while providing minimum inconvenience to those who do have authorised access to your site. Tensor turnstiles are ideal for providing access to a toilet facility, to the benefit of both councils and private companies. These durable, coin operated turnstiles cope with high traffic volumes at busy spots.  

Hackers have overcome the latest online banking identity security systems. Account holders are being tricked by the offer of training in a new ‘upgraded security system’ when they log in to the bank’s genuine site, according to the BBC. Money is then siphoned out of the account with the customer completely unaware of this. Advice from experts is users should use up-to-date anti-virus software and follow a bank’s official advice, although no one individual bank is being affected. Tensor technology is equally adept at security protection both inside and outside the office. Biometrics – the technique of studying the physical characteristics of a person such as your fingerprint, hand geometry, eye structure or voice pattern – is the key to a highly secure system. Our recommended product for use with your Tensor Access Control System is our smart card access control scanner with built in fingerprint reader. We also have a selection of PC security gadgets that use compact biometric fingerprint in order to gain access.  

The main window of a jewellery shop was smashed in a robbery. One elderly woman had collapsed during the incident and needed medical attention from a paramedic on a bicycle who was one of the first to arrive at the scene. The gang targeted a branch of Francis Wain jewellers in West Norfolk on Tuesday morning and made off with expensive items. Early reports suggested the suspects might also have had firearms. Tensor can supply Access Control and Visitor Management Systems (VMS) to businesses in order to increase their security. VMS is a low cost computer based Visitor Management and Visitor Pass production system. On arrival at a site, a full colour photograph is taken and personal details are recorded and digitally stored. Optionally, the visitor’s fingerprint details can be electronically enrolled to provide a future check of their identity. Once the details are safely stored within the PC, an inexpensive bar coded pass is then issued containing a photograph, name and validation dates.  

The Coalition Government is struggling to fend off a tax avoidance scandal. Key personnel at the Student Loans Company (SLC) are being paid via a company without tax being deducted, it has been revealed. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, one of the most senior Liberal Democrats in the cabinet, was said to be unaware of the arrangement. However, Mr Alexander is required to sign off SLC’s top civil servants in common with all higher public sector salaries. WinTA from Tensor is cutting edge software that is ideal for a company which has workers on different shifts, overtime rates or pay bands. You can define multiple paid or unpaid breaks and ask WinTA to insert breaks if an employee does not clock them. You can set breaks to activate between set times. WinTA will select the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee starts work. So if you move an employee’s shift, WinTA Start will automatically assign the correct shift to the employee.