Petition Update
Tuesday 21 October 2008

Since my presentation to Herts County Council on 15th July a report was made by the Environment Spokesperson. An edited version of the report is as follows:
A report on the matter was presented to the Hertsmere HJMP at its meeting on 29 July 2008. On the specific issue of Brook Road, the panel agreed to the recommendation that, as the site did not meet or would not contribute to current Local Transport Plan targets, a feasibility study would be undertaken using local funding (HCC highway discretionary budget, Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council and Hertsmere Borough Council). At this stage, practicality, cost and acceptability could be determined. This will be reported to the Hertsmere HJMP at a future meeting. If at that stage a scheme seemed feasible, funding sources would be explored.
On the wider matter of 20 mph zones, the Highways & Transport Panel will be considering a review of HCC’s Speed Management Strategy in the Autumn in the light of revised advice from the Department for Transport.
The County Council offers Road Safety Education and Training to all schools in Hertfordshire. As a subject, road safety is specifically mentioned at Key Stages 1 and 2 of the Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) / Citizenship part of the National Curriculum. However these are not statutory subjects and road safety is only one element of a number of options.
So, there we have it and I'm still fighting along with the help of councillor John Metcalf. Many thanks John. A letter will be sent soon to all of the Brook Road and surrounding road residents as we really do need all the support we can get to make the councils realise we will not go away until our roads are made safer.
Thanks for listening and lots of love.
Michelle Kirby x

Justice?
Tuesday 21 October 2008

As some of you may know the driver of the car which killed Tommy, appealed his charge and sentence in April 2008. Sadly for Tommy's parents and the rest of my family this meant we had to endure another 3 gruelling retrial days during September at St Albans Crown Court. Justifiably the judge dismissed Ricky Knott's appeal and he was found guilty again of his charges. His sentence remained the same and therefore there is one less careless driver on our roads for the next 1.5 years. We would really like to thank the police, CPS and the witnesses as without them there would be no case although no amount of punishment will bring Tommy back.

Petition Update
Friday 4 July 2008

Hi,
I just wanted to keep everyone posted on the progress of our 20mph SLOW DOWN FOR TOMMY petition.
I am attending a meeting on 15th July at Herts County Council where I will put forward our petition of 5000 signatures! They will then consult with the relevant people, eg. HertsHighways and I will then go back in a couple of months time to hear their findings.
I am also going to Hertsmere Civic Offices on 29th July for an update on the submission of the petition in April 2008. Fingers crossed they will have some good news for us.
Once again, thanks for your support. The majority of this small community have been so comforting through this ongoing pain of losing Tommy.
Lots of Love, Michelle Kirby x

Latest Update
Thursday 27 March 2008

I'm sure all of our supporters are aware by now, if they have followed the local news, the outcome of the trial against the driver who killed Tommy. Although we have a guilty verdict of careless driving which resulted in the tragic death of Tommy, it breaks our hearts to think that this tragedy could've been avoided. As well as losing Tommy all of our family's lives especially Tommy's parents and little brother have been shattered and have changed forever. There is a massive hole in our lives which will never ever be filled.

Hence, the need for our lower speed limit campaign. WE MUST STOP NOW THESE CARELESS DRIVERS TAKING THE LIVES OF OUR LOVED ONES SO VIOLENTLY AND SUDDENLY.

There is no news to present at the moment from Hertsmere but I shall be presenting the petition to Herts County Council in May so will be in touch soon with some more updates. Much love to everyone that is supporting us.

Michelle x

Update
Wednesday 30 January 2008

Apologies, it's been a while.....We have been busy co-ordinating all of the signatures for our 20mph petition. I presented the petition to 14 councillors at the Herts Highways Partnership Joint Panel on Tuesday 29th January 08 at Hertsmere Civic Offices. They are not the decision makers but will make a report for their next meeting in April. At present we have over 4,800 signatures! We would like to say a very big thank you to all of you who are supporting us. Please keep checking the website for updates and also the local news especially the Borehamwood Times for further updates on our campaign.
I would also like to mention at this moment in time legally, we are unable to write the exact details of this awful tragedy. To the members of the public who are negative to our campaign....I have read your questionnaires and taken on board your comments but some of you have obviously not read the statistics relating to speed. For the ones that did decide to leave their email address I shall reply personally at a later stage.
I shall write back soon with updates on the petition. Thanks for the support.
Michelle Kirby

Latest News
Thursday 4 October 2007

I'm sorry for such a delay in updating the site but I've been a bit busy...the arrival of Olly on 3rd September! It is so upsetting that Olly didn't get the chance to meet Tommy but as a family we will all make sure that he knows all about him as he grows up.

Our plans for the future is to carry on with the local schools and to work on road safety and to publish the results from our community questionnaires. Also, to work with the council, highways and police in trying to persue lower speed limits on dangerous and highly built up roads such as Brook Road.

We still need lots of signatures on our petition so please make sure everyone you know has signed it and if they haven't please encourage them to do so. It is so important we get as many as we can.

Lastly, we have a new batch of car stickers and we would like to thank Colin at Harris Screen Print (www.harrisscreenprint.co.uk) for his generosity.

Thanks for your continuing support.
Michelle Kirby x

Latest News
Friday 31 August 2007

Tommy will be looking down on us and with his very cheeky grin be thinking he has made the big time! Yes....GMTV came to film us with Brake's, Zak the Zebra at that dangerous spot on Brook Road and we also appeared on BBC London News. I also gave 4 radio interviews to LBC, BBC 3 Counties, BBC London and Mercury Radio. We would like to thank them for the publicity and we really hope it increases the amount of signatures on our 20mph petition and also road safety awareness. A very big thank you to everyone who turned up for our Zak the Zebra day on 21st August. Especially to Tommy's grandad, his dad Lloyd and Charlie who persisted the rain in a wet Zak suit! To all of Tommy's friends and their mums, thank you for coming!

The petition so far has collected over 2000 signatures so please keep spreading the word and get everyone you know to sign it.

Our 'Slow Down for Tommy' Car Stickers have almost sold out but we have ordered some more so we shall let you know when they have arrived.

Keep supporting the campaign!
Michelle Kirby

Latest News
Wednesday 1 August 2007

During the last 2 weeks of July we were collecting the community questionnaires which we had delivered to most schools in Borehamwood. Unfortunately the response from parents was not great but this could've been down to last minute preparations for the closing of school. We will be compiling the results soon and they will be shown here.

The Borehamwood Times interviewed me for the launch of our website which has really helped with increasing the amount of signatures on our petition. Keep them coming in and letting everyone know to pass on the site details to everyone in their address books.

Call Print in Shenley Road, Borehamwood kindly donated their services to us and have printed up all of our petitions and posters. The petitions will hopefully be in shops and stores soon so look out for the posters and if you haven't got round to signing the petition online you can now do it while you're shopping.

Zak the Zebra is scheduled to be visiting Brook Road on 21st August and will be flagging down any speeding motorists with the help of myself and some of Tommy's best friends. It is with huge thanks to BRAKE that we can do this and are crossing our fingers for some media coverage. More information will follow soon...

Thanks for all your support so far.
Michelle Kirby x

Latest News
Tuesday 24 July 2007

The Slow Down for Tommy Road Safety Group consists of Tommy's close family and friends. We are all working really hard on the campaign as well as trying to come to terms with Tommy's death, we all miss him so, so much.

Firstly, a very big thank you to Richard Sussex for designing our website completely free of charge. None of this would be possible without him so thank you we all are really grateful for all your hard work.

On Saturday 7th July we visited Meadow Park in Borehamwood for Families Day. We collected over 300 signatures for our 20MPH petition and sold over £50 of our exclusive 'Slow Down for Tommy' Car Stickers. Thank you to everyone that helped and everyone that signed our petition.

During the week of 9th July we have been frantically photocopying and stapling thousands of road safety questionnaires. These have been given out to all of the children at 13 schools in Borehamwood and we shall be collecting all of these before the end of term. Very special thank you to Stacey and everyone at Infotec in London Colney for the generous donation of paper, ink and the photocopier. The results from these questionnaires will then be compiled and shown here at a later date.

Coming soon......Brake's, Zak the Zebra will be heading for Brook Road and we will be hitting the streets and shops with our 20MPH petition. So Keep Supporting Us!

Thank You,
Michelle Kirby, Tommy's Aunty XXX