'I thought I was going to die', beaten girlfriend says

A TADWORTH woman has told how she feared for her life?when she was attacked and injured by her partner – who had kept his?violent past?a secret from her.

Claire Clowrey was left with bruises around her neck after an argument about bills with then-boyfriend Reece Collins escalated into a violent confrontation.

Miss Clowrey told how Collins, 28, of Poplar Farm Close, Epsom, put his hands?around her throat and forced her up the stairs during the row at her home on September 29 this year.

The next thing she remembered was waking at the bottom of the stairs to find Collins – who has two previous convictions for assaulting partners in October 2009 and July 2008 – standing over her stroking her cheek, Redhill Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday (November 9).

“He came at me, he just sort of leapt at me, then his hands were round my throat,” said Miss Clowrey, a mother of four.

“I felt them on me, I was very scared, I put my hands up to try and get him off me then I tried to slap and punch him, I tried to get away but felt myself being backed up the stairs.

“I wasn’t able to speak or breathe then I woke up and I was at the bottom [of the stairs], I remember really struggling to try and breathe.”

Rob Bateman, defending, suggested: “Reece Collins certainly didn’t put his hands around your neck, did he?”

But?a tearful Miss Clowrey replied: “Yes he did, he did and I thought I was going to die.”

She?strongly denied further suggestions that she was aware of Collins’ violent past and his involvement with a domestic violence course, but had kept it quiet because she feared her children would be removed by social services.

She added: “I did not know any of the previous details [of Collins’ convictions], he told me it was hazy and he only knows what the police told him afterwards.

“If I had known I would have ended the relationship there and then.”

Collins was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by Senior District Judge Timothy Workman. He is due to be sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on December 3.

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'Parking chaos' sees Royal Surrey staff going home

MEDICAL staff at the Royal Surrey County Hospital have been forced to turn around and go back home because a new parking system means they have nowhere to leave their cars.

And according to?some workers there, it could have led to delays in?seriously ill patients?getting the results of vital CT and MRI scans.

At least four members of staff at the Guildford hospital could not do their jobs this week because, after driving around for up to an hour, they said they still could not find a parking space and had no option but to turn around and drive home.

This follows a new colour-coding system at the Egerton Road car park, which stipulates where staff, patients and visitors can leave their cars.

According to the hospital, it has been introduced so that there are fewer spaces for staff and more for?patients, in line with Guildford Borough Council requirements.

A radiologist from the hospital, who chose to remain anonymous, said that on Tuesday morning he drove around for 50 minutes and, realising that he was not going to find somewhere to park, he returned home, saying it was the second time it had happened.

“In all my time working as a doctor, I have never seen a place where doctors can’t find a place for parking their cars, or do not have a viable public transport option,” he said.

“I believe it’s a long running issue, we always have problems, but it seems that no-one is capable of making a decision about what to do about it. We’ve got a new system, but it’s clearly blowing up in their face.”

Arrive early

The Guildford doctor said that the shuttle bus service from the railway station was not an option for many members of staff at the hospital.

“It doesn’t gel with anybody’s schedule. You either arrive late, or three hours early for a shift, and there are many people who simply can’t get public transport, I would have to get three trains and a bus to get here,” he said.

“The only other parking option is to park at Tesco, but they will clamp after two hours and as far as I know, every other road is parked up within a mile radius.”

He added: “I’ve spoken to at least four people who have just had to turn around and go home, there are phone calls going all around the hospital.

"It means people are missing patients' appointments and the back office work also stacks up. The results of CT and MRI scans don’t get reported, because the doctor can’t be there to talk to the patient.”

The radiologist also claimed there were issues with patients’ parking. He believed that some cancer patients had been turning up two to three hours early, knowing that they may have to queue that long to find a space. This week patients have also been inconvenienced by staff parking in visitors’ areas.

“It doesn’t seem as if anybody is wanting to address the real issue. It’s just so frustrating,” he said.

"Co-operating"

?A spokesman for the hospital said that a big change had been implemented this week and "teething problems" were inevitable.

He said: “The staff parking changes did have a knock-on effect on our patient and public car parks and we would like to sincerely apologise to any patients and visitors who have been inconvenienced while we make these major changes to our staff car parking arrangements.

“Everyone is doing all they can to implement the changes and to prevent any further disruption to our patients and visitors.”

The spokesman?added: “Patients are our priority and we needed to reduce staff parking on site to ensure there is enough space in our public car parks.

"The changes to staff parking are also something that we were required to do by the local authority. The trust had to submit a travel plan with the objective of reducing the number of staff driving to the site, by encouraging them to use alternative means of transport.”

According to the Royal Surrey, a time restriction has also been placed on the 220 staff parking places, which means workers arriving between 8am and 9.30am are unable to use them.

The spokesman went on: “However, we now have a free park-and-ride facility off the Aldershot Road in Guildford, car-sharing scheme, 1.5-mile exclusion zone and staff are offered discounted bus travel and tax-free bike loans.

“The majority of staff are co-operating during this transition period and understand that we had to make the changes.”

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