Couple scammed by door-to-door fish-sellers bought new freezer

Would you buy fish from a door-to-door salesman? To Lancashire, where Marion and Alan Johnson, aged 85 and 88, agreed to buy £24 of fish from a man on their doorstep.

Marion explains what occurred:

“We had just been to the doctor’s and I wasn’t very well. When the men called, we just wanted £24 worth of fish and I asked him to put it in the kitchen as I sat in the living room. I paid on card but when they left and we walked in the kitchen I’d never seen as much fish in my life. I checked the receipt and we’d been scammed, paying £204. The fish wasn’t even labelled so we didn’t know what type it was.

“We didn’t have anywhere to store it so we had to go out and buy another freezer to store it. We ate some of it but then saw on Facebook people were saying it wasn’t safe to eat. There’s now just have loads of fish we don’t know what to do with and we feel really dumb because we fell for it.”

The scammers are swine. But the pat about the couple going out and buying a new freezer to store their unwanted fish in puts the tin lid on the story.

Paul Noone, head of Trading Standards for Lancashire County Council, advises: “The best place to buy fish is from a local fishmonger at an established shop or stall or from a regular local roundsman. You are taking a risk by buying on the doorstep from an unknown trader as this fish may be of poor quality, misdescribed, or overcharged. We are currently investigating cheap fish sold as sea bass, farmed salmon sold as wild, short-weight sales, and Preston cases where a vulnerable lady paid £404 for seven packs of fish, and a retired couple paid £360 for a bag of unlabelled fish.”

Beware of frozen cold callers.

Anorak

Posted: 30th, October 2015 | In: Reviews, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment

Lancashire police looking for samurai sword Taser blind man carrying a white stick

STILL think the police should be routinely armed? Colin Farmer is blind. He’s 61. He’s survived two strokes. The police thought his white stick was sword.

The police had fielded reports of a man walking around Chorley, Lancashire, wielding a samurai sword.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, October 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (6)

Muslims care more about their children than Christians do, says Lancashire expert

THE Lancashire Telegraph says “Asian children are less likely to end up in care because of the strong support network in the community“.

Well, according to a “religious leader” they are.

Jon Livesy has facts:

Latest figures show that of the 385 children in care in Blackburn with Darwen in December, the vast majority – 316 – were white British.

The current population of Blackburn with Darwen is about 140,000. The proportion of Muslim population (19.4% or 26,674 people).

The number of Asian children was just 29, which is less than half their proportion in the local population.

Anorak

Posted: 22nd, February 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)

BMW driver says Lancashire 20mph speed limit hurts her car

DIANE Greenwood, says being made on pain of law to driver her BMW at 20mph will damage her car.

Lancashire County Council plans to impose a 20mph blanket speed limit on all residential roads. Diane Greenwood, 47, says reducing the 30mph limit will damage her car and – get this –  environment. She tells the Blackpool Gazette:

“My car is a two litre diesel BMW and is not designed to drive at 20mph in fourth gear which means I will have to drive in third gear. This will not only damage my car but will also affect the environment and cost me fortunes in extra fuel costs. If this happens I will have no alternative but to lodge a claim against Lancashire County Council for the damage to my vehicle and any extra costs incurred due to the new restrictions.”

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, January 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (10)

Lancashire Sex Club Complains About Banging From Next Door

“MUSIC UPSET SWINGERS CLUB.”

So says the Lancashire Evening Post of rumblings in Chorley:

A recording studio boss says he will not be forced out despite noise complaints from the owners of a swingers’ club.

(Butt plugs or ear plugs?)

The story is evocative:

Lee Morrison has launched a music recording studio called 1st Bass Music Solutions in the same building as The No3 Club at the mill on Friday Street. Theatre company Say Two Theatre Productions had previously been based in the mill – but moved out after parents of the children attending rehearsals complained that members of the adult club were mistakenly walking into their room.

Anorak

Posted: 29th, September 2011 | In: Strange But True | Comment

Chorley Bum Pincher Pinched

HAS the Chorley bum pincher been pinched..?

Anorak

Posted: 13th, July 2011 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)

Lancashire Toff Praises David Cameron For Being A ‘Toffee-Nosed Slimebag’

A TOFF has accused David Cameron of being toffee-nosed. In Lancashire:

“AN East Lancashire peer who dubbed Prime Minister David Cameron a ‘toffee-nosed slimebag’ has stood by his remarks.

Lord Tony Greaves, also a Liberal Democrat councillor in Pendle, told a national newspaper that ‘a lot of people in our party never liked Cameron’.

“Cameron behaved in a way which was dishonest and disloyal to his deputy and he should be thorough ashamed of himself,” Lord Greaves told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“Any lingering affection for Mr Cameron, as a person, within the party, has disappeared. People are very angry.””

Anorak

Posted: 13th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Wart Cream Bomb Hospitalises Three In Lancashire

WHEN the tube of medicated wart cream was left in the sun in balmy Downham, Lancashire – it had been already used – the contents exploeed when the tube was opened.

Two women, aged 50 and 25 and a 25-year-old man, were taken to hospital for treatment for their injuries.

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, April 2011 | In: Strange But True | Comment

Kate Middleton And Prince William Reveal Wedding Dress Nerves In Lancashire: Photos

PRINCE William and Princess Catherine were in Darwen, Lancashire. This was her final official engagement with Prince William before their wedding.

Kate pulls on a sensible high-street jacket, takes a deep breath before leaving her hermetically sealed life in Anglesey and gets to work in the regions.

(When Kate is married she will revert to her usual style of masses of bling, huge back-combed hair and Disney-themed shoes.)

Anorak

Posted: 11th, April 2011 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family | Comment

Did Two Lancashire Six Years Sexually Abuse Five Girls?

A LETTER sent to students’ homes at a Lancashire primary school responds to the local story that five girls have been sexually assaulted by two six-year-old boys.

The Lancashire Evening Post quotes a “worried mum”:

“We only found out this week because a parent of one of the girls involved was leaving the school. We now know that at least five girls were involved and three of those have left. The parents are irate and have asked to speak to the headteacher. What we are hearing at the moment is playground gossip and we don’t know how much is fact and how much is fiction. We have children and that is our main concern.”

Anorak

Posted: 9th, April 2011 | In: Reviews | Comment

Polina Cowburn And Katia Zatuliveter Photos: Russians Are Big In Adlington, Lancashire

POLINA Cowburn is Katia Zatuliveter’s big sister. Mrs Cowburn is not at her post at the international office at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. Both the women were students at Bradford University.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph goes to work. It doorsteps some locals in Adlington, where Polina lives:

John Gibbs, owner of John’s Newsagents, in Railway Road, added: “I have certainly never had any encounters with a Russian spy in Adlington, but I’m sure this will get people talking. I deliver papers on the Fairview Estate, but not to this family and I have never met a Russian in the shop.”

Anorak

Posted: 7th, December 2010 | In: Reviews | Comment

Lancashire George Clooney Involved In Dating Site Perfume Theft

BLACKBURN Magistrates’ Court calls Tracie Barnes, who was on date with the “George Clooney lookalike” she had met on the Bnaughty online dating site when disaster struck.

Having met her own George Clone at the pub, the Beak hears that Tracie Barnes fled from the pub. She left behind her train ticket and her money.

Says Mr Church-Taylor, defending:

“He had posted a photograph on the website but when she met him face-to-face he wasn’t the George Clooney lookalike she was expecting. She made an excuse to go to the toilet and left without saying goodbye.”

Anorak

Posted: 30th, November 2010 | In: Strange But True | Comment

RIP Tom McGrath, You Were Willy Eckerslike Of The Lancashire Hotpots

RIP Tom McGrath AKA Willy Eckerslike, drummer and singer with the Lancashire Hotpots. Reader Bat E Bird sends us these films of some of your best moments.

And:

Anorak

Posted: 13th, May 2010 | In: Music | Comments (3)

How Lancashire Football Took Over The National Game

BURNLEY’S return to the top flight of English football was highly symbolic.
First, it came perfectly in time for the half-century commemoration of the legendary Clarets side that won the first division championship in 1960. (That’s the proper national title, by the way, not the puffed-up division three that calls itself “League One”.)

Secondly, it brings the total number of Lancashire clubs in the Premier League to eight. That’s an extraordinary 40 per cent.

Thirdly, it came at the expense of Sheffield United, who, by finishing third in the second tier of English football, hold the distinction of being Yorkshire’s second best team, above local rivals Sheffield Wednesday, and the county’s most recent national champions Leeds United, whose own play-off defeat leaves them languishing in the third tier for another year. Hull clung on to Premier status by the skin of their teeth, making them Yorkshire’s top dogs for another season.

In the past 50 seasons, starting with Burnley’s historic triumph, and finishing with Manchester United’s latest title, Lancashire clubs have won the national championship no fewer than 33 times. In that period, Yorkshire clubs – or rather one Yorkshire club – have won just three. (Leeds United in 1969, 1974 and 1992. They are also the only Yorkshire club to win it since the war.)

Of course, Yorkshire has fared no worse than many other counties. In fact it is one of the most successful historically, with Huddersfield Town and the two Sheffield sides winning eight titles between them in all.

But the gulf between the two sports-mad counties is quite remarkable nevertheless.

You might argue that a large amount of Yorkshire’s sporting energy is channeled into rugby league. And you would be right. Over the last 50 seasons the national championship has been won an impressive 23 times by Yorkshire clubs.

… And 27 times by teams from Lancashire.

Close, as they say, but no cigar.

Ed Barrett

Anorak

Posted: 28th, May 2009 | In: Flashback, Sports | Comments (3)

Italian Mafia Seek To Head Off Bread Threat From Lancashire

PSST! Wanna buy some bread?

After yesterday’s news of the Lancashire mafia, today we learn that the Italian mafia have noted the threat, moving to nip in the bud the threat posed by Morris’s Quality Bakers, (Baker Street, Coppull, Chorley).

The Guardian reports that “city officials and investigators suspect Camorra clans are behind many of the 1,400 unlicensed backstreet bakeries in and around the city which supply hundreds of street vendors who sell loaves out of car boots – and they may be spreading into selling other basic food products.”

Yeah, car boots. Shoppers would do well to check the rolls for signs of blood and bits of missing person’s teeth and hair.

Anorak

Posted: 15th, September 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (5)