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PENSIONER GETS £670 BILL TO CLEAN UP PETROL SPILL ON FORECOURT
A pensioner who spilled petrol when he filled up his car at a supermarket was sent a bill for £670 to clean it up. Ron Wyde was buying four-star at a Morrison's store when a pipe on his petrol tank came loose. Two litres of petrol spilled out and Mr Wyde explained the leak when he paid at the kiosk. He waited as the fire service arrived for a quick clean-up operation at the filling station in Barry, South Wales. However, a week later Mr Wyde received a letter from Morrison's demanding £670 and a warning they would send bailiffs round if he didn't pay-up.

The letter explained they sent two service engineers from Wigan, Lancashire, to make sure the petrol station was safe. The bill stated he spent six hours travelling the 440-mile round trip to Barry for the job, which took just 40 minutes using a jet wash. Mr Wyde put the matter in the hands of his solicitors and Morrison's backed down. A spokesman said, "It was a specialist service and had to be carried out by an approved company. However it was an error to charge the customer for the full amount. We would like to apologise to Mr Wyde and as a result will cancel all charges to him." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Dec/09)

MAN KILLED BY TROUSER SNAKE
A Cambodian man's time on this earth ran out when, during a drinking session, he spotted a 2-metre-long cobra swimming in a river, and immediately decided to remove his trousers and use them to wrangle the snake. He planned to sell the snake later. Unfortunately for the man, Chab Kear, his trouser-wrangling skills were no match for the snake.

Once he had tied that animal inside his trousers, attached to his waist with a scarf, it managed to get its fangs through the fabric of the trousers, biting him three times in the stomach. Kear's response to the cobra bites were, heroically, "Don't worry, it's nothing a drink can't fix." These were also the last words he uttered on this mortal plane. (Source: Metro, Oct/07)

FIREMEN FINED FOR SHINING TORCH ON GAY FOURSOME
Four firefighters were reprimanded and heavily fined after disturbing an illegal outdoor gay sex romp because the men accused them of being homophobic. The crew were travelling past a notorious common popular with gay men and "doggers" when they shone their torches from the engine into bushes. It is claimed they interrupted four men involved in a gay sex act. The firefighters were suspended on full pay during a three month investigation. Two were fined up to £1,000, one was demoted in rank and the other given a written warning. They have all been ordered to attend an equality course and the fines will be donated to the a nominated gay-rights charity. The four man crew have also been transferred to other stations.

The firefighters were charged with bringing the service into disrepute and with the misuse of fire equipment as their actions were deemed homophobic. The gay men will not face any police investigation into what they were doing in the area. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said, "It is an offence to commit an act which is lewd, obscene or disgusting in a public place which is capable of outraging public decency. If any complaint is made in relation to such an incident it would be investigated thoroughly and, where appropriate, action would be taken to arrest any offender." Chief Fire Officer with Avon Fire and Rescue Service Kevin Pearson said, "There was no justifiable reason for that appliance to be in that location at that time. They should not have been there and there was no operational justification for their actions." (Source: Daily Mail, Oct/07)

OAP HAS BUS BAN
A pensioner was thrown off a bus for trying to use his bus pass just one minute too early. Harry Woolhouse claimed the bus arrived 60 seconds before the freetravel start time of 9am, but when he stepped on board, the driver of the Stagecoach service ruled that his senior citizen's document was invalid.

Harry, from Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorks, said, "I told him it was the bus that was early as it was due at 9am not 8.59, but he said that was just an estimated time of arrival. I was still ordered off even though it was after nine by then, and I had to walk my three stops." Stagecoach Yorkshire said, "The driver was interviewed and we apologise for any upset. But, to be fair to all, it is a rule we must enforce strictly." (Source: Daily Mirror, Sep/07)

STORE REFUSED TO SELL WINE TO OAP
Supermarket staff refused to sell wine to a 72-year-old man, because he would not prove he was over 21. Check-out staff at Morrisons demanded Tony Ralls prove he was old enough to buy two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon. The white-haired grandfather-of-three said he had refused to confirm he was over 21 as it was a "stupid question."

Mr Ralls asked to see the manager of the store, in West Kirby, Wirral. The manager picked up the wine and, in the manner of a child taking home his ball, said, "Well, we won't serve you." The pensioner abandoned his shopping on the conveyor belt and left the store but not before demanding a complaints form and phone number for Morrisons' headquarters.

Mr Ralls said, "It is bureaucracy gone mad. If the check-out lady, who was about 40, had asked me with a twinkle in her eye perhaps I would not have been so tetchy. And if the manager had explained that all the staff had to ask everyone because they had previously been fined, but said I was clearly over 21, it would have been fine, but he showed no sense of humour."

A Morrisons spokesman said, "We take our responsibility with regard to selling alcohol very seriously and all our stores operate the Task 21 scheme, which addresses the difficulties our staff face in being able to determine if a customer is legally old enough to buy alcohol." Common-sense is obviously not on the list. (Source: Ananova, Sep/07)

COUPLE DIVORCE AFTER ONLINE AFFAIR
A Bosnian couple are getting divorced after finding out they had been secretly chatting each other up online under fake names. Sana Klaric and husband Adnan, from Zenica, poured out their hearts to each other over their marriage troubles, and both felt they had found their real soul mate. The couple met on an online chat forum while he was at work and she in an internet cafe, and started chatting under the names Sweetie and Prince of Joy.

They eventually decided to meet up, but there was no happy ending when they realised what had happened. Now they are both filing for divorce, with each accusing the other of being unfaithful. Adnan said, "I was so happy to have found a woman who finally understood me. Then it turned out that I hadn't found anyone new at all. To be honest I still find it hard to believe that the person, Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things to me on the internet, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years."

Sana said, "I thought I had found the love of my life. The way this Prince of Joy spoke to me, the things he wrote, the tenderness in every expression was something I had never had in my marriage. It was amazing, we seemed to be stuck in the same kind of miserable marriages, and how right that turned out to be. We arranged to meet outside a shop and both of us would be carrying a single rose so we would know the other. When I saw my husband there with the rose and it dawned on me what had happened I was shattered. I felt so betrayed. I was so angry." (Source: Ananova, Sep/07)

BOY IN COURT FOR RIPPING A 1p CARRIER BAG
A schoolboy has been taken to court for causing criminal damage to a plastic carrier bag worth 1p. The offence happened at the teenager's school when he ripped the bag out of the hands of a 13- year-old girl, breaking the handles. The girl's parents called in police who passed the file on to the Crown Prosecution Service, which sanctioned the prosecution. The case has gone before Swindon Youth Court. Andrew Hobson, mitigating, said the offence had been pursued because of the distress it caused.

He added that the boy was sorry for his behaviour. A reparation order is being prepared by the court, meaning the teenager may have to meet and formally apologise to the victim. A statement from the CPS said the public interest was always considered before any prosecution and in this instance 'the charge of criminal damage was considered to be the most appropriate'. The West London Law Society said it estimated the case could cost 'several hundred pounds'. (Source: Metro, Sep/07)

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