2018 Other News Stories that might be missed

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Dingwall Pupils fall ill after drinking vaping fluid

Pupils at a school in Highlands became seriously ill after drinking vaping fluid contained within electronic cigarettes.
Dingwall Academy has sent letters home with its students warning that the liquid is "highly toxic and can be fatal".
NHS Highland has issued a wider warning about the potential risks of the behaviour.
Signs someone has drunk the fluid include vomiting and dizziness.
Highland Council said letters went out to pupils' parents and carers on Friday.
A spokeswoman said: "We have had to deal with a small number of incidents over the last couple of days where pupils have become seriously ill in school.
"We believe that the illnesses may have been caused by individuals drinking vaping fluid, which is highly dangerous.
"We have spoken to pupils at assemblies and have sought further advice from the police and NHS Highland."
BBC

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Guess she feels a fuel! Footage of woman looking ever-more puzzled as she tried to fill up her electric car with a gas station nozzle goes viral

This is the hilarious moment a driver tries to fill her car with fuel, seemingly forgetting it's an electric.
The footage was shot by a group of friends behind her in a gas station in the US.
They laugh uncontrollably as she looks for a nozzle to fill her Telsa.
At one point, the woman finds the electrical charging port and begins to try to insert the fuel pump into it.
Finally, after about three minutes of hysterics a man jumps out of the car behind to tell the lady of her mistake.
She takes it in good jest, appearing amused by it and thanking him as she laughs.
Mail

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Parrot who has made friends with its owner's Alexa keeps accidentally ordering things on Amazon... from fruit and veg to a kite

He's always ready to swoop for a bargain – and swears by early bird offers.
Rocco the parrot, who was rehomed from a sanctuary after cursing too much, has been accidentally placing orders on Amazon by chatting to voice-activated personal assistant Alexa.
So far, the African Grey has 'bought' a range of fruit and veg – including water melons, raisins and broccoli – ice cream, a light bulb and even a kite.
Rocco was rehomed from the National Animal Welfare Trust sanctuary in Berkshire because staff feared his use of swear words would upset visitors.
Sanctuary worker Marion Wischnewski volunteered to foster him and took him to her home in Blewbury, Oxfordshire.
But he has since been using her Amazon Echo to order all the things he likes to eat.
The African Grey – a breed renowned for its ability to copy words – added shopping to a virtual supermarket list by speaking to the device.
Miss Wischnewski said: 'I have to check the shopping list when I come in from work and cancel all the items he's ordered.'
Alexa talks back to the parrot and plays music, with songs by American rockers Kings of Leon the bird's favourite.
Miss Wischnewski said of Alexa and Rocco's relationship: 'They chat away to each other all day. Often I come in and there's music playing.'
Mail

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Dying neighbour leaves girl presents for 14 years

A family were left shocked to find their late elderly neighbour had left Christmas presents to give to their daughter for the next 14 years.
Ken Watson, who was in his late 80s, lived next to Owen and Caroline Williams in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, for the last two years.
The couple said Mr Watson "doted" on their two-year-old daughter Cadi.
He died recently and on Monday evening, his daughter knocked on the Williams' home to deliver the presents.
"She was clutching this big bag plastic sack and I thought it was rubbish she was going to ask me to throw out," said Mr Williams.
"But she said it was everything her dad had put away for Cadi. It was all of the Christmas presents he had bought for her.
"I brought it back in and my wife was on FaceTime to her mum in Ireland. My wife started to tear up and I started to tear up, and her mum started to tear up.
"It's difficult describing it because it was so unexpected. I don't know how long he put them away whether it was over the last two years or whether he bought them towards the end of his life."
Mr Williams said they have opened one of the presents which was a book but were not sure what to do about the rest.
"We can tell there's some books, there's three or four soft toys, maybe some Duplo," he added.
Mr Williams said his neighbour - a retired commercial deep sea diver - was a "real, real character".
In recent years he did skydiving, wing-walking and has completed parachute jumps, and he also played the accordion.
BBC

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Magician's tribute to Colchester Zoo's orangutan Rajang

A man who once performed an astonishing card trick with a zoo's orangutan has paid his respects to the popular animal following its death.
Colchester Zoo's orangutan Rajang was put to sleep last week at the age of 50 due to ill health.
Rajang was a social media hit over the years, having a fascination with pregnant women's baby bumps and hitting the headlines in 2016 when he took part in a magic trick with Matt G Mentalist.
Paying tribute on Facebook, the magician said: "Such sad news. This guy gave me a moment in magic I will never forget. Sleep tight big fella."
BBC link includes video.

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Derby pub's 'sign-a-long' for boy with Down's syndrome

Regulars and staff at a pub have performed a "sign-a-long" of a five-year-old boy's favourite song.
They used Makaton sign language for a rendition of Labi Siffre's (Something Inside) So Strong for Oliver Callis, who has Down's syndrome.
It combines signs, symbols and speech to help him communicate.
The Oaklands pub in Littleover, Derby, is one of only three in the UK which has "Makaton friendly" accreditation.
BBC link includes video.

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NHS hospital failed to spot more than £200,000 had been stolen from parking meters

An NHS hospital making millions from car parking fees failed to spot more than £200,000 had been stolen from pay machines in seven months, a court heard.
Security guard Peter O'Garro, 52, enlisted his wife and three colleagues to repeatedly emptied the meters, filling suitcases and tool boxes at his home with the cash.
University Hospital of South Manchester Trust only discovered the huge loss when a university student employed by the firm blew the whistle after being asked to join in with the scam. O'Garro, from Middleton, Manchester, was assigned by private security firm Noonan Services Group to guard and empty Wythenshawe Hospital's six parking pay stations.
Along with his three colleagues, Stephen Seddon, Christopher Hughes and Shahid Nadeem, he stole £207,412 over seven months from July 2015 to February 2016. O'Garro and his wife Karen, 48, who works as a hospice nurse in Rochdale, spent the stolen funds on an extravagant lifestyle, buying a quad bike, jewellery and high-end electronics.
The scam was only exposed when Firas Armosh, a Manchester University PhD student employed by the firm on a temporary contract, blew the whistle on the operation after witnessing the deception.
After being given training on how boxes containing cash were to be removed and passed on to hospital staff, Mr Armosh realised his colleagues were stealing.
Telegraph

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Third of rare Scotch whiskies tested found to be fake

More than a third of vintage Scotch whiskies tested at a specialist laboratory have been found to be fake, BBC Scotland has learned.
Twenty-one out of 55 bottles of rare Scotch were deemed to be outright fakes or whiskies not distilled in the year declared.
The tests were conducted at the East Kilbride-based Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC).
It used advanced radiocarbon dating techniques to reach its conclusions.
SUERC measured residual concentrations of a radioactive isotope of carbon present in the alcohol contained in each bottle in order to establish the ages of the whiskies.
The samples had been sent for analysis by whisky broker Rare Whisky 101 (RW101), which said it was responding to "growing concern surrounding the proliferation of fake whisky" in the secondary market.
The bottles had been selected at random from auctions, private collections and retailers.
Last year, the same company exposed a £7,600 dram of vintage Scotch bought in a Swiss hotel as a fake.

Read the full story

[boatbuilder]

US bank 'sorry' for calling police on black man cashing pay cheque

A bank in Ohio has apologised for calling police on a black man who was attempting to cash his pay cheque.
Paul McCowns, 30, had gone to the Huntington Bank branch in Brooklyn, Ohio - a suburb of Cleveland - with his first cheque from his new job.
After providing two forms of ID and giving his fingerprints, as requested, the bank staff refused to cash the cheque, and asked him to leave.
Unbeknownst to Mr McCowns, they also called police who later detained him.
"It was highly embarrassing," Mr McCowns told Cleveland 19 News.

What exactly happened?

The incident on 1 December occurred after Mr McCowns arrived at the bank to cash his cheque of over $1,000 (£800), earned after three weeks in his new job.
Because he does not have an account with Huntington Bank, they required him to provide two forms of ID, and also insisted that he provide his fingerprints.
After multiple cashiers examined the cheque, he says, they refused to cash it and asked him to leave.
But without informing Mr McCowns, they had also called 911 and reported that he was trying to cash a fraudulent cheque.
Police handcuffed him and put him in a squad car as they called his employer, who he said told officers: "'Yes, he works for me, he just started, and yes, my payroll company does pay him that much.'"
In a statement Huntington Bank said it "sincerely apologises to Mr McCowns for this extremely unfortunate event."
Mr McCowns, who cashed his cheque at a different Huntington branch the next day, said the apology was insufficient.
"I want an apology, a sincere apology, mainly from the person who called the cops on me."
According to Brooklyn police, there have been over 10 calls to police about fraudulent cheques from that bank branch alone in the past few months - all of which ended in arrests.

BBC News

How despicable. They should be ashamed.

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Christmas carollers set rail delay woes to song

Fed-up commuters have taken their revenge against Transpennine Express (TPE) by setting their woes to song.
Friends of Mossley Station's Ellie Shember-Critchley said the group had decided to "get a bit mischievous about things".
Their songs include a version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, which speaks of "three crowded carriages, two cancelled stops, and a late train to [Manchester] Piccadilly".
A TPE spokesman said while there had been "some cancellations to services over recent months, we have put in place changes that have already started to bring about improvements to the reliability".
BBC

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Christmas stress for family with water-filled hole in living room

If you think your house is chaos on Christmas Day, spare a thought for the Evans family in the Rhondda.
Alison and Keith Evans' home in Trebanog has a big open drain in their living room floor because of recurring flooding.
The problem has plagued the couple for almost a year and will see them squeeze into their kitchen to open presents, eat dinner and watch TV.
To add to the stress, Christmas Day is also their daughter's 18th birthday.
Mrs Evans said she was at her "wit's end" over the situation - which has also puzzled Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, who have been unable to find the source of the flooding.
"Family and visitors will all be piled into the one room," she said. "We managed to get the TV and sofa in the kitchen, but now that has had to make way for the Christmas tree."
The problem at the couple's semi-detached house, which they bought 10 years ago, started last Christmas.
They had to rescue their presents from under the tree after water came up through the floor.
Builders were called in and the flooding looked to have gone away - but a couple of months later and they were back to square one.
A drainage pit and pumping equipment as well as a large hole in the floor have been there ever since.
BBC

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Families booking Santa's grottos months in advance, as parents say the Christmas tradition has become 'absolute madness'

Parents looking to take their young children to a Santa's grotto for a festive experience are being forced to book tickets months in advance, as events are selling out in a matter of days.
The annual tradition of meeting Mr Claus has become so popular amongst middle-class families that many are booking tickets as early as August and some venues are struggling to keep up.
Parents have complained that they cannot even get into the grottos in their local garden centre's, with one mother writing on Mumsnet: “What happened to the good old days of rocking up to a garden centre and queuing for half an hour?”
Some parents replied to the message that was posted in August, saying they had already booked their tickets to a Santa's grotto for this weekend, just in time for Christmas.
In October, Selfridges released tickets for their ‘Breakfast with Santa’ event where families could enjoy “a decadent festive breakfast and receive a gift bag full of surprises” whilst meeting Mr and Mrs Claus for £55 per child and £45 per adult.
Telegraph

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WW2 mince pies found under Isle of Man hotel floorboards

A tin of mince pies baked during World War Two has been put on display after being discovered immaculately preserved under the floorboards of a hotel.
The festive treats, which were a wartime gift from a mother to her sailor son, were uncovered at the Loch Hotel in Douglas on the Isle of Man.
They were found during the hotel's 1998 renovation but later left forgotten in storage at the Manx Museum.
The pies have now been placed on display for the first time.
It is thought that air-tight conditions under the hotel floor may have helped preserve the treats for almost 80 years.
They were addressed to Able Seaman Phil Davis and accompanied by a letter signed "best, love from mum".
Matthew Richardson, curator of social history for Manx National Heritage, said they were a "unique" reflection of the "human" stories behind the war.
Christmas was "the right time for them to shine", he added.
Hotels and boarding houses along Douglas promenade were used to house soldiers and sailors during the war.
Mr Richardson said the pies may have been concealed under the floorboards to prevent them from being stolen by other soldiers.
"If you're in a shared room with five or six other men you don't know, the only way you could be sure of protecting what was yours was to find a place to hide it," he said.
BBC

[boatbuilder]

Not a very Christmassy story, but sadly the sort often associated with pets at Christmas.

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Can you work out what most politically correct parking spaces EVER mean? Westfield shopping centre's bid to 'promote diverse families' left shoppers so confused they had to scrap them

A series of parking spaces installed at a London shopping centre aimed at 'promoting diversity' left shoppers baffled and confused where to park their car.
Twenty-four new white painted signs were created to 'celebrate modern families', including same-sex couples and single parents, at Westfield in Shepherd's Bush.
They featured spaces for gay couples with a child, a male and trans couple with a baby, split families with more than two parents and older couples with a child.
While some of the icons were easy to decipher, others had customers scratching their heads wondering if they were allowed to park there.
The signs for same-sex couples were relatively obvious, but more obscure ones such as 'grandparent, guardian and child' and 'pregnant mother with female partner and baby' proved more difficult.
Mail

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Petting zoos for prisoners! Now inmates at Category B jail are given a GOAT for therapy sessions to teach them ‘responsibility for others’

Violent inmates are having therapy sessions with goats funded by the NHS, it was reported last night.
Prisoners at category B HMP Swaleside in Kent are stroking and feeding pet pygmy goats to teach them how to ‘take responsibility for others’.
Critics have slammed the courses, which are thought to be costing thousands of pounds, as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Therapy sessions involve inmates at Swaleside’s Personality Disorder Unit with mental health problems not serious enough to be treated in hospital, according to The Sun.
The inmates care for pet goats named Karen and Faye in a farm area of the jail grounds.
David Spencer, research director of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: ‘It beggars belief that anyone would think this is a reasonable use of resources.
Mail