BANK bosses grabbed more than £500 in overdraft charges from a distraught customer - two years after she told them to close her account. The TSB has launched an inquiry into why Alexandra Lodge was hounded for money, despite being told the account she
THE SURGE in profits announced by United Utilities has led to calls for action against the company from Louise Ellman. The Lancashire County Council leader believes the extra money made by water and electricity company should be used to fund schemes for
THE outcome of the Budget was fairly predictable. The Tories have tried to bribe the electorate with income tax cuts due to come into force in April next year, probably just before the General Election. In the meantime, we all have to suffer with increased
AFTER three months in hospital, baby Zack Kerr will spend Christmas Day at home with his family. But it is a mixed blessing for his mother Kristianne as the one-year-old suffers constant fits, must be fed through a drip and has no control over his limbs
A SCHEME to employ mercy men on hospital wards is set to be expanded by health bosses. Paramedics have been doing "overtime" by patrolling wards at Blackburn Royal Infirmary along with doctors and nurses since June. The 12-month pilot scheme was introduced
A TRAIN driver with blood pouring from cuts to his face after being hit by a brick, managed to drive his train safely to the nearest station. The drama, on an East Lancashire railway line, was one of three stone-throwing attacks which took place within
A WEEK is a long time in politics. But this one must seem like an agonising aeon for John Major. For look at the mess the Tories are in. There is civil war in the Cabinet over the single European currency. Backbenchers are also in revolt over the future
THEY looked more like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than the modern, state-of-the-art patrol cars. But the basic, compact Ford Anglias which took to the streets of the county full-time in 1966 were so effective that they changed policing in Britain forever.
HEALTH bosses are poised to relocate a children's clinic - because the room is too smoky! A monthly child health clinic has been held at Baxenden Conservative Club since 1991. The club came to the rescue of medics who were struggling to find a suitable
THE boss of a thriving clothing business has told Chancellor Kenneth Clarke to re-think part of his Budget. Simon Moyle, chairman of Altham uniform makers Simon Jersey, is angry with Mr Clarke for phasing out profit-related pay by the year 2000. And he
TOUCH Productions is presently developing a documentary about the British people who went to Australia under the £10-a-ticket scheme launched in 1947. I am hoping to locate those that have returned to live in England. We would like to hear from people
FORGET Disney's 101 Dalmatians: Seamus the 19-month-old spotty dog is the one and only winner of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Premier Pooch Competition. Seamus was picked from a cast of hundreds who entered our competition and is now the proud owner
HOW will countries in the EU react to the recent sickening shooting of a magnificent stag by the next-but-one king of England? The League Against Cruel Sports will find it even more difficult to ban barbarities which occur regularly in Belgium, Spain,
HIS legs may be showing signs of wear and tear after years of sustained assault - but the Derek Mountfield soccer head is as effective as ever. And Burnley boss Adrian Heath is all too aware of the aerial threat posed by the Walsall stalwart. The pair
TWO talented teenagers from the same village have scored an awards hat-trick at a major festival of music, drama and speech. Thirteen-year-olds Donna Peachey and John Roberston swept the board by taking top honours at the Luther Greenwood Memorial Festival
TONY Parkes takes his fast-improving Blackburn Rovers team to Leicester tomorrow declaring: "We must help ourselves." Rovers' caretaker-boss, still in command six weeks on from Ray Harford's departure, was reflecting on a week that has seen the club's
POLICE were today hunting four armed raiders who burst into a country house and subjected a married couple to a violent reign of terror. Lois Banks was tied up and blindfolded while her husband, John, was struck on the head by a gun during the robbery
LANCASHIRE Central Euro-MP Mark Hendrick has spoken on the need to keep duty-free and tax-free shopping. The system is due to be abolished within the European Union in June 1999 which will mean that anyone travelling between Britain and other EU countries
A boost for cleaning service is declared in the November issue of Blackburn Council's newsletter, The Shuttle, but, to all intents and purposes, cleaning in Darwen has been stopped for the last three months. The mechanical road sweeping vehicle has been
A DELIGHTED Rovers fan who flew to Britain from Canada on a wing and a prayer received a warm welcome to East Lancashire. For after John Spurn appeared in the Evening Telegraph kind reader Les Howarth, of Edge End Cottages, Great Harwood, contacted him
A NEW combined jobs centre and unemployment benefit office is to open in Nelson on Monday. The new office on the corner of Railway Street and Netherfield Road is designed to offer jobseekers and employers a complete service under one roof, including vacancies
WHEN Leicester City restarted life in the top flight last August, it's fair to say they were regarded as one of the Premiership's poorer relations. But, in 18-year-old forward Emile Heskey, they do possess - potentially - one of its finest gems. If you
A THREE-year conservation campaign backed by £300,000 of sponsorship from the UK's second largest cable company is due to be launched next week. The joint venture, involving the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and Nynex CableComms gets off the
A MAJOR road scheme to turn part of the A59 through the Ribble Valley into a dual carriageway gets under way this month. The first stages of the £1.5m operation, involving a one-mile section just south of Clitheroe, begin next week although the major
A MUSICAL fantasia to celebrate the spirit of Christmas will be held in Accrington town hall. Award-winning choral groups the Rossendale Ladies and Rossendale Male Voice Choirs and the Stacksteads Band will be appearing on Sunday December 15 at 2.30pm
SUNDAY was becoming a bonanza day for shoppers as more and more stores prepared to defy the law and open. Asda announced that all four of its East Lancashire stores would open on Sunday until Christmas and it was predicted that even more stores would
A BID for a Lottery grant to upgrade the East Lancashire Club is to be launched on the back of record profits. Two legacies totalling £46,000 have left the Blackburn club in the "healthiest position in living memory". Plans for the redevlopment will be
WE are Blind Society members trying to improve our services to visually impaired people. With this in mind, we are starting a new service in the local hospital eye clinics. We are recruiting volunteers to place them in the Eye Departments with a view
WE were wary when it was mooted nine months ago, but the scheme that has ambulance staff standing in on overtime for busy doctors in East Lancashire hospitals is today hailed as a success. So much so that, having been piloted at Blackburn Infirmary since
A DRAMATIC plan to turn Huncoat into a "flourishing community" by building 600 new houses and new shops was unanimously supported by councillors. Residents in the town frustrated with the lack of facilities may soon be provided with amenities, including
A MAJOR document which will shape planning policies in Blackburn for years to come will be delayed by 12 months because of a massive response from the public. Planning chiefs are putting together a local plan for the borough which will lay down guidelines
BILL Holden today insisted that Great Harwood manager Martin Eatough is staying at The Showground. Speculation intensified throughout the week that the former Lancaster City captain was about to return to Giant Axe as the new boss. Alan Tinsley resigned
OLD soldiers may be fading away in Burnley - but they are not losing their fighting spirit. Royal British Legion branch membership fell for the fifth successive year in 1996 - down a massive 15 per cent, leaving just 323 ordinary and associate members
AN EAST Lancashire company has won a contract worth more than a million pounds to supply paint to Saudi Arabia. Darwen-based Akzo Nobel Decorative Coatings secured the deal with Raghadan Commercial Establishment of Riyadh, who have showrooms in all major
JANET Anderson has won the backing of 100 MPs in her battle to scrap mixed-sex hospital wards. The Rossendale and Darwen MP, who is shadow minister for women, has put down a Commons motion urging the government to fulfil its promise to allow people to
ON the day the Conservative Government presented their Budget, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph ran two stories pointing out the reality of life for many in Tory Britain. Firstly the budget: 1p from income tax, higher prescription charges, cuts to housing
BURNLEY FC made an encouraging profit last season despite problems on the field. The club's income fell substantially after dropping back into the Second Division. But chairman Frank Teasdale welcomed the return to profit - £230,725 - after a loss on
A DEVASTATED farmer has lost £4,000 worth of Christmas turkeys after thieves raided a shed on his allotment. The 120 birds, the entire stock of Ralph Rushton, of Manchester Road, Baxenden, had been fed on special organic food ready for the festive market
CHURCH principals are appealing for sponsors for stained glass windows in the new Blackburn Cathedral tower. Several businesses including Europrint Promotions Ltd, AMS Neve, British Aerospace, the Scapa Group and Cobble have pledged to support the £750,000
SHOPPERS in Darwen are being treated to a special Darren Day during the run-up to Christmas. The Darwen Town Centre Association event on Sunday, December 22, will feature live music, face painting, free balloons, carol singers and an appearance by Santa
PAUL Barnes is set to miss tomorrow's FA Cup second round tie at Bescot Stadium as Burnley battle Walsall for a place alongside the Premiership big boys. Barnes missed the scoreless draw at Home Park last weekend as well as Burnley's excellent midweek
BUSINESS confidence in the country and the region is improving dramatically, according to two new reports out this week. International property advisers Jones Lang Wootton say 70 per cent of businesses in the North West anticipate an improvement in their
