November 2008 Archives

A GARDEN shed was blown apart when a man who had gone inside to sleep there lit up a cigarette.

It is believed John Dallas-Andrew's lighter set off the explosion in the shed which contained Butane gas cylinders and a barbecue.

Twenty-year-old John suffered superficial burns to his face and hands in the incident on George Street, Whitchurch, in the small hours of last Thursday morning.

The victim is believed to have gone into the shed at his mother's house at 1am after a night out.

A nine-strong crew from Whitchurch Fire Station turned out to deal with the blaze and an ambulance crew treated the victim at the scene for burns.

Whitchurch Fire Station chief Mike Beach said: "As he used his lighter, the explosion blew the shed apart. The explosion may have been caused by a build-up of Butane gas, possibly leaking from the regulator connected to the 15k cylinder.

"The victim suffered burns to his face and hands and he said his injuries were stinging very badly. He was also in shock.

"When we arrived he was trying to put out the fire with his neighbour's hosepipe."

Mr Dallas -Andrew was taken by ambulance to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital - but he was released after treatment.

It is understood his injuries, although painful, were only superficial and will not require any longer term treatment.

A CHESTER lap dancing club has come with "a cheeky" idea for how struggling companies can defy the credit crunch.

Dan Phillips, booking agent for the Platinum Lounge in Bridge Street, says businesses can now get themselves noticed and increase their bottom-line...by advertising on the girls' bare behinds.

Dan said the commercials were similar - if a little more racy - to those on Premiership football shirts or Formula 1 drivers' racing suits.

He said: "I thought of it more as a cheeky bit of fun until we realised the potential that it was an interesting and unusual way for people to get their businesses noticed.

"Local firms can sponsor as many of the girls as they wish and we hope the novelty of the scheme will ensure their message will stick in the minds of those people visiting the club.

"We have a very diverse selection of customers from all walks of life and are pretty sure they will have never seen anything like this before."

The dancers will have the 15cm by 10m adverts applied to their bottoms using a stencil and body paints.

"I had to do a lot of research with a tape measure to come up with the optimum size for the adverts!" added Dan.

Corporate sponsors will be offered a special deal for their clients to visit the club and Dan reckons "it could just help clinch that important contract".

Platinum lap dancer Emma-Louise, who has had a stencil applied to her bottom as part of the research stage, said; "I think it's a nice fun idea and a bit quirky which is exactly the kind of thing that sets the Platinum Lounge apart from many other venues of this type.

"I always like to help out, and anything which helps promote anybody's business must be a good thing, especially during these 'credit crunch' times."

A MISSING cockatiel has been reunited with its owner after chirping its own name down the phone from the home of its rescuer.

The woman who found two-year-old needed to be sure she was speaking to the rightful owners.

That was confirmed when she passed the phone to the bird, and it immediately squawked its name.

Smokey went missing over the weekend after flying out of the door of Mr David Edwards' home in Bickerton Drive, Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.

His two-day adventure in the wild came to an end two miles away in Bellevue Park, Wrexham, when he perched on accountant Sue Hill's shoulder.

She took him in and phoned the RSPCA which put her in touch with Mr Edwards who had reported his cockatiel missing.

Now, grandfather-of-three, David and his grandson have finally been reunited with their feathered friend.

Sue said: "I heard little chirping sounds that weren't typical of the bird noises you usually hear in a park. When I looked up I saw a cockatiel perched on a branch and he flew down and landed on my shoulder.

"He was very friendly and just stayed there as I continued walking. I was with my mum who has a mobility scooter and when we got into the car I wrapped him in a scarf and put him in the scooter basket until I got home. My friend gave me a cage to keep him in for the night and he was just chirping away.

"Because it was a Sunday, there was not much I could do to find his owners so first thing on Monday morning I rang around some local vets and put up posters, when one of the vets told me a man had reported a missing cockatiel.

"I was given a phone number for the man, Mr Edwards, but I wanted to be sure he was the actual owner.

"I called and spoke to his wife who told me her pet was called Smokey and asked me to put him on the phone.

"As soon as he heard her voice, he stopped chirping and began saying 'Smokey,' it was very funny.

"That was the first time the bird had spoken and it was then I was sure that he belonged to them."

After a "heartbreaking" weekend, Mr Edwards told the Daily Post that he was "over the moon" to have Smokey back.

He said: "Smokey belongs to my 16-year-old grandson but lives here with us because we have two other birds.

"They all have free rein over the house but I hadn't realised Smokey was upstairs when he flew past me and out of the door.

"We put up posters, rang the RSPCA and all the local vets.

"I couldn't believe it when Sue contacted us to tell us she had found him, we were delighted.

"He has his own character and says phrases such as 'Hello Smokey,' 'Smokey-Cokey' and 'What's that?'"

THOUSANDS of motorists are being directed to a Chester massage parlour by Highways Agency road signs.

Diversions set up at major roadworks in Shotwick are alerting drivers that they can gain access to a business called The Bungalow.

The business, which offers customers various services in its pink room and red room, has been in operation for 16 years and is just yards from the busy A550 on the Cheshire-Flintshire border.

Owner of The Bungalow, Bonnie Westgarth applied to Chester City Council in September this year to change the use of the building to a massage parlour.
Now, due to the £58m Deeside Park Junction Improvement project, thousands of road users will be able to find it.

Highways Agency spokeswoman Barbara Phillips said: "As part of the Deeside junction improvement works, changes are being made to the access of this business.
", the black and yellow signs have been put up to alert individuals using the business that they can still gain access.

"As far as we are aware, the business is a massage parlour but if someone came to us to say it was an illegal business then the signs would come down."

The roadworks, which are designed to ease congestion at the key gateway to England and Wales, are expected to be completed by December.

The temporary signs advertising The Bungalow - which stand alongside those directing people to the M56, Manchester and Birkenhead - will be removed once the works have been completed.

Staff at The Bungalow have declined to comment.

MEET Ellesmere Port-educated John Prescott.

Not the long-serving politician and former Deputy Prime Minister, but the number one lookalike and tribute act to Sir Tom Jones.

It's not unusual to see John, who grew up in Pooltown Road, strutting his stuff on stages across the globe as the legendary Welsh singer and international sex bomb.

But the 49-year-old still remembers his roots and spoke to the Pioneer about his "whirlwind" career as a full-time lookalike during a visit back home.

John, who like his namesake attended the old Grange school in Regent Street, first emulated Sir Tom as a favour to a friend who used to do tribute act shows before being asked to go on the UK tour of the hit TV series Stars in their Eyes in 2003. He hasn't looked back since.

He said: "It's changed my life.

"It's just been a whirlwind few years. I spend a lot of time on the road but it's been fantastic."

Impersonating the much-loved popstar has seen John perform across the country as well as in America, Greece and even the Cayman Islands.

He has also starred in a film about Sir Tom with rock band The Lost Prophets, and appeared in Merseybeat and a TV commercial for Coronation Street.

John, a former milkman in the town who has also worked at Bowater's Bridgewater paper mill and Vauxhall Motors, admits that although the looks were never a problem, emulating the singer was a rather different challenge.

He explained: "I played guitar in school and have been in various bands. I was into Guns and Roses and AC/DC so Tom Jones was not really my type of music back then.
"It was a bit of task to take him off. That was the most difficult part but I studied him closely and now I love his music.

"The audiences are great. They treat it as the real thing. They want to live it so they come along and bombard the stage with knickers!"

So does John get the thumbs up from the man himself?

He said: "Everyone says you must have met him but I haven't yet. I'd love to meet him, there is still plenty of time. It'd be great to do a duet!"

A FRUSTRATED landlord has put up a sign to publicly shame a tenant who owes him hundreds of pounds in rent.

Agostino Fabrizio says he is so fed up with a rent dodger living in one of his properties on Lord Street, Crewe, that he has taken a leaf out of Liverpool-based Sutton Estates' book.

The estate agent has put placards with 'Rent Dodger Lives Here' and the image of a shadowy figure running away after repeated attempts of getting in touch with tenants for unpaid rent.

Mr Fabrizio, who rents out 12 properties in the Crewe area, has now taken up the idea himself.

"Landlords are really suffering and it's not so much because of the credit crunch," he said. "If you have got a tenant who stops paying, then the process to evict them is lengthy and very costly.

"My mortgage company doesn't care if I'm not getting the rent because I still have to make repayments on the house. The council use to give their share of the rent straight to the landlord but as of April this year, the council pays the tenant.

"It's all about trying to give them more social responsibility but often the money doesn't get to us.

"I'm owed about £2,000 by a tenant on Lord Street. She has been in since May and I must have had about £200 off her and had about five weeks of the council's proportion from when they were paying me direct.

"I generally don't have any problems with my tenants but this woman is proving a problem. It's now got to the stage where I thought I am not going to get any money off her, even if it gets to court, so I want her out so I can get someone else in.

"I have done my best to try and reason with her but she just doesn't want to know and says the Citizens Advice Bureau has told her to sit tight because she has rights.

"At the end of the day, there isn't enough protection for landlords. CAB fight for the tenant and put the pressure on them to stay but what are we supposed to do in the mean time?"

But Simon Gordon, of the National Landlords Association, the leading representative body for private residential landlords, said: "While we understand the threat to both landlords and letting agents of tenants failing to keep up with their rental payments, this form of public humiliation is a recipe for disaster and does nothing for the reputation of the sector."