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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."

A BEATLES fan literally had a 'ticket to ride' when she put a set of autographs of the Fab Four up for auction on Friday.

The autographs, contained on a Whitchurch Civic Hall ticket stub, sold for £2,300 at Halls in Shrewsbury after keen competition from two bidders.

The local buyer, a keen fan of The Beatles, held off competition from an eBay bidder.

The owner, who lives in Oswestry, collected the autographs when The Beatles played at Whitchurch Civic Hall in 1962, before they became famous.

Stewart Orr, toys expert at Halls, explained the woman had attended the concert with a friend at about the time of the group's first single, Love Me Do, which was released on October 5, 1962.

"She arrived early and was sitting in the foyer at Whitchurch Civic Hall waiting for a friend when Paul McCartney came in and asked if they wanted to meet the rest of the group backstage," he said.

"The only thing that the girls had to sign was the stub of a ticket for a concert by Chris Barber's Jazz Band. As an extra bonus, the owner of the autographs got to kiss John Lennon.

"The Beatles had just released their first single and were still carrying their own equipment to and from their van."

A TARPORLEY restaurant owner has been ordered to pull the plug on dummy parking tickets which left motorists hot under the collar.

Chris Baker, of Christiano's restaurant at Tarporley, dished out 500 fake tickets to vehicles in Nantwich's car parks with the message 'Gotcha: free bottle of wine with a meal for two at Christiano's hidden inside."

Now Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council has stepped in and told him to stop or receive a £300 fine for littering.

A council spokesman said: "We were alerted to these tickets being placed on vehicles on Saturday and we took immediate action to have them removed because they bear a resemblance to those issued by police.

"This caused a lot of distress to residents and the borough council frowns upon this type of thing."

Mr Baker admits numerous phone calls were made to the restaurant by irate drivers who he says 'failed to see the funny side' of his promotion.

He added: "This has just been a complete over-reaction to our new offer. I have literally had people telling me they have high blood pressure and need to go to the doctors because of this and that one man had an asthma attack.

"Some have said it was a good idea but I have had so many angry calls. We must have had about 150 calls and one man told me it was causing havoc in the town centre. It has just completely backfired."

A dozen people took up the offer and visited the Italian restaurant on Sunday night. Mr Baker, who lives at Wettenhall, is delighted but he says he continues to receive calls from angry people: "It seems a lot of people just don't have a sense of humour and have taken this completely the wrong way."

It was the first time the restaurant, run by Mr Baker and his wife Dawn, had carried out the promotion.

A FOOTBALL fan has paid the ultimate tribute to his club - by naming his daughter after it.

Eva Toni Ann Pierce, who is eight months old, owes her name to her dad's love of Everton Football Club.
Danny Pierce, of Moorfields, Holywell, said: "I am Everton beserk. I thought up the name when I was in school and always said if I had a daughter she'd be called Eva-Toni-Ann."

But Eva's mum, Claire Cooper, needed convincing.

She said: "I'm not interested in football and I didn't like the name at first but it has grown on me now."
The couple have two other daughters, Tia and Casey, but it wasn't until the birth of the third that Claire allowed the football-themed name.

Danny said: "We put all the names we had thought of in a hat and I picked out Eva-Toni-Ann. Then we got our eldest daughter to pick one and she picked it too."

Claire added: "She didn't have a name for the first couple of days because we were going to call her Ciara but it didn't suit her."

If they had had a boy, he would have been called Duncan, after former Everton player Duncan Ferguson.
The unusual name has attracted a lot of attention.

"When we go into the chemist people always say what a great name it is," Danny said.

"People come up to me in the street to talk about it. Even Liverpool fans think it's great."

The name has extra meaning after Danny's father, a huge Everton fan, died following a house-fire earlier this year.

Danny said: "My dad was a big fan and a season ticket holder. He brought us up on Everton. "He was here when Eva was born and I know that he was proud."

A CRICKET club owner has been buried next to the scoreboard at his beloved Haslington ground.

Mike Trevor, of Fields Road, Haslington, was buried at the club he has run for more than 20 years on Friday following a funeral which family and friends say was more like a wedding.

Sam Trevor, son of 70-year-old Mike, said his dad had the day he wanted.

"It was unbelievable," said 39-year-old Sam. "A couple of people turned round and said it was the best funeral they'd ever been to and that it was more like a wedding. We wanted it to be celebration of his life and it was."

Sam said his dad decided he wanted to be buried at the cricket club two and a half years ago when he was first diagnosed with cancer.

Various checks with officials, including the environment agency, then had to be taken before permission was granted.

The funeral was held at the Clay Lane club and then Mike was taken in a horse drawn hearse to his final resting place - next to the score board.

"It was incredible about 500 people attended," said Sam. "We'd only catered for 200 but we managed. We'd just like to really thank everyone who turned up."

Some of those who attended had flown in from as far away as Canada. Others came from Scotland and Ireland.

They all took part in the celebration of Mike's life which was led by his widow, Pauline, elder son Michael, 44, and his wife Melanie and daughter Louise, together with Sam, his wife Nicky and their son Oli.

In keeping with Mike's wishes, there was a big celebration followed by a hog roast. "Again, that was just what he wanted," added Sam.

SALES of Cheshire cheese have soared by a huge 25% in just three months - because of the credit crunch.

Experts are attributing the increases to consumers who are increasingly opting to make sandwiches and packed lunches at home, rather than spending up to £5 a day on expensive shop-bought sandwiches or lunches.

This seems to be backed up by the fact that Lancashire based Warburtons bakers have also experienced a similar boost in bread and roll sales with a 10% year-on-year sales increase.

British Cheese Board secretary Nigel White said: "We have been pleasantly surprised to see Cheshire cheese sales steadily rising in this economic climate but as we analyse consumer behaviour it becomes clear that many people are opting to prepare their lunches at home as part of their credit crunch cost cutting.

"Traditionally cheese has always been a great staple food in times of hardship as it is a cost effective source of protein."

Househunters in Nantwich are being tempted with the offer of a free £17,500 high-performance car in a bid to combat the stagnant housing market.

A developer is giving away a new BMW 1 Series car to anyone who buys a plot on his site, and is also attempting to woo people looking to buy by offering to pay their utility bills for the next two years.

The deal on properties at the Walnut Grange site off Newcastle Road in Hough comes at a time when the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has announced more and more people are opting to rent rather than get stuck on the property ladder when banks are tightening their belts and withdrawing attractive mortgage offers.

David Baskeyfield, of Mayfield Developments, which has also recently built homes in Willaston, said there was no denying the housing market was not as strong as it had been, but that it was not all doom and gloom.

He said: "Mortgages are not so easy to come by as they were 12 months ago. Of course, the market is slowing up but what we want to do is lift the profile, because there are still buyers out there.

"We decided to include the cars as a way of adding a bit of oomph behind the offer."

Other offers include paying the stamp duty on the four- and five-bedroomed homes, loans of up to £65,000 for key workers and shared equity schemes.

MOTORISTS dialled 999 after seeing two men driving a horse and cart at 10mph down the M56 at night without any lights.

The men, who had been drinking, refused to stop for police during their 40-minute journey between Frodsham and Elton on Sunday.

Police used a 10mph rolling road block to slow traffic and escorted the horse, trap and riders off at Elton.

They arrested the men after they crashed the cart into a parked car.

Police spokeswoman Jacqui Hanson said: "At 11.15pm on Sunday, we received calls from concerned motorists that a pony and trap were trotting erratically westbound along the hard shoulder of the M56 between junction 12 and junction 14.

"Officers instigated a rolling block and a number of police cars slowed down the traffic on the motorway while another patrol spoke to the men.

"They refused to stop and were followed from the motorway at about 5-10mph into Elton. At about 11.50pm the cart collided with a parked car and the two men were arrested.

"An equine hospital was called and took the horse away to be cared for until one of the men could collect it. The RSPCA will be keeping an eye on its welfare."

A 27-year-old man from St Helens and 38-year-old man from Queensferry were charged with driving a prohibited vehicle and have been released on police bail.

Both men are thought to be from the Travelling community.

A HUSBAND and wife are planning to become Mrs and Mrs following his revelations he wants to be a woman.

Nantwich father-of-three Karl Ellis, 27, changed his name by deed poll to Lucy Jayne last October.
Although wife Lorna knew her husband was a cross-dresser she was taken by surprise when, earlier this year, Karl told her: "I want to become a real woman."

Their story has now been highlighted in our Trinity Mirror sister publication, the Sunday Mirror.
"I just couldn't believe it," said 23-year-old Lorna, "This was my husband saying he wanted to be my girlfriend. All I knew is I wanted to be with him. He was my first love and I couldn't imagine life without him.
"I blamed myself and felt a complete failure as a woman. Should I have been able to convince him that he was a real man?"

Karl, now Lucy, said: "I hope we can work it out and stay together."

The couple first became friends at school more than 10 years ago. They then moved into a flat together in August 2002 and soon afterwards Lorna, then 17, discovered she was pregnant.

The couple, who now have three children, were married at Crewe Register Office in August 2006.
Karl, who is 6ft 5ins tall, continued to cross-dress and one night Lorna asked if he actually wanted to be a woman.

Lucy, then still Karl, replied he did - that he had tried to bury it, but couldn't.
When Lorna, who is 5ft 4ins, then asked Karl if he wanted a sex change operation he said he wasn't sure.
Karl, now Lucy, added: "We sat down and talked about it then we went to the doctors to see if they could help me with Lorna's support."

He now has to live as Lucy, a woman, for two years before a sex change operation can even be considered.

A TICKET mix-up cost a couple their £240,000 lottery win.

Jeanette Dodd, 45, was jumping for joy when she checked her Lucky Dip ticket for last Saturday's draw because she had five numbers, 2, 12, 22, 28, 30 and the bonus ball 39.

But then her husband Andrew, who works at Shell UK (Stanlow), double-checked and dropped the bombshell news - their winning ticket was not for that night, Saturday, but the following Wednesday instead.

Mrs Dodd, who lives with her husband in Eastham, said: "It's like a cruel joke. One minute I thought I'd won a fortune - and the next it had gone."

The couple bought the ticket at 5.45pm at Asda in Bromborough on Saturday of last week.

Mrs Dodd explained: "As we left the store Andrew said he was going to get a Lotto ticket but I said I would get it because I had just found a penny on the floor.

"You know the expression: 'See a penny, pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck'. I normally do the Lotto online but I went to the counter with a blank play slip to ask the bloke what I did.

"He put the slip straight through the machine and when it registered nothing he asked me what I wanted.

"I told him three lucky dips for that night but as I said it he was talking to someone through a perspex screen next to him. That's the only reason I can think of for the mistake.

"All I can say is I now know what it feels like to win an awful lot of money... and it's a fantastic feeling.

"Unfortunately, I know what it is like to have it taken away."

And of her tickets, she said: "You don't think to check the day and date."

Mrs Dodd - mum to Kelly, 24, and Michael, 22 - has since received an e-mail of apology from Asda.

A spokeswoman for Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, said: "While we understand the customer's disappointment, all lottery tickets clearly state that it's the customer's responsibility to check the details. If a mistake had been picked up by the customer at the time, we would of course have re-issued fresh tickets for the Saturday draw."