Results tagged “Crewe” from Chester Chronicle - And Finally

A FATHER returning to his Crewe home with his baby found it had been repossessed and the locks changed in an amazing blunder by Chelsea Building Society.

Matthew Brooks had just picked up one-year-old Loren from the childminder when he spotted a notice on the door of his house in Benjafield Court.

"As I got out of the car I saw the notice stuck on the inside of the glass and knew it should not have been there. There was also a note in the letterbox," he said.

The note informed Mr Brooks and his wife Lindsey their keys were with an estate agent.

Mr Brooks said he immediately phoned the estate agent and "in no uncertain terms" told them there had been a mistake and demanded his keys back.

They were returned within a couple of hours when it was realised a mistake had been made.

"But we'd been broken into because the Chelsea Building Society had got the wrong house," said Mr Brooks. "I was left in the cold and the rain with a little baby."

The locks on the house had been drilled to gain access and had then been changed.

Mr Brooks said the repossession order was a voluntary one for a house further up the street, and the fault was not with the locksmith or the estate agent but with the building society.

The family have received a financial settlement from the Chelsea for "upset and inconvenience", but are worried there may still be repercussions and they may be blacklisted because of a problem that wasn't their fault.

A Chelsea Building Society spokeswoman said: "Instances such as this are extremely rare and as soon as it was identified that an error had been made, we liaised with Mr Brooks to rectify the situation immediately.

"We are extremely sorry this mistake happened and can confirm this event will have no affect whatsoever on the credit rating of Mr and Mrs Brooks."

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 FUNDRAISER who has raised more than £100,000 to help others has made his final splash in charity duck racing at Crewe's Macon Meadows.

Crewe and Nantwich Liberal Democrat borough councillor Ray Stafford - dubbed the 'Duck Man' - has put away his yellow plastic quackers after 15 years.

The Lea Avenue resident hosted his first duck race on the River Waldron running through Macon Meadows in 1993 and since then he has arranged hundreds and they have coined in more than £100,000 for voluntary and charitable organisations.

The last race, which was held earlier this month, raised £914 for the Cheshire Academy and the Lions Youth Brass Band. In total this year 15 races have raised £11,406.

"I first started the duck races because I had occasion to witness one on the River Waldron," said Cllr Stafford. "Someone came and asked me if I could help with further fundraising, which I had done intermittently over many years and once started I got the bug."

He added: "It's been an absolutely marvellous experience to share the fun and action of the races with so many different people.

"Youngsters with parents and families often shout across the street 'there's the Duck Man' and that most certainly brings a huge smile all round."

"I couldn't have done all this without the help of so many people, too many to mention but you know who you all are. I would also like to thank numerous organisations involved in the races and for their efforts in getting so many ducks sponsored. Also, thanks to St Leonard's Church at Warmingham who, through Judy Baxter, has loaned the 1,000 plastic ducks for his use.

"The community have also helped out in offering support and donating draw and tombola prizes."

Cllr Stafford has also thanked his wife for her support.

A CAT whose Crewe owner feared it was lost forever turned up in Middlewich after hitching a ride in a skip. Four-year-old Murphy disappeared from his home at Simpson Court in Crewe three months ago.

But the black cat named after the Emerald Isle stout proved he had the luck of the Irish when he landed on his feet 10 miles away in Glastonbury Drive, Middlewich and took up residence with Paul and Kate Clarke at nearby Fountains Close.

Owner Vanessa Harratt believes his journey started when they had a skip delivered. The lorry driver then took another skip to Middlewich.

She said: "He must have climbed in it while the truck was still here. We were all distraught when he went missing but I never gave up hope."

The Clarkes spotted Murphy when he ate food left out for hedgehogs.

They took him to Middlewich Veterinary Surgery and he was reunited with his owners thanks to his micro-chip.

Vanessa said: "It was like having a newborn baby when he came back home because everyone came round and brought him toys. I'm so grateful to Mr and Mrs Clarke who took him in. He's fatter than he was when he left here!"

A barman has been reunited with the family he has never known following a chance encounter at work. Wayne Farrington, 38, was fostered at just two weeks old, but has always believed he had three siblings somewhere in Cheshire.

Despite searching the internet, he had never been able to track them down.
But when a customer he had never met walked into the Gaffers Row pub in Victoria Street at Crewe, where Wayne works, it sparked off a chain of events that has reunited him with two half- brothers and a half-sister.

Wayne, who was adopted by his long- term foster family when he was 15, said: "I knew I had other family because my adoptive parents told me when they adopted me, but I have never been able to find them.
"They knew they had another brother, but our mother died 18 years ago, and I think at that point they gave up hope.

"We all tried in our own ways, but it goes to show that the internet doesn't always get you that far."
He explained that when a customer came into the pub and mentioned he was from Northwich, Wayne, of Queen's Drive, Nantwich, asked him casually if he knew a woman he believed to be his mother's sister.
"When I mentioned the woman's name he was surprised and said he did know her, that she was the landlady of his local pub.

"I got in touch with my mum's sister, and I've just met them all for the first time."
Wayne has now been reunited with Northwich-based Zoe, 36, Scot, 35, and 37-year-old Spencer, and says his life has changed forever.

"It was just how it all happened. I'd never seen the guy who came in the pub before, and if he hadn't mentioned he was from Northwich, I would never had said anything about it, and even then, what were the chances?

"It's hard to imagine that within three weeks I had met family I've never known. When we met for the first time, Zoe and I both had a kind of déjà vu, like we'd met before.

"We might have stood next to each other in a bar and never realised who we were to each other.
"All this from a bit of banter with a stranger to pass the time one afternoon. It's incredible. I never could have imagined it would have come about this way."

MANCHESTER United star Wayne Rooney and his wife-to-be Coleen McLoughlin have signed up for life at Crewe!

The England ace and sweetheart Coleen, both 22, have had their wedding banns posted at Crewe Register Office in Delamere Street.

The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as 'the banns' - from an Old English word meaning 'to summon' - are the public announcement that a marriage is going to take place between two specified persons.

The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise any legal impediment to it, so as to prevent marriages that are legally invalid, either under canon law or under civil law.

In England, under the provisions of Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act, a marriage is only legally valid if the reading of the banns has taken place or a marriage licence has been obtained.

It is believed that Wayne and Coleen, who are preparing to tie the knot in June in the Italian city of Genoa, would have had to pay a visit to Crewe in order to sign the forms in front of a registrar because it is the registration administrative centre for Cheshire where they live.

A Crewe registrar could not confirm that, but added: "All I can say is that we have the notice here."

But unfortunately on the paperwork, Wayne's job description is misspelt as a 'proffesional' footballer - while Coleen has listed her occupation as a journalist.

"That was a clerical error on our part and none of us had noticed it," said the registrar.

The pair are expected to throw a second wedding celebration party for extended family in the UK.

Meanwhile, Coleen has flown out to Miami Beach for a relaxing holiday with girlfriends.