MR PUNCH had good reason to be an unpleasant stick-wielding brute, reports the Daily Mail (Sept 5). David Bryson, a teaching fellow at the University of Derby, believes that Punch’s big hands and prominent features could have been caused by acromegaly, a condition that makes the body produce too much growth hormone. Who would have thought it? Ann Widdecombe, the former Employment Minister, gave “three cheers” for Alan Roberts, who used a fork-lift truck to remove an illegally-parked caravan and car from his land. “It is a victory for the law-abiding citizen,” she wrote in the Daily Express (Sept 6).
The owner of a car that was hit by a lump of ice that fell from an aeroplane has had to pay £700 in repair bills, The Guardian (Sept 6) reports. Edward Garnier, Conservative MP for Harborough, has asked the Department of Transport to pay for tests on the ice to determine which airline should compensate the motorist, Stephanie Cole. But the Civil Aviation Authority says that airlines have no control over falling frozen hazards.
A bus driver who was filmed playing with his PlayStation at bus stops and traffic lights has been banned from driving for six months. The Daily Telegraph (Sept 6) reports that Stephen Alcock also sent text messages to his girlfriend from behind the wheel.
Omed Aziz became the first blind person to be convicted of dangerous driving, The Times (Sept 5) reports. Aziz claimed he had been testing his driving abilities with the help of a friend in the passenger seat.
The dangers of being a traffic warden were exposed when one put a parking ticket on a police officer’s car in Upminster, Essex. The Daily Telegraph (Sept 9) reports that the off-duty Metropolitan Police officer went into his house, put on his uniform, radioed for help and arrested the warden on suspicion of using threatening and abusive behaviour. Havering council has asked the Met to look into the arrest.