Builder's blunder leaves village
in the dark
Jan 19, 2001
People living in Iveston near Consett are demanding compensation after an 11,000- volt electricity surge cut off the power supply to the entire village, destroying televisions, washing machines and other appliances. The damage was caused by house builders who accidentally cut into a cable. One pensioner has been without heating for several days. Residents will meet with Homeside Construction's insurance company next week to discuss compensation.
January 19, 2001
A lucky betting shop punter yesterday won £35,900 with a single £12 bet. The Bishop Auckland man, who does not wish to be named, placed his bet at Ladbrokes, on Cockton Hill, Bishop Auckland, on a lottery type gamble called Fourty-Niners. The mystery man's four numbers all came up. The bookies Manager said it was the most money they had ever paid out.
January 24, 2001
The European Commission has passed measures to ban all cod fishing in parts of the North Sea for three months from mid February - the spawning season - to protect stocks. Experts believe there will be a total collapse of cod stocks without such drastic measures.
January 24, 2001
Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson today dramatically quit the Cabinet for a second time. The Northern Ireland Secretary announced his resignation outside Downing Street following a crisis meeting with Tony Blair. It came amid damaging allegations that he helped an Indian tycoon to clinch British citizenship.
It was revealed this week that Mr Mandelson made a phone call to Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien in June 1998 to apparently ask about the chances of citizenship for Indian tycoon Srichand Hinduja. It is claimed the call was made just before Mr Hinduja, who had had a previous application rejected, and his brother donated £1 million towards funding the Faith Zone at the Millennium Dome. The Hartlepool MP was in charge of the ill-fated project at the time.
This new controversy follows Mandelson's 1998 cabinet departure over suggestions that he failed to declare a home loan from millionaire Labour colleague Geoffrey Robinson.
Knopfler: Oldest swinger in town!
January 25, 2001
Dire Straits star Mark Knopfler has had a dinosaur named after him - and he is absolutely delighted!
American scientists called the creature Masiakasaurus knopfleri because they listened to the music of Knopfler - a former pupil of Gosforth High School, Newcastle - while searching for its bones in Madagascar.
They found that whenever Dire Straits played more fossils turned up! In gratitude, the team decided to name the 65 million year old two-legged predator after their guitar hero.
Knopfler, 51, said he was honoured and added: 'The fact that it's a dinosaur is certainly apt!'
January 26, 2001
C&A, the clothes shop which for many years was a fixture of High Streets throughout the UK, is closing all outlets. The company blames the 'increasingly aggressive' market. The latest store to close is in Darlington's Cornmill Shopping Mall. When it opened in 1992 it was the centre's flagship store.
January 29, 2001
Bulldozers moved in at the weekend to bring an end to Sunderland's 100-love affair with its famous brewery. Buildings on the sprawling Vaux site in the city centre are now being demolished almost 20 months after the Swallow Group closed it down. The first building to go was the bottling hall, built on the site of the Avenue Theatre, one of Sunderland's Victorian music halls.
January 29, 2001
Roxy Music, fronted by Washington-born Bryan Ferry, has reformed after 18 years and will be doing a 50-concert tour in June. The tour will include gigs in Britain, Europe, America, Australia and Japan. Ferry, 55, will be joined by guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonist Andy Mackay from the original line-up of the band formed in 1970. They last toured together in 1983. Roxy's biggest hits included Virginia Plain and Jealous Guy.
January 31, 2001
Durham County Council has become the first highway authority in the UK to use solar-powered cat's eyes.
Unlike the traditional cat's eye, which reflects light which shines on it, the new eyes are self-illuminating and are visible a long way ahead of a car's headlight range.
The miniature solar panels are made by a York company. They soak up and store enough electrical energy during the day to shine through the night.
So far they have been installed on danger spots in the county including the A177 Bishop Middleham to Fishburn cross-roads; the A181 east of Wheatley Hill; the A688 Green Lane, Spennymoor; the B6532 at Findon Hill, Sacriston; and the A689 Newton Cap to Toronto Road in Bishop Auckland.
February 1, 2001
Workers at Blyth Power station left the premises for the last time last night and described its closure as a 'kick in the teeth for the town'.
The plant, which once produced enough energy for a third of a million homes and employed hundreds of people in one of the region's most deprived areas, finally shut its gates this week after almost nine months of decommissioning work.
The imposing chimneys, which some labelled an eyesore, but which have been a landmark on the Northumberland coastline for over four decades, will now be levelled in a hope to regenerate the site into a business park or residential area.
February 1, 2001
Teesside teenage actor Jamie Bell is up against Tom Hanks and Michael Douglas for best actor award in the Baftas.
The 14-year-old made his debut as an aspiring ballet star in Billy Elliot. Speaking from his Billingham home, Bell said: 'I am off school at the moment with the flu so I felt a bit under the weather this morning. But when my mum rang me from work to tell me that I had been nominated for the best actor it made me feel a little better!'
The acclaimed newcomer is looking forward to the ceremony at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, but not the dress code. He said: 'I will wear my tuxedo if I absolutely have to but it makes me feel sick. I feel like a waiter or something when I put it on.'
Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry, who was calling the shots on his first film, was nominated for two titles, best director and best newcomer. The film's writer Lee Hall also figures in the shortlist for best newcomer.
UK house prices take off again
February 2, 2001
The UK housing market burst back into life in January with the biggest month price increase for more than five years - equivalent to £40 a day - which brings the average house price to £83,450.
'We won't give up on our men of steel'
February 2, 2001
Tony Blair today urged steelmaker Corus to talk to the Government in a bid to prevent 6,000 job losses.
The Prime Minister told the Anglo-Dutch company it was not too late to re-think its mass redundancy programme but Corus chief executive Sir Brian Moffat responded by launching a scathing attack on Downing Street. He said Ministers were kept in the dark about the job losses because 'leaks from the Government have been only too prevalent'.
Sir Brian also blamed the economic climate and failure to commit to the euro for the cutbacks, adding that Britain was no longer an attractive place for manufacturing.
The swingeing cuts, announced yesterday, leave one in four of the Corus workforce - including more than 1,000 men and women on Teesside - facing redundancy.
Wales will be hardest hit, with 1,340 redundancies at the plant in Llanwern, near Newport. The nearby factory at Ebbw Vale will close altogether with the loss of 780 jobs, while redundancies will also hit factories at Shotton in North Wales.
The coil plate mill at Lackenby is to close at the end of June, putting 234 men out of work and signalling an end to Teesside's 160 year old integrated steel works.
A further 648 jobs are to go across the giant Redcar and Lackenby plant - most of them administration roles - as well as 142 jobs from pipe mills at Stockton and Hartlepool, and another 46 jobs at Skinningrove.
Corus blamed the strength of the pound, high transportation costs, weak UK demand and a lack of competitiveness in export markets for its continuing high losses. It says it hopes the drastic measures will ensure the group's return to profitability.
Trade Secretary Stephen Byers was critical of Corus for its 'short-term response' to trading problems and promised that the Government would not 'walk away' from those who had lost their jobs.
Mr Blair said: 'It is a devastating blow for what is an im-mensely skilled and productive workforce and their families. We will do everything we can to turn this situation around.'
Redcar MP Mo Mowlam said: 'What is happening in Wales is unbelievable and it is going all in one go, but ours is a slow death.'
Union leaders have warned of possible industrial action. Delegates from the main steelworkers' union, the ISTC, were today meeting in London to draw up their plan of action.
Meanwhile, a Dutch union leader has pledged that Corus workers in Holland will not take on extra work caused by redundancies in Britain.
Chaos hits roads as blizzards sweep in
February 5, 2001
Heavy snow and blizzards swept across the North this weeek, causing traffic chaos with many roads completely blocked and around 3,500 homes in Northumberland without electricity.
A Willington man died and two other people were seriously injured when their car was in collision with a gritter wagon near the Dog Inn pub a few miles west of Heighington Village,County Durham.
Police had to rescue several drivers when 20 cars on the A68 Newcastle to Jedburgh road became stranded in snow. The A66 trans-Pennine route in County Durham was closed by 9am for a time because of drifting snow.
Snow and high winds brought down power lines leading to power cuts in the Hexham, Morpeth, Otterburn, Alnwick and Bamburgh areas.
Newcastle United's Premiership fixture against Southampton at St James's Park was called off due to the heavy snowfall. But it was not the only sporting event to suffer. The annual Weardale hay-sniffing contest at the Cross Keys pub, Eastgate, was postponed for a week and the 800 entrants to the Easington sea-angling competition were told to return on February 18.
Families evacuated as floods sweep back
February 8, 2001
Sixty families were evacuated by police in Yarm this week as the Tees broke its banks. People living in two blocks of flats in Castle Dyke Wynd next to the river were taken by coach to nearby Conyers School for the night as floods swept back to the region, bringing misery for hundreds of people.
More than 26 flood warnings were issued in the region as heavy rain and snow melt continued to raise water levels. Homes were waterlogged, main roads blocked by standing water and offices shut as rivers and burns burst their banks.
Severe warnings of 'imminent danger to life and property' were in force for the Wear at Durham and Chester-le-Street, the Gaunless at South Church, near Bishop Auckland and the Tees at Yarm. Warnings were also issued for the Coquet at Brinkburn, Warkworth, Weldon, Felton and Rothbury, for the Pont at Ponteland and the Tyne at Corbridge.
In Durham the river burst its banks on Wednesday, closing offices including the Benefits Agency in Milburngate Peth. In Chester-le-Street, the Wear overflowed late afternoon but no properties were affected.
The East Coast Mainline railway was flooded at Croft, south of Darlington, and trains were slowed to 20mph. Road closures included the A68 at Butsfield, the A67 at Bowes, the A689 in Weardale and the A167 south of Darlington. The most northerly house in the region to be flooded was in Knitsley, near Consett.
Snowbound skiers safe and well
February 8, 2001
Sixty North-East teenagers have emerged unscathed from a snowbound Scottish youth hostel which was cut off for four days. The youngsters, from Consett YMCA and Newcastle Preparatory School, were enjoying a skiing break in the Grampian mountains when 10ft snow drifts cut off their isolated cabins. They spent their time skiing on nearby slopes - fuelled by the food reserves bought in for such an emergency.
February 8, 2001
The Top Hat in Spennymoor, a much-loved nightclub since the 1960s, is to have a £1m transformation. Work at the club, which has a licence for 650 people, is expected to be completed by Easter.
In the 1970s, the club regularly drew large crowds to hear headline bands such as Thin Lizzy and Hot Chocolate. The revamped Top Hat will feature some of today's top DJs, such as Pete Tong.
The front of the building will be transformed into an upmarket, glass-fronted Continental café bar, which will be open all day At the back there will be a traditional bar, where it is hoped to provide music on a regular basis.
Colin Fletcher, the club's promoter and manager, said: 'We are very aware of the place of the Top Hat in the history of the region's nightlife. If anybody has any memorabilia from the club's heyday, we would very much like to ncorporate it in the new look.'
Brown's Boathouse to be demolished
February 12, 2001
Developers have won permission to bulldoze historic Brown's Boathouse in Durham City. The 200-year-old building will be demolished to make way for a bar and restaurant. English Heritage and the City of Durham Trust had fought to restore the dilapidated building but a public inquiry report just released dismisses the building's architectural merit and says there is no viable alternative to knocking it down.
February 13, 2001
The Beatles greatest hits album 1 has topped the charts in more countries that any other record ever released. More than 30 years after the tracks were recorded, the album has just made number one in a 34th country, Poland.
February 22, 2001
London's Tower bridge was raised yesterday so that record breaking yachts- woman Ellen MacArthur could sail up the Thames to a hero's welcome. Ellen, from land-locked Derbyshire, came second in the Vendee Globe race and at 24 is the youngest person ever to sail around the globe non-stop in a single handed race. She said yesterday she would be spending her £40,000 prize money on a huge party.
Thirteen dead in horrific rail crash
February 28, 2001
Thirteen people were killed this morning when the 4.45am Intercity passenger train from Newcastle to King's Cross crashed near Selby, North Yorkshire.
The train, travelling at 125mph, smashed into a car and trailer which had plunged down an embankment and onto the main East Coast line just seconds earlier. A northbound coal train coal travelling at 60mph then ploughed into the passenger train.
The car and trailer had been travelling on the M62 when it slid off the road in heavy snow. All nine coaches of the passenger train were derailed. Seventy people were hurt in the crash. Thirty suffered serious injuries and were flown by RAF helicopters to six hospitals in the region which were on emergency standby.
Some of the injured were trapped for a while and had to be cut free from the mangled wreckage. Heavy snowfall is hampering the rescue operation.
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