Herefordshire bin lorry fires caused by disposable vapes
"We as a county are leading the way when it comes to collecting vapes and other small electrical items as part of our waste collections, but it is incredibly important that people follow the correct procedure and place their small electrical items on top of their bins, and not inside," added Swinglehurst.
The WEEE service forms a part of standard waste collections in Herefordshire.According to the National Fire Chiefs Council, battery fires in bins and at waste sites are at an all-time high.A survey found that 94% of UK council said fires caused by batteries in domestic waste were an "increasing challenge".
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Parents getting steamy in sauna, poolside boozing & some very stinky tasks… lifeguard reveals swimming pool secrets
THE air thick with chlorine, the deafening echo of children's shrieks and the chaotic splash of a cannonball: it's a quintessential school holiday afternoon at the local pool. For almost a quarter of UK parents, a trip like this is a go-to activity, especially on a wet day. 6 But from his high tower, our secret lifeguard watches the goings-on with an ever-increasing sense of dread. Here, he reveals a shocking truth - it's not the over-excited kids who are the problem, but their utterly filthy and entitled parents. GETTING FRISKY IN THE STEAM ROOM OUR pool has lovely steam room facilities, but some parents who use it can get a bit carried away. I've caught one pair sneaking off for some hanky-panky, leaving me to watch their offspring while they're at it. You always know if they have plans to get it on - there's a telltale smirk on their face and they look around furtively, waiting until it's empty. If the pool's quiet I'll sometimes signal to get one of the other attendants to burst in after a few minutes to catch them in the act as it makes us laugh. Ultimately, we ask them to stop and if they keep doing it we'd kick them out, but it's never come to that. At my last pool I worked a few times at events hired out by naturists - because I got paid double - and those swimmers were always much better behaved and really did just enjoy swimming in the nude, it wasn't about the sex. CHANGING ROOM FILTH AS well as life guard duties, it's my job to check on the changing rooms and do some light cleaning. But that shouldn't involve picking up stinky nappies from the cubicles, or from the floor beside the bin - it's particularly galling when that bin is empty. The clever way you can ensure your paddling pool is kept warm On one occasion I was walking through the changing room and a dirty swimming nappy was kicked out from under the door right in front of me. I kicked it straight back in and told them to deal with it. It was disgusting. I can't stand those kind of parents - they're nothing but entitled and rude. THANK GOODNESS FOR CHLORINE 6 EVERY now and then a child will have an accident in the pool - it's gross, but it happens. It's bad enough when I have to get human waste out of the water, though at least I have a fishing net to do it. If it's easily contained we get everyone out and wait for a short time before re-opening. Probably not long enough. Once, we failed to spot a 'floater' and when we re-opened the next morning and went to fish it out, it disintegrated and let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight. We had to close the pool while it worked through the filter system and the chlorine did its stuff. Some parents were up in arms that they'd have to wait for a couple of hours so it was safe to go back in the water - they never seem to realise that we only have rules for their own safety. BOOZY PARENTS BREAK THE RULES 6 PARENTS who are supposedly watching their children but sit scrolling through their phones - and lie when they're caught out - are the worst. On several occasions I've asked mums to put their phones away but they often argue back and claim they're 'checking something important', when in actual fact I've watched them for the past 15 minutes. We ban people from bringing their own food into the spectators' seats and I usually turn a blind eye if they're giving their children a snack. But I did draw the line recently when one mum smuggled in a whole McDonalds meal - not least because I could hear other children whining to their mums, asking for one too. I had to nip that one in the bud quickly. They always try to pull the innocent, 'I didn't know' card, despite the huge signs telling them food is banned. It's particularly annoying when I absolutely know they know, because I have to pull them up on it week after week. We also ban alcohol, but I often find empty cans of ready-made cocktails and even a few empty wine bottles when I've been clearing out the bins. That might explain why some couples end up making out in broad daylight on the loungers right by the pool. LETTING KIDS RULE THE ROOST 6 The sort of parents who see me as a glorified babysitter hired to watch over their kids only while they please themselves are infuriating. They often sit there gossiping as their kids run around – we ask them to walk because the floor is so slippery. I've lost count of the amount of kids I've seen go flying, and their mothers belatedly clutch them to their chest and look at me as if it's my fault they can't control their little darlings. But equally annoying are the over-indulgent ones. They're the ones who don't get their kids out of the pool in time, saying 'oh you can have five more minutes', meaning the pool shuts late or they let them barge in front of the other kids on the queue for the slide. The worst one was a kid who got halfway down the slide and started clambering back up, several times. The mother stood at the bottom saying: 'Come on now Tom, let someone else have a turn'. It took all my will power not to pull him off myself. I didn't blame him, he was only around three years old and having fun and his mum should have read him the riot act. STAFF SEX IN SAUNA I love my job - despite only getting into it because it paid better than working in a fast food restaurant. We're mostly students so we have some pretty riotous staff outings. Whilst I don't take advantage of the empty leisure centre after hours though for skinny dipping - I can guess how many people pee in the pool and have no intention of paddling round in that - I have had sex in the sauna with one of my fellow life guards. So yes, it's not just parents who are badly behaved, I admit. It was the end of a long day and we'd been clearing up all the rubbish and needed some fun! We'd had a couple of kisses at staff parties before and one thing led to another. It was a great stress reliever. We weren't the first of our gang to do it and I doubt we'll be the last. It felt great to finally be the ones breaking the rules. Sadly, I don't seem to get chatted up by the yummy mummies. MOANING MINNIES WORKING here has made me realise quite how much people will moan and complain. Our pool is good value, especially when compared to many holiday activities. A year ago we put up our fees by 20p per child and you'd have thought we were committing daylight robbery the way the mums moaned – and that was despite the fact that toddlers go free. It's crazy. There's one particularly entitled woman I've taken a real dislike to. We provide free shoe covers at the entrance to the pool but she always insists on wearing her shoes without using them. And then she has the cheek to complain the floor is dirty. We all look out for her and signal when she's on the warpath – by making a throat slit motion with our hands. SQUARING UP I'm always diplomatic though as I'm on a zero hour contract and want to keep being given shifts and the sort of people who moan at me, will soon complain to my manager too. The only person I've actually kicked out was a particularly rude teenager who squared up to me, looking for a fight after I told him to stop vaping. The regulars always complain that it's too busy during the school holidays – but I get that. Their lovely peaceful swim is completely disrupted – but they tend to come early in the morning to avoid the crowds – wish I could work out a way to avoid them too.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Huge blaze rips through historic UK manor house as firefighters tackle inferno and people told to avoid area
AN ENORMOUS fire has ripped through a historic Grade I-listed manor house. Woolton Hall in Liverpool was engulfed in flames yesterday evening, with fire crews battling through the night to extinguish the blaze. 3 3 The site, built in 1704, had previously served as a hotel, an army hospital, a convent and a school but had fallen into risrepair in recent years. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) rushed to the scene at around 8.15pm yesterday, finding the three-storey stone-built building "fully involved in [a] fire around 40 by 30 metres in size". By 9.30pm, MFRS had eight fire engines at the scene, as well as an aerial appliance in attendance. The building had become "well alight" and the roof had "collapsed", MFRS said. People have been warned to avoid the area. In its most recent update at 11.30pm last night, MFRS said: "The incident is ongoing and there will be firefighters and fire engines at the scene for some time. "However, firefighters have made good progress and this means that the incident can begin to be scaled down shortly. "Please continue to avoid the area - residents should continue to keep doors and windows closed." 3
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Crimewatch presenter Sue Cook: After losing my beloved mother, the courts made my life a living hell
Sue Cook's mother, Kathleen Thomas, died peacefully in April this year. She was 105, and believed that she had done everything she could to ensure the safe, easy transition of her and her late husband's estate to their children. 'Mum and Dad lived full lives and paid all their taxes,' says the former Crimewatch presenter from her house in Oxfordshire. 'They were proper middle-class people who believed in the system and trusted the state. She would have been shocked by what happened next.' Before her death, Cook's mother had lodged her will with His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). 'She thought that was a safe and sensible thing to do – although I would now warn others not to do the same,' says Cook. 'As the named executor, I submitted my application for the release of her will soon after she died. I assumed we'd get it back within four weeks, as that's what they promised on their website.' But by the time May turned into June, Cook and her brother Steve, who was co-executor, began to worry – they had had no contact with HMCTS, and had not even received a receipt of delivery. 'We began to think her will was lost, as they didn't even acknowledge our application,' says Cook. 'But as soon as I looked into it, I found myself trapped in a logistical nightmare. If you emailed, you got no reply. If you phoned, you got no answer, just a badly recorded piece of music.' Once, Cook waited 45 minutes only for the phone lines to close at 1pm rather than the 5pm stated on the website. 'Another time, I sat on the line for over an hour and a half, and when someone finally answered they said, 'Sorry, we haven't got access to the wills mailbox – your only recourse is the email address', which I knew from experience nobody answers.' By midsummer, Cook was beginning to lose patience and once again waited on the phone for hours; when eventually someone answered, they suggested she send all the information to a new email address, which she did – only to get no reply from that either. All the while, her parents' estate sat untouched, with the family unable to distribute money to grandchildren and other relatives. Cook's story, sadly, is far from unusual. Since the pandemic, the waiting times for probate in particular – which is also overseen by HMCTS – have ballooned. 'I'm 15 and a half years qualified,' says Amy Wallhead, a partner at Culver Law, who specialises in this field. 'When I first started doing this, you'd send documents to the probate registry and tell the client it would take a week to 10 days, but invariably you'd get it back in three or four days. Now, you can't even chase until 20 weeks have passed, and when you do, there is never anybody on the other side of the line to help – all they seem able to do is repeat, 'Computer says no.'' Culver believes that this mess is a result of an 'update' to the system that was completed in March this year. 'Covid, when everyone was working from home, created huge backlogs, but it was the new system that changed everything. They claimed they were streamlining it, but in the process they closed lots of probate registries, which has made everything much less efficient.' All the while, relatives are being forced to go into battle at a time when they are often at their most vulnerable. 'It can be very difficult,' says Sarah Coles, the head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown. 'Emotionally it's hard on recently bereaved people to not be able to put things to rest because there is no closure in sight on any of the admin. And in many cases you have to maintain a property you don't live in, all because of these unnecessary delays.' Cook echoes this sentiment. 'I think it has made the past few months harder,' she says. 'It was an added stress we didn't need. You have to arrange the funeral, you have to notify everyone and then decide on a date for a memorial service, and so much more – not to mention getting to grips with your own grief. Dealing with what I could only visualise as an empty office that was holding our mother's will captive wasn't helpful.' Cook adds that even if the delay was inevitable, a bit of sympathy from the few people she managed to get hold of would have gone a long way. 'A nice email or a few understanding words would have made a huge difference, but nobody was helpful and nobody showed any kindness.' And still, she was arguably one of the lucky ones. Cook's mother had moved into a care home a few years before her death, and her property was sold during that time, while Cook and her brothers were also able to pay the inheritance tax they owed out of their own pockets. But for many people, delays like these can cost huge sums of money, as houses need to be sold quickly before late fines for inheritance tax start accruing at six months. 'When people go into the process, they assume it will be quick, so they put properties on the market, but then delays mean sales fall through – and then if the house or flat has been around [for sale] for a while, it becomes less likely to sell well,' says Coles. 'It can cause serious long-term financial problems for anyone whose inheritance is tied up in property. At least you can sell a share portfolio the day that probate comes through, whereas a property can take six months or more.' Similarly, anyone with a relative whose will has been held hostage by HMCTS will be liable for inheritance tax after six months – even if they didn't officially know that an estate had been left to them. 'Interest starts to run on IHT after six months, regardless of the circumstances,' says Wallhead. 'HMRC is totally separate from HMCTS.' Cook, realising there was no other avenue to pursue, eventually decided to use her journalistic credentials and phoned the department's press office to tell them she was planning on writing an article about the delay in the national press. The two events may well not be connected, but soon after that, the will plopped through her letterbox. According to posts online, other people in similar situations have resorted to calling their MPs. 'Human error' After being contacted by The Telegraph, HMCTS looked into Cook's case and found that it had received the request for withdrawal on May 5 and that it was ordered from storage the following week. On July 1, a Crown Court usher called the storage team to chase up the withdrawal and was told it had been dispatched on May 27. A search was carried out by the same team, who then realised that the will had been mistakenly filed away rather than posted to Cook. This means, in total, the will retrieval took 11 weeks rather than the four stated online. A spokesman for HMCTS says: 'The delay was a result of a human error and we apologise for the distress and frustration this has caused. Most requests for withdrawals of wills are processed within four weeks and we have taken action to ensure this does not happen again.' In response, Cook says: 'It's not only the mistakes, which, in a way, we could accept. It is more that they didn't respond to about eight emails and never gave us an explanation or apology.' Mostly, she is relieved to have the will in her possession – but that doesn't stop her from being daunted by the prospect of probate. 'Guess who deals with that? HMCTS,' she says. 'Grief, I have realised, is made infinitely worse when you feel powerless; when a system that's supposed to serve the public won't even respond to you. I'm not asking for a shortcut or special treatment; I'm asking for straightforward honesty, transparency and human decency. But I haven't seen a shred of it yet.'
