Latest news with #Preston
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
YouTube star Spanian's surprising response to arsonists who targeted his kebab truck in Melbourne
YouTuber Spanian's foray into the Melbourne food scene seems to have ruffled a few feathers with one of his kebab trucks targeted by arsonists. Firefighters were called to Bell Street in Preston about 4am on Saturday following reports the truck had been set alight using flammable liquid. The blaze was extinguished and the damage confined to the trailer, which had been moved to the site in early May ahead of a grand opening on May 16, which Spanian, 38, said was 'the biggest turnout we've ever had'. The ex-career criminal, turned filmmaker and entrepreneur - whose name is actually Anthony Lees - launched Spanian's kebabs in Sydney which has since expanded to multiple locations. In a video shared to his social media on Saturday, he seemed unfazed by the attack. 'They burnt the front wall, but it's not an issue, there's another truck already on the way,' he said. 'We've got a factory of trucks, we'll get this one rewrapped.' He then explained it is locals, not him, who owns the trucks. 'I just want to get that out there. The trucks are part of your community, and those people from your community save up for these trucks and they have to pay for it. They're your people,' he said. He then changed the subject to his successful Melbourne launch and suggested competitors might have been responsible. 'I thought Spanian's Kebabs were shit. Well guess whose kebabs they're trying to burn down?,' he said. 'Guess who's got the best kebabs in Australia? Melbourne will be back open soon.' The Sydneysider has built a large online fanbase following a rocky start in life. Spanian spent a total of 13 years in prison before the age of 30 for various offences including a ram raid on an ATM, assaults and drug distribution. After his release, he briefly tried his hand at a career as a drill rapper before finding a large audience posting videos on YouTube. He released an autobiography in 2021, but it was quickly dropped by his publisher over controversial comments he made about the LGBTQI+ World Pride events, claiming that an agenda was being pushed to children.
ABC News
18 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
Fire that damaged social media influencer Spanian's kebab truck treated as suspicious
Authorities are treating a fire that burned a kebab truck in Melbourne's north as suspicious. The food truck, which features the brand of social media influencer Spanian, was parked overnight at a car park on Bell St in Preston. Firefighters were called to the site just after 3.45am on Saturday. "Firefighters were able to get the incident under control very quickly and used thermal imaging technology to ensure all hotspots were fully extinguished before leaving the scene," a Fire Rescue Victoria spokesperson said. The incident has been referred to police due to suspicious circumstances around the fire. In a social media post, Spanian said the truck would be replaced and claimed any alleged offenders were hurting the local community. "The owners of the trucks are people from your community," he said in a social media post. "The trucks are part of their community and those people from your community save up for these trucks, and they have to pay for it."
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
‘What am I doing with life?' - How Covid in Canada gave Kevin Kilbane the answer
Friday March 13, 2020: The date stamped on the outbound line of Kevin Kilbane's airline ticket. Little did he know that, for the next 18 months anyway, his flight to Toronto would be a one-way journey. Up to this point, there had been the outline of a plan: Kilbane, capped 110 times for Ireland, would eventually settle in Canada with his fiancée Brianne Delcourt. The pair had met a year earlier on ITV's Dancing On Ice. They would get married in Ireland. The date had been set. September 4 of that year. But the big move? That would happen a year or two down the line. And then, days after his trans-Atlantic trip, the whole world shut down. 'We've all got our story to tell from Covid,' says Kilbane, recalling his own remarkable tale. 'I'll never forget the date. I arrived in Canada on Friday the 13th of March. Toronto Airport closed down, I think, on the 14th or 15th. 'It basically shut the weekend after I arrived. Every airport across the world was closing down across the course of that week.' Suddenly, the former Preston, Everton and Sunderland man was trapped by the pandemic. For 18 months, he was unable to leave Canada. 'To get on a flight I had to get vaccinated,' replies Kilbane, 'but I couldn't get vaccinated because I wasn't a citizen here, I wasn't a resident. 'So I couldn't get the vaccine, which I needed to fly back.' Plans were moved forward. Kilbane and Brianne bought a house together, they got married in Canada, and Brianne, whose daughter Gracie was three at the time, fell pregnant. From feeling trapped, he soon came to realise that he had, in fact, been freed by this once-in-a-generation event. Life on the other side of the Atlantic had been spinning out of control. But unable to get a work permit in Canada, Kilbane was forced to take stock. 'I didn't get residency until about October 2021, so I was in the country for 18 months, and I wasn't allowed to work for well over a year,' he says. 'I was stuck, I couldn't fly back. It was over a year down the line and still wasn't able to get vaccinated. 'I couldn't get a doctor because I wasn't a resident, I couldn't get a health card here, and off the back of it I couldn't get a work permit. 'So I wasn't able to work until literally on the eve of the Euros, which were delayed because of Covid. I'm talking days; one or two days, June 2021. 'That's the first bit of (punditry) work I did over here (with Canadian TV channel, TSN). I was only able to get a work permit because I had to push certain things. 'Even off the back of that, I still didn't get residency until October or November, another few months after that. 'It was 18 months before I had residency and 15 months before I was able to work. 'During that time it was a nightmare in terms of, what am I going to do and how am I going to get work and what am I going to be able to do? 'I couldn't get work, I couldn't fly home, I couldn't do anything. It was just a crazy time for me. 'But it certainly helped me to settle down, it helped me almost to smell the roses in many respects. It definitely helped me to calm down a little bit and not go chasing stuff. 'Even when I was probably speaking to you over the years, you would have been like, Jesus Christ, you are everywhere. 'I was basing myself in Dublin at that time and I always felt that was where I was going to be, I was going to be in Ireland permanently. 'And if I needed to fly back to the UK or whatever, I'd get on a flight and go back. 'I felt like I was constantly at the BBC, I was in Manchester, I was in Dublin, I was doing the Virgin Media stuff, I was with the Off The Ball lads, and I constantly felt like I didn't have any time. 'I was constantly getting up at 4am to make a 5.30 flight, driving out of Kilmainham at whatever time. 'Then I bought my place in Castleknock and I felt like I was always racing to get on the M50, getting to the airport, running through the airport, getting on a flight, landing, working, flying back… 'I was sometimes doing that four times a week and I was like, what am I doing? 'Covid helped that. That's all I'll say. It calmed me down in so many ways. 'I just felt, where am I going? What am I doing with my life? Then everything took shape from there and I'm really thankful for everything. 'For me to be able to calm down was great, it was a great time for me.' Kilbane, with two daughters in their early-20s living in England, is now the proud stepdad to Gracie (8), and dad to Olivia (4) and Keavy (3). 'It was Covid that changed it,' he says. 'The reality was, once we hit May or June (2020); look, we're kind of stuck and we are going to have to make a decision on what we are going to do. 'We knew what we were going to do eventually, so it just kind of brought everything forward a year or two for us. 'So it was an amazing time. However we are all going to judge Covid, and we've all got our story to tell from it. But I have no regrets. Absolutely not. 'You asked me at the start if I was nervous, and I was probably nervous for different reasons. 'Obviously I didn't want to be leaving my daughters in England, but they were at an age where they could understand to an extent what was happening. 'I kind of knew where I was going. Whether it was a year or two ahead of where I thought it was going to be, then so be it, because it was going to happen anyway. 'And now I couldn't be happier. Life is as hectic as it ever has been. Keavy here has just turned three, Olivia was four in February, she starts school in September. 'It's just crazy to think of where we were and what's happening now. 'Our eight-year-old, Gracie, we are racing around with her, taking her to all sports. My middle daughter, Olivia, has soccer tonight, so we are taking her there. We're full-on. 'There's the lack of sleep, as any father and mother knows. Every single day you are tired. 'My wife Briana and I, crazy stuff! It's great. Now that I'm approaching 50, I think I should be at the stage where I'm a middle-aged man who's enjoying a bit of sleep now. 'But I love it and I couldn't have wished for things to have gone as well as they have done.'
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
MP and Preston Bus boss call for urgent action on M6 safety
The boss of a Preston bus operator has called for urgent safety improvements on the M6 after repeated closures have caused "severe disruption".Thomas Calderbank from Preston Bus has written to the transport secretary and the Ribble Valley MP Maya Ellis, to explain how crashes on parts of the motorway in Lancashire have been causing chaos for drivers and raised the issue in the Commons, where she told MPs that collisions and closures had become "a monthly, if not weekly, occurrence".The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment. Mr Calderbank said he was deeply concerned about the long-term effects the traffic problems would have on "public confidence in our services".He said the motorway closures "have directly impacted our bus services, our drivers, and most importantly, our passengers".Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport Lillian Greenwood agreed to meet Ellis to discuss the issues after she raised her concerns in the House of Commons. There was a serious collision between a van and a lorry on the motorway on 15 May between junction 31a and junction M6 was also closed due to a lorry fire on 22 May near junction 31 causing delays and congestion as commuters tried to find a way Calderbank said the knock-on effect meant the private bus company experienced a month's worth of cancellations on one open letter said following the lorry fire "severe disruption" included:70 individual bus journeys, amounting to over 350 miles, had to be cancelled By 16:00 BST not a single Preston Bus service in Preston was running on timeBuses were taking well over an hour to travel between Royal Preston Hospital and the city Ellis told MPs "economic growth requires people to be able to get to work".She said: "Yet another road traffic accident has had a hugely disruptive impact on the mainly small roads around it in my constituency."Yet again, my residents in Longridge, Grimsargh and all the surrounding areas woke up to the prospect of another journey to work that takes two hours instead of 20 minutes, and this is becoming a monthly, if not weekly, occurrence." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Unsafe former Preston city centre pub set to be demolished
A former pub in Preston city centre is unsafe and needs to be demolished, the council has said. The Tithebarn, which closed in 2016, has been deemed to be "beyond viable repair" after a structural survey, the city council authority's task force, which monitors empty and derelict buildings in the city amid growing concerns around safety, said there had been "extensive deterioration" to the council is to apply for permission to demolish it while preserving the Grade II-listed mill building next door, formerly known as Aladdin's Cove warehouse. The proposal includes turning the site into an open public greenspace. Trees, shrubs, grassed areas The latest inspection revealed significant structural issues, including bowing elevations caused by increased pressure on the walls as the roof deteriorates, along with extensive deterioration to the internal floor areas, many of which are rotten, the council said.A planning permission application is being made pending a formal decision on the future of the building at a cabinet meeting on the 18 approved, demolition works would be scheduled to begin in the summer and a subsequent public greenspace could feature trees, shrubs, grassed areas and Martyn Rawlinson, cabinet member for resources, said: "This is a difficult but necessary decision. "The former Tithebarn building has sadly deteriorated beyond repair, but this gives us an opportunity to create a new, attractive green space that complements the Harris Quarter." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
