By Louise Malpas

Keen-eyed viewers of last month’s Secret Millionaire would have spotted waste management’s favourite son, Oscar – the Mancunian who works for the council’s tip who finds old bicycles thrown away, does them up and gives them to the poor kids of the community.

This isn’t the first time Oscar and his work has been noticed. Local rag, the Manchester Evening News has written fondly of him many times before, but this – as far as we know – is Oscar’s first time on the small screen.

And how our hearts lifted as the cameras followed him around for a few days, documenting his work towards helping underprivileged kids. He told how when discovering wallets thrown in skips and bins, he does his best to return them to their owner. Finding a woman’s purse, he even slips in £5 of his own money before sending it back (he worked out he’s spent £3000 doing this over the years – that’s a lot of purses, and a lot of money).

The programme culminated, as it always does, with the secret millionaire revealing their identity and writing out hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cheques to their chosen patrons. Handing Oscar a cheque for £25,000 resulted in a refusal – Oscar never accepts cash. The millionaire was told to spend the money on presents and toys for poor kids every Christmas instead, The millionaire, humbled and shocked, agrees to follow Oscar’s request for as long as he lives.

This man is a superstar. Oscar, we salute you.

It is the stuff of nightmares – you come back after a well deserved, relaxing break to find 20 tonnes of rubbish flytipped in your back yard.

But for Surrey couple Cheryl Pandis and her husband, it was reality – made worse by the threat of prosecution if they fail to clear the waste.

Cheryl, 55, from Mitcham, found around seven skip-loads of building debris on her land after flytippers apparently broke her fence and forced entry to the garden.

The council has ordered her to clear it, but she has refused, after estimating it would cost about £2,100 – about £300 per skip.

Neighbours saw trucks dumping the rubbish and complained to the council, which then responded by saying it would send Mrs Pandis, who was bed-ridden with food poisoning, a letter ordering her to remove the mess.

Mrs Pandis said she spoke to Merton police, who referred her to the Environmental Health Agency, and then to Merton Council – which she claims told her she would have to clear the problem herself.

Mrs Pandis added: “We can’t afford to pay for that so they will just have to take us to court.

“Our money is to feed our family and pay our bills; we don’t have any spare to pay for other people’s rubbish.

“Moreover, we are the victims of crime so the police should take action to catch the perpetrators.

“We’re too scared to do anything about it ourselves.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Criminal damage, entering her property and fly tipping are all criminal offences but it is the council’s responsibility to remove the rubble.”

Merton Council deputy leader, Councillor Mark Betteridge, said: “Fly tipping can be a real problem for our residents, and we spend a huge amount of time and effort investigating this type of offence in Merton.

“Every year we see a number of successful prosecutions as a direct result of our work on this issue.

The company, which provides skip hire and waste management from its recycling centre has 20 lorries operating in and around the borough.

Drivers are facing quadrupled journey times as routes that normally take 20 minutes are taking 90 minutes instead.

Jason Ayles, manager at Portland Stone said: “We estimate it’s costing us £8,000 to £10,000 per week – based on one lost day per week per lorry.

“So over the four-week roadwork period it could cost us as much as £40,000, approximately the same as a council officer’s annual salary.

“We all know and appreciate that road alterations and repairs have to be carried out but why does it appear that nearly every main road in and out of Weymouth and Portland seems to be either ripped up, in the process of being surfaced or otherwise altered?

“Here at Portland Stone Ltd we’ve been seriously affected as a result of the current works being carried out, especially the Ferrybridge work, which has resulted in a downturn in our ability to give our customers the service that is expected of us.”

Mr Ayles wants to know why the work is not being continued through the night on shift patterns and why weekends were not being used to speed up operations.

He added: “More importantly, who is going to apologise to our customers for letting them down? Something we are not accustomed to here at Portland Stone.”

Roadworks are pretty common problems for businesses – Portland Stone are one of the many companies where the problem has grown in to a massive leaking bucket for cash. Interruptions on the road need a proper looking at – taking in to account exactly how small to medium businesses – particularly those who rely on transport – would cope with the problems. In Portland Stone’s case, it is clear they have not been included in pre-work plans.

Source: Dorset Echo

It wasn’t exactly Baywatch, when an 81-year-old man was rescued in a dinghy off the Welsh coast after trying to bring back a washed away rubbish bin.

The retiree, who lives in North Wales, saw his neighbour’s large “wheelie” garbage bin get swept out to sea in unusually high tides – and decided to become Wales’s answer to Mitch Buchanan.

The man set off in pursuit of the floating bin in a rubber dinghy and latched it to the side of his flimsy vessel.

But strong winds overpowered the plucky rower and his boat was blown out to sea.

The coast guard was alerted and a lifeboat was launched from The Royal National Lifeboat Institution at Moelfre, further up the coast.

When the lifeboat reached the man his boat was filling with sea water and the crew discovered he was not wearing a life vest or waterproof clothing.

He was treated on shore for mild hypothermia and taken to the hospital for further treatment.

Dave Massey from the Moelfre lifeboat station said: “Everyone at the Moelfre lifeboat station wishes the gentleman a speedy recovery.”

He added: “The volunteer lifeboat crews at Moelfre have dealt with a wide variety of emergency calls over the years but I am sure that this is the first time we have been involved in towing in a wheelie bin.”

Mr Have-a-Go hero – we salute you. It wasn’t exactly a beautiful busty blonde that you rescued, but hey, a wheeliebin is just as good!

Source: Sky News