Drunk man in ill-advised firewalking mishap
Monday, February 18, 2008
A drunk man in Wigan discovered the painful way that firewalking isn't, in fact, terribly easy, as he suffered severely burned feet after trying to walk across a bonfire.
The 23-year-old man had reportedly been drinking with a group of young people, by a bonfire which they had started on playing fields by St Annes Primary School in Wigan.
As is the way of these things, it appears he was dared to walk across the flames. Naturally, he removed his shoes and socks and did so, according to Wigan Today.
He suffered serious burns, including an amount of melted plastic stuck to his skin, probably due to the fact that the bonfire had been built partially out of plastic bread trays.
A spokesperson for the fire service said that his actions 'beggared belief'.
The fire brigade put out the bonfire and called an ambulance to take the man to hospital. An hour later, they were called back out, when the same group started another fire.
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
And Daft
Gun prank teen told police: " I was drunk"
A regular at a Blackpool off-licence produced an imitation gun in a drunken prank.
Teenager Benjamin Hudson had been in the shop about six times earlier that day, without buying a thing.
He had his hood pulled down over his eyes in an apparent attempt at a disguise only to be told by a female assistant: "Don't be daft Ben, I know it's you. There's a kid in the shop".
Nineteen year old Hudson of First Avenue, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to affray and also possessing an imitation firearm.
The offences were in August last year at an off-licence on Easington Crescent, Grange Park in the resort.
Mr Charles Brown, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said the defendant had been known to a woman working at the premises for over a year.
He went into the shop around half a dozen times that day, without buying anything.
Hudson had appeared unsteady on his feet and his speech was garbled.
That evening she and another member of staff were behind the counter when the teenager walked in.
Two other customers and a young child were in the shop.
Mr Brown told the court: "The defendant was stood there.
"He pulled a handgun from his pocket, but did not completely take it out.
"He had his hood down over his eyes in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity".
He didn't say anything, but a woman working there said: "Don't be daft, Ben, I know it's you. There's a kid in the shop".
A customer said: "Don't do it".
Hudson replied: "How do you know it's me?".
He walked to the door and later left.
Following arrest he told police: "I was drunk. It was a joke really".
Mr Stuart Denney, defending, said it had been an utterly foolish prank.
The weapon, a pellet imitation firearm, had not been pointed.
"If there's one place in Blackpool where he would be instantly recognised, it was this shop.
"Having been told to desist, he left the premises immediately and then hung around outside, waiting should the police come.
"He is ashamed and embarassed about what he has done.
"He has offered his sincere apologies".
Hudson was given 26 week detention, suspended for two years with two years supervision and 60 hours unpaid work.
Judge Stuart Baker told the defendant: "You would have to be completely unaware of what is going on in the community at this time not to be conscious of the real concern that there is at all levels of society, about people who carry guns or imitation guns."
A regular at a Blackpool off-licence produced an imitation gun in a drunken prank.
Teenager Benjamin Hudson had been in the shop about six times earlier that day, without buying a thing.
He had his hood pulled down over his eyes in an apparent attempt at a disguise only to be told by a female assistant: "Don't be daft Ben, I know it's you. There's a kid in the shop".
Nineteen year old Hudson of First Avenue, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to affray and also possessing an imitation firearm.
The offences were in August last year at an off-licence on Easington Crescent, Grange Park in the resort.
Mr Charles Brown, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said the defendant had been known to a woman working at the premises for over a year.
He went into the shop around half a dozen times that day, without buying anything.
Hudson had appeared unsteady on his feet and his speech was garbled.
That evening she and another member of staff were behind the counter when the teenager walked in.
Two other customers and a young child were in the shop.
Mr Brown told the court: "The defendant was stood there.
"He pulled a handgun from his pocket, but did not completely take it out.
"He had his hood down over his eyes in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity".
He didn't say anything, but a woman working there said: "Don't be daft, Ben, I know it's you. There's a kid in the shop".
A customer said: "Don't do it".
Hudson replied: "How do you know it's me?".
He walked to the door and later left.
Following arrest he told police: "I was drunk. It was a joke really".
Mr Stuart Denney, defending, said it had been an utterly foolish prank.
The weapon, a pellet imitation firearm, had not been pointed.
"If there's one place in Blackpool where he would be instantly recognised, it was this shop.
"Having been told to desist, he left the premises immediately and then hung around outside, waiting should the police come.
"He is ashamed and embarassed about what he has done.
"He has offered his sincere apologies".
Hudson was given 26 week detention, suspended for two years with two years supervision and 60 hours unpaid work.
Judge Stuart Baker told the defendant: "You would have to be completely unaware of what is going on in the community at this time not to be conscious of the real concern that there is at all levels of society, about people who carry guns or imitation guns."
Lock Me Up
Keyhole surgery? Drunk student swallows doorkey
1 day ago
LONDON (AFP) — A British student swallowed his door key to prevent friends from forcing him to go home because he was drunk, reports said Wednesday.
Chris Foster, studying computer design at Bournemouth University in southern England, had drunk six beers as well as vodka and whisky when his friends decided he should go home and sleep it off. But the 18-year-old wanted to keep partying. "My friends said I'd had too much to drink and should go to my room. But I didn't want to so I swallowed my door key," he said, according to the Daily Mirror.
He slept on a friend's sofa, and the next morning couldn't remember a thing. When told what he had done, he thought they were joking. "I thought it was a wind-up when my friend said I had swallowed it.
"But my throat and stomach didn't feel quite right."
A nurse friend advised him to go to hospital just in case -- and he was finally convinced when the two-inch (five cm) house-key showed up clearly on an X-ray.
"I was stunned when I saw the key, but couldn't stop laughing -- even the doctors were sniggering. They said 'let nature to take its course' and it appeared next day," he said.
Fully recovered -- albeit still a little sore -- Foster remains philosophical about the experience.
"I just laughed at the idea of stopping drinking, I wanted to carry on and not go home. So I dry swallowed my own door key as a prank," he told the Basingstoke Gazette.
"It didn't hurt at the time but now my throat is slightly scratched and it's so painful to eat and drink."
1 day ago
LONDON (AFP) — A British student swallowed his door key to prevent friends from forcing him to go home because he was drunk, reports said Wednesday.
Chris Foster, studying computer design at Bournemouth University in southern England, had drunk six beers as well as vodka and whisky when his friends decided he should go home and sleep it off. But the 18-year-old wanted to keep partying. "My friends said I'd had too much to drink and should go to my room. But I didn't want to so I swallowed my door key," he said, according to the Daily Mirror.
He slept on a friend's sofa, and the next morning couldn't remember a thing. When told what he had done, he thought they were joking. "I thought it was a wind-up when my friend said I had swallowed it.
"But my throat and stomach didn't feel quite right."
A nurse friend advised him to go to hospital just in case -- and he was finally convinced when the two-inch (five cm) house-key showed up clearly on an X-ray.
"I was stunned when I saw the key, but couldn't stop laughing -- even the doctors were sniggering. They said 'let nature to take its course' and it appeared next day," he said.
Fully recovered -- albeit still a little sore -- Foster remains philosophical about the experience.
"I just laughed at the idea of stopping drinking, I wanted to carry on and not go home. So I dry swallowed my own door key as a prank," he told the Basingstoke Gazette.
"It didn't hurt at the time but now my throat is slightly scratched and it's so painful to eat and drink."
But All My Mates Are Sober
Drunk man was ‘most violent in gang’
A MAN arrested for being drunk and disorderly outside Colne police station struck again soon afterwards.
Burnley Magistrates heard how Anthony Fitzpatrick, 23, was involved in an altercation outside a pub on Keighley Road, Colne, and was said by the police to be the most violent in the gang.
He was seen throwing punches towards staff members and shouted and made threats as police approached.
He fell to the floor and was immediately arrested.
Fitzpatrick had earlier been given a conditional discharge for the incident outside the police station.
The defendant, of River Street, Colne, admitted being drunk and disorderly on January 27.
Fitzpatrick, who is awaiting an operation, told the bench: "I can't believe I have done it again. It's stupid."
He was fined £250 after admitting being drunk and disorderly in breach of the discharge and must pay £15 victim surcharge.
1:50pm Monday 4th February 2008
A MAN arrested for being drunk and disorderly outside Colne police station struck again soon afterwards.
Burnley Magistrates heard how Anthony Fitzpatrick, 23, was involved in an altercation outside a pub on Keighley Road, Colne, and was said by the police to be the most violent in the gang.
He was seen throwing punches towards staff members and shouted and made threats as police approached.
He fell to the floor and was immediately arrested.
Fitzpatrick had earlier been given a conditional discharge for the incident outside the police station.
The defendant, of River Street, Colne, admitted being drunk and disorderly on January 27.
Fitzpatrick, who is awaiting an operation, told the bench: "I can't believe I have done it again. It's stupid."
He was fined £250 after admitting being drunk and disorderly in breach of the discharge and must pay £15 victim surcharge.
1:50pm Monday 4th February 2008
And On Welfare
Sorry, I'm drunk - and other reasons people are missing their benefits review
by BENEDICT BROGAN
Night out: An excuse for a no-show to a mandatory benefits review? One in five welfare claimants fails to show up for a mandatory review of their benefits. Among the audacious excuses given by absentees are that they were drunk or away on holiday.
Others included drink-fuelled brawls, hangovers, sick relatives, forgetfulness and a missed flight.
One claimant said he had fallen down stairs, another claimed he suffered from memory loss and some lamented "the irrelevance of work to their lives".
Research by the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that the Government is still struggling to trim the hidden army of longterm jobless.
The study coincides with scathing criticisms of Labour's record on incapacity benefit.
David Freud, an investment banker appointed to help reform the system, described the disabilitytests used to decide who gets some of the £12billion paid out each year as "ludicrous".
Incapacity benefit is worth up to £81.35 a week and has been criticised as a disguised way of cutting dole queues.
Embarrassingly for Gordon Brown, Mr Freud said barely a third of the 2.64million incapacity claimants are genuine. T
hat would suggest 1.9million are well enough to go back to work.
The official study found that 21 per cent of claimants failed to attend a new and compulsory "work focused interview" designed to put them on the road to a job.
Recent figures show that more than 250,000 claimants have been ordered to attend mandatory interviews since July, suggesting that at least 50,000 have ignored the call-up.
A further 25 per cent attended just one meeting before giving up.
Only 14 per cent - one in seven - made it through the full series of six interviews demanded by Government.
The Prime Minister has promised to axe the state benefits of those who refuse to take a job or volunteer for training.
He is under pressure from Tory leader David Cameron who last month announced an ambitious "tough love" plan.
Modelled on a U.S. initiative, this would see benefits for persistent shirkers stopped after two years.
The Government's research into benefits interviews uncovered a persistent reluctance to take threats of benefit sanctions seriously.
Other claimants failed even to realise their handouts were at risk.
The research paper states: "Although the majority of customers knew that the meeting . . . was compulsory, less than half of respondents who attended were aware that their benefits could be reduced if they did not attend them."
Philip Hammond, Tory work and pensions spokesman, said: "We've had seven separate announcements last summer about how Mr Brown is being radical and tough in trying to get people back to work - but this report shows that his approach just isn't working.
"Clearly many benefit recipients are just not taking what the Government is doing seriously. We need a radical, 'tough love' approach to welfare and not the timid tinkering we have at the moment."
Last month figures showed that more than half a million under-35s are living on state handouts because they say they are too sick to work. They outnumbered those actually looking for a job.
Mr Brown has boasted that ten years of Labour's "new deal" welfareto-work methods have helped 1.8million benefit claimants into work.
But he is struggling to tackle the so-called "sicknote culture" of those who opt out of work with little medical reason.
Reforms introduced by Mr Brown include renaming incapacity benefit as employment support allowance and introducing a medical test to weed out less disabled claimants.
However the tests are expected to move only 20,000 a year off disability benefits and will apply to new claimants only.
by BENEDICT BROGAN
Night out: An excuse for a no-show to a mandatory benefits review? One in five welfare claimants fails to show up for a mandatory review of their benefits. Among the audacious excuses given by absentees are that they were drunk or away on holiday.
Others included drink-fuelled brawls, hangovers, sick relatives, forgetfulness and a missed flight.
One claimant said he had fallen down stairs, another claimed he suffered from memory loss and some lamented "the irrelevance of work to their lives".
Research by the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that the Government is still struggling to trim the hidden army of longterm jobless.
The study coincides with scathing criticisms of Labour's record on incapacity benefit.
David Freud, an investment banker appointed to help reform the system, described the disabilitytests used to decide who gets some of the £12billion paid out each year as "ludicrous".
Incapacity benefit is worth up to £81.35 a week and has been criticised as a disguised way of cutting dole queues.
Embarrassingly for Gordon Brown, Mr Freud said barely a third of the 2.64million incapacity claimants are genuine. T
hat would suggest 1.9million are well enough to go back to work.
The official study found that 21 per cent of claimants failed to attend a new and compulsory "work focused interview" designed to put them on the road to a job.
Recent figures show that more than 250,000 claimants have been ordered to attend mandatory interviews since July, suggesting that at least 50,000 have ignored the call-up.
A further 25 per cent attended just one meeting before giving up.
Only 14 per cent - one in seven - made it through the full series of six interviews demanded by Government.
The Prime Minister has promised to axe the state benefits of those who refuse to take a job or volunteer for training.
He is under pressure from Tory leader David Cameron who last month announced an ambitious "tough love" plan.
Modelled on a U.S. initiative, this would see benefits for persistent shirkers stopped after two years.
The Government's research into benefits interviews uncovered a persistent reluctance to take threats of benefit sanctions seriously.
Other claimants failed even to realise their handouts were at risk.
The research paper states: "Although the majority of customers knew that the meeting . . . was compulsory, less than half of respondents who attended were aware that their benefits could be reduced if they did not attend them."
Philip Hammond, Tory work and pensions spokesman, said: "We've had seven separate announcements last summer about how Mr Brown is being radical and tough in trying to get people back to work - but this report shows that his approach just isn't working.
"Clearly many benefit recipients are just not taking what the Government is doing seriously. We need a radical, 'tough love' approach to welfare and not the timid tinkering we have at the moment."
Last month figures showed that more than half a million under-35s are living on state handouts because they say they are too sick to work. They outnumbered those actually looking for a job.
Mr Brown has boasted that ten years of Labour's "new deal" welfareto-work methods have helped 1.8million benefit claimants into work.
But he is struggling to tackle the so-called "sicknote culture" of those who opt out of work with little medical reason.
Reforms introduced by Mr Brown include renaming incapacity benefit as employment support allowance and introducing a medical test to weed out less disabled claimants.
However the tests are expected to move only 20,000 a year off disability benefits and will apply to new claimants only.
So Blame British Culture
New Fears Over Boozy Britain
By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Writer 11:20 AM CST, February 3, 2008
Super-sized servings of sauvignon blanc, giant goblets of grenache: wine glasses in Britain's bars are larger than ever and deepening the country's problematic relationship with alcohol, lawmakers and health officials warn.
Huge measures of wine and a glut of cheap alcohol on sale at supermarkets are fueling a worrying rise in problem drinking among adults, particularly women, authorities say.
Britain has won notoriety for reckless drinking among the young. Drunken, brawling teens and twentysomethings have become a familiar sight in town centers. Relaxed laws mean pubs whose opening times used to be strictly regulated can now serve drinkers round the clock.
The minimum drinking age in pubs is 18, but lawmakers say the crisis of excessive drinking is no longer confined to youth. They warn a steady rise in alcohol intake among older adults -- both in bars and at home -- could have a calamitous impact on the nation's health.
Some parliamentarians are putting it down to the size of the glass.
"Almost by stealth, we have ended up drinking much more than we used to in the past -- everyone is susceptible to it," lawmaker Norman Lamb told The Associated Press.
Lamb, the opposition Liberal Democrat party spokesman on health, claims almost all pubs have ditched the once-standard size wine glass which held 4.2 fluid ounces. Instead, they offer one twice as big.
"It's leaving many customers drinking more than they want to," said Lamb's fellow lawmaker, Greg Mulholland, who has called for a law requiring all venues to reinstate the smaller glass.
Jo Caddy, a 35-year-old account manager who cradled a large white wine at The Goose pub in central London, said smaller glasses hold far too little.
"I'd probably drink a bit quick and then I'd have to drink another one," she said.
Danny Blackmore, 31, manager of The Printer's Devil, another central London pub, said British culture, not glass size, is the problem. "You can serve them jugs or you can serve them thimbles -- if they're going out to get drunk they'll get drunk," he said.
Government research has found up to a quarter of adults are also consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol at home. Ministers said last year that middle-aged, middle-class professionals were the worst offenders.
Srabani Sen, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, a charity, said Britons simply have no idea how much they're drinking.
"The old rules of thumb have gone out of the window and part of that is down to the size of wine glasses," she said. "The glasses are larger and the wines are a lot stronger. It's a minefield for anyone trying to keep tabs on what they've had."
She said around 7 million Britons are regularly drinking above recommended limits -- around two standard glasses for men and one-and-a-half for women.
Women are increasingly the ones breaching guidelines -- often unaware of the potential health effects, which can include an increased risk of breast cancer, Sen said.
Britain's health department said it is so concerned that it is developing a $20 million education campaign to target adults later this year.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is planning curbs on the sales of cheap alcohol in stores, has hinted he could scrap predecessor Tony Blair's decision to allow pubs to open 24 hours a day.
In a swank bar in London's legal district, Nick Sperrin, a 44-year-old client services manager, said most British venues now automatically serve wine in the largest glass available.
"People don't know how much they're drinking. There's a third of a bottle of wine in there," he said, pointing to his 8.4 ounce glass
"They just say, 'Can I get a glass?' and they don't realize they're going to get a bucket."
By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Writer 11:20 AM CST, February 3, 2008
Super-sized servings of sauvignon blanc, giant goblets of grenache: wine glasses in Britain's bars are larger than ever and deepening the country's problematic relationship with alcohol, lawmakers and health officials warn.
Huge measures of wine and a glut of cheap alcohol on sale at supermarkets are fueling a worrying rise in problem drinking among adults, particularly women, authorities say.
Britain has won notoriety for reckless drinking among the young. Drunken, brawling teens and twentysomethings have become a familiar sight in town centers. Relaxed laws mean pubs whose opening times used to be strictly regulated can now serve drinkers round the clock.
The minimum drinking age in pubs is 18, but lawmakers say the crisis of excessive drinking is no longer confined to youth. They warn a steady rise in alcohol intake among older adults -- both in bars and at home -- could have a calamitous impact on the nation's health.
Some parliamentarians are putting it down to the size of the glass.
"Almost by stealth, we have ended up drinking much more than we used to in the past -- everyone is susceptible to it," lawmaker Norman Lamb told The Associated Press.
Lamb, the opposition Liberal Democrat party spokesman on health, claims almost all pubs have ditched the once-standard size wine glass which held 4.2 fluid ounces. Instead, they offer one twice as big.
"It's leaving many customers drinking more than they want to," said Lamb's fellow lawmaker, Greg Mulholland, who has called for a law requiring all venues to reinstate the smaller glass.
Jo Caddy, a 35-year-old account manager who cradled a large white wine at The Goose pub in central London, said smaller glasses hold far too little.
"I'd probably drink a bit quick and then I'd have to drink another one," she said.
Danny Blackmore, 31, manager of The Printer's Devil, another central London pub, said British culture, not glass size, is the problem. "You can serve them jugs or you can serve them thimbles -- if they're going out to get drunk they'll get drunk," he said.
Government research has found up to a quarter of adults are also consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol at home. Ministers said last year that middle-aged, middle-class professionals were the worst offenders.
Srabani Sen, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, a charity, said Britons simply have no idea how much they're drinking.
"The old rules of thumb have gone out of the window and part of that is down to the size of wine glasses," she said. "The glasses are larger and the wines are a lot stronger. It's a minefield for anyone trying to keep tabs on what they've had."
She said around 7 million Britons are regularly drinking above recommended limits -- around two standard glasses for men and one-and-a-half for women.
Women are increasingly the ones breaching guidelines -- often unaware of the potential health effects, which can include an increased risk of breast cancer, Sen said.
Britain's health department said it is so concerned that it is developing a $20 million education campaign to target adults later this year.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is planning curbs on the sales of cheap alcohol in stores, has hinted he could scrap predecessor Tony Blair's decision to allow pubs to open 24 hours a day.
In a swank bar in London's legal district, Nick Sperrin, a 44-year-old client services manager, said most British venues now automatically serve wine in the largest glass available.
"People don't know how much they're drinking. There's a third of a bottle of wine in there," he said, pointing to his 8.4 ounce glass
"They just say, 'Can I get a glass?' and they don't realize they're going to get a bucket."
Anti-DUI
Man so drunk he could not remember car attack
A CLITHEROE man lashed out at a car as it drove past him in the town's Church Brow, causing £100 worth of damage.
Blackburn magistrates heard the driver, Steven Jones, and his girlfriend were shocked by the unprovoked attack.
The man responsible, 32-year-old Damian James Turner, later told police he had drunk so much he could not remember what happened.
Turner, of Standen Road, Clitheroe, admitted criminal damage. He was given a conditional discharge for six months and ordered to pay £60 in compensation. A charge of being drunk and disorderly was withdrawn.
Mr Jonathan Taylor (defending) said his client accepted it had been a very unpleasant incident for the couple in the car. "He is the first to admit he has a problem with alcohol," said Mr Taylor.
A CLITHEROE man lashed out at a car as it drove past him in the town's Church Brow, causing £100 worth of damage.
Blackburn magistrates heard the driver, Steven Jones, and his girlfriend were shocked by the unprovoked attack.
The man responsible, 32-year-old Damian James Turner, later told police he had drunk so much he could not remember what happened.
Turner, of Standen Road, Clitheroe, admitted criminal damage. He was given a conditional discharge for six months and ordered to pay £60 in compensation. A charge of being drunk and disorderly was withdrawn.
Mr Jonathan Taylor (defending) said his client accepted it had been a very unpleasant incident for the couple in the car. "He is the first to admit he has a problem with alcohol," said Mr Taylor.
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