An angry mother was hit with a £100 fine after her baby dropped a cheese cracker in a supermarket car park.
Danielle Botcher, 28, was “speechless” when officers issued her with the on-the-spot penalty for “incorrectly disposing of fast food”. Her 18-month-old daughter, Mia, had been eating a pack of Dairylea Lunchables when one of the mini biscuits fell on the ground at a Tesco in Essex.
“It’s ridiculous, they should be focusing on fly-tippers, not a baby who accidentally dropped her snack,” said the mum-of-two.
Metro (Daragh Brady)
[See also: This England: Don’t get the small stuff]
It’s snow joke
The public are being asked to help name 30 snow gritters for Welsh roads. Traffic Wales launched its first public naming competition for the fleet in 2020 and the new poll for gritters in south Wales will run from September 2021.
The gritters named so far include: Oh Salt’s Occurring; Snowain Glyndwr; Pretty Gritty City; Fan Halen; Aneurin Bevan; Pont Y Ploughie; Y Ddraig Oren and Dai Icer.
BBC Wales (Neil Stone)
[See also: This England: Snow place like home]
A heroic tomcat
A “brave” and “noble” cat who carried on walking despite an injury to his foot has been named in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore.
The “majestic” feline was recently rescued by the team at RSPCA Millbrook Animal Centre in Chobham. The RSPCA said Captain Tom will be spending a little longer in the care of the team before beginning the search to find his forever home.
Surrey Advertiser (Ian Wilson)
[See also: This England: Men who Zoom with goats]
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This article appears in the 24 Mar 2021 issue of the New Statesman, Spring special 2021