IN THE NEWS
LANCS STUDENTS DESIGN CRAZY TAXI GAME
Mobile phone design- ers from Lancaster University and the Uni- versity of Central Lancashirehave worked together for the first time to create a game which is now being sold worldwide by the com- puter giant Apple. According to the Lan-
cashire Evening Post, the students developed an innovative mobile phone game for the iPhone and iPod hand- sets, which is now on sale on Apple’s itunes website.
The game, called Cab- bin Frenzy, involves players trying to domi-
nate the chaotic city streets Of New York, Paris or London as the boss of a taxi company. The invention has been backed with £16,000 of investment from Lancashire Coun- ty Council, North West Vision & Media, UCLan and Preston Council.
ANGER AS SLOUGH CABBIES URINATE IN STREET
Upton Park residents are frustrated at the lack of action by police and Slough Borough Council to stop taxi drivers urinat- ing in their street. They have put up bar- riers and two signs saying ‘This is not a public toilet’ after pho- tographing drivers urinating in the bushes across from their
homes in Kenilworth Close.
The residents, many of which live in support- ed housing, say it has been an ongoing problem for nearly two years, and are calling for a meeting to finally solve the issue. Resident Colin Davey, 58, told the Midweek Observer that he was willing to host a meet-
ing with police, anti- social behaviour teams, licensing authorities and taxi firms. He said: “Let’s come up with a strate- gy so we can say ‘this is going to stop, and this is going to work’.” A spokeswoman for Slough Borough Coun- cil said the council had written to all taxi firms to warn them.
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insurance 3 Wellingborough Rd, Rushden, Northants NN10 9YE VICIOUS DOG TRAPS CLEETHORPES DRIVER IN CAR
A terrified taxi driver claims that thousands of pounds of damage was caused to her lux- ury cab after it came under attack from a ferocious dog.
Lisa Blackburn, who has worked as a self- employed driver in the town for the past 22 years, said she was trapped in her car for 20 minutes while a vicious pitbull-type dog savaged the vehi- cle after she had dropped off a fare in the early hours of the morning.
The shaken Cleethor- pes mum now wants to warn families in the Sandringham Road area to keep an eye out for the dog, which she claims chewed off her number plate and
left 37 bite marks in the bodywork of her Mercedes Elegance 250.
She told the Grimsby Evening Telegraph: “It was a horrific experi- ence. I dread to think what it would do to a child. The damage it has done is quite incredible.
“It was ginger and had a long tail. There was a collar around its neck which suggests he might belong to some- one local.”
A North East Lin- colnshire Council (NELC) spokesman said: “We urge pet owners to take responsibility for their pets and ensure that they wear collars with disks and contact numbers or have their
animal chipped so that they can be easily identified.”
A spokesman for Humberside Police said: “Thankfully, this incident did not result in serious injury being caused to the taxi driv- er, but the damage caused to the car highlights what could have happened had someone been walk- ing by at the time rather than driving. “We would urge all dog owners to ensure that their pets are kept securely and cannot get out easily in order to prevent the possi- ble loss of a loved family pet or worse, your dog having to be destroyed after get- ting loose and attacking someone.”
STAMFORD DRIVER STEVE COMPLETES THE WORLD’S BIGGEST JIGSAW PUZZLE
A taxi driver has com- pleted what is claimed to be the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle. Steve Cook, 41, from Stamford, spent four months piecing togeth- er the big puzzle entitled ‘Life’ - which is a colourful picture fea- turing fish, animals, planets, boats and much more.
He said: “It was made up of 24,000 pieces and some days I would spend up to eight hours working on it.” Mr Cook has complet- ed many other puzzles with thousands of pieces, but none as challenging as this. “I started at an early age and this one that I have finished takes up a whole wall at home.” Sue, Mr Cook’s girl- friend, bought him the puzzle as a present last year.
He told the Stamford Mercury: “They are addictive. I think to myself,
I’ll just put
another piece in place and before you know
Steve Cook with the world’s largest jigsaw. Photo courtesy of the Stamford and Rutland Mercury
it, it is the early hours of the morning.” Steve put the jigsaw together in four sec- tions using a piece of chipboard as a base. Then with help from his father he put them together in a frame and mounted it on the wall, where he plans to leave it for the foresee- able future.
Among his previous jigsaw challenges, he has completed puz- zles which show a picture of just baked beans.
He said: “That was hard. I’ve also done double-sided ones.” Doing the puzzles has- n’t always been fun.
He has a 7,500-piece one of New York City which had a bit miss- ing, which he only realised when close to completing it.
But he found a compa- ny online which was able to recreate the final piece for him. Mr Cook isn’t sure what challenge to take on next, as he’s not found a puzzle with more pieces than this one. He is yet to tackle a 3D jigsaw puzzle like a globe but added: “This may be on the cards for me to have a go at next. “Other than that, I’ll have to wait for an even bigger one to come out.”
PHTM OCTOBER 2010
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