An unbelievable refereeing display arguably cost Darlington a 7-1 thrashing at Scunthrope on Saturday. Paul Alcock, who was deemed not good enough to referee in the Premiership and relegated to the Nationwide leagues, bemused Barry Conlon by sending him
Hartlepool kept up their charge for a Third Division play-off place with a hard earned win at in-form Swansea on Friday night. A first-half deflected goal claimed by Graeme Lee was enough to secure a fourth successive win. Not surprisingly, Hartlepool
Alan Shearer won a personal penalty duel with Fabrizio Ravanelli as Newcastle made an immediate return to winning ways at St James' Park. Newcastle skipper Shearer banished the memory of his spot-kick failure in the 3-1 defeat at Fulham, when he fired
The Government is being accused of dragging its feet as a row broke out over the lifting of foot-and-mouth restrictions. National Farming Union chiefs in the North-East said officials were being overly cautious in moves to free counties of curbs. But
A ROYAL British Legion chairman and former policeman has told of his life of "absolute hell" after being wrongly accused of abusing a lesbian couple. Raymond Smith Brodie, 67, appeared at Consett Magistrates Court yesterday accused of scratching the letters
A paperboy has saved an elderly lady from freezing to death on her bathroom floor. John Stott, 14, was on his paper round when he noticed that the 79-year-old, who lives on her own, had not collected her newspaper from the door. When he went back the
A MAN has died after he was swept off a pier while fishing with a friend. Danny Donnelly, 47, of Cramlington, was rescued after half an hour in the sea - but doctors were unable to save him. He was fishing off the North pier at Tynemouth when he was washed
A NEW multi-storey car park is being planned to relieve some of the car parking misery in a North-East town. The Cornmill Shopping Centre's new owner, the Rachel Charitable Trust, is hoping to put together a proposal to create an extra 150 places at the
Embarrassed officials have returned the centrepiece of their market town's celebrations after it proclaimed in dazzling neon lights the greeting "Welcome to Bed." The setpiece, to mark the 750th anniversary of Bedale, North Yorkshire, was to hang between
FIVE people are this morning in custody after being arrested during a major drugs raid in a County Durham pub last night. More than 80 police officers, some in riot gear, took part in the raid at Hogan's pub in Bishop Auckland at about 7pm. The swoop
Street wardens look set to be recruited in a bid to reduce drug problems in a County Durham town. A proposal has been put forward to enlist two wardens to operate in Ferryhill Station and the Dean Bank area of Ferryhill. The communities have suffered
Police have vowed to continue their fight against drugs in a County Durham town following a high profile raid at the weekend. Five men were arrested during the raid on Hogan's public house in Bishop Auckland on Friday night. About 80 police officers,
THE first solar-powered parking ticket machine has been installed in a Darlington car park. Darlington Borough Council hopes to have all of the town's 49 other machines converted to solar power within the next few years. The first machine has been installed
The BBC's Roly Keating is a man with a mission. He arrived in Newcastle this week to spread the word about the Corporation's plans for expanding its digital television and radio services. He talks enthusiastically about the launch of new channels in the
POLICE laid on an unprecedented security operation as the prisoner labelled "Britain's most dangerous man" gave evidence at a North-East trial. Charles Bronson was jailed in 1974 and a series of violent outbursts have led him to spend more than 24 years
THOUGH it began in the Catholic Club, involved the priest and the Methodist minister and included an invocation - perhaps for the first time in all His great creation - that Almighty God might bless a roundy, this wasn't strictly a service at all. It
LAST month, 63 asylum seekers arrived on Teesside by ferry over a period of just 18 days. Some are now living in houses without heating or hot water and others are relying on the Salvation Army for food. Their situation is not unusual. Two years ago,
A REMARKABLE family firm which has charted the development of transport from horse to horse-power has closed its doors after 108 years. When blacksmith Herbert Raine branched out into building ice cream carts and pony traps in the 1890s, he could not
POWER tools firm Black and Decker is axing more jobs in a bid to cut costs. The Spennymoor, County Durham operation has plans to cut about 12 administrative posts by the end of this month. The job losses are the latest at the plant, following 100 redundancies
Letters from The Northern Echo GROWING OLD AS you become older, the norm seems to shift considerably. I see pot-bellied men in their fifties, walking down the street in a football strip. Fifty years ago that would have seemed barmy. You see footballers
ANTI-counterfeiting measures supplier Applied Optical Technologies, has been awarded the contract to supply brand protection for the Athens Olympic Games. The contract, which will last until the games in 2004, involves the manufacture and supply of a
