…being arrested for a crime you didn’t commit?
It happened last month to three senior staff at Yorkshire maintenance and refurbishment company Strategic Team Group (STG) when police burst in and handcuffed them as they were enjoying a meal at an Italian restaurant in Leeds. But no need to panic – the arrest was part of a charity “jail and bail” fundraiser by STG to raise cash for youth crime prevention charity, the No Way Trust. Business development director Charles Tweed, buyer Matt Wilby and contracts manager Paul Danisz had to change into prison uniforms and were then taken away in a mobile prison cell. In a pre-arranged court hearing, each was found guilty of charges ranging from offensive fashion sense, break-in and robbery at a pie factory and theft of a burger van. The fictitious felons were then ordered to raise between £2,000 and £4,000 each for the charity to bail themselves out. Looking at that porridge, we hope it didn’t take long…
…giving your site its own Facebook page?
Main contractor Shepherd Construction has seized on the power of social networking by launching a Facebook page dedicated to the construction of the £66m Bournville College at Longbridge, Birmingham.
The Shepherd@Bournville College New Build site will feed progress photos, status updates and details of events and milestones at the flagship building to anyone with a Facebook account who becomes a “fan”. Realistically, however, the contractor expects to update staff, students and local residents.
Derek Urquhart, project leader for Shepherd Construction, said: “We felt it was important to harness social networking to communicate progress on the new build. Our Facebook site complements a live webcam, news and pictures posted on the college website.”
Well, Bourneviile College has certainly got with the programme. But the question is, will it be any good at Farmville?
…staging a high-speed police car chase to recover stolen plant?
It didn’t quite involve Starsky and Hutch-style stunt driving, but a recent operation by Essex Police went to fairly dramatic lengths to recover a JCB digger stolen from a construction site near Great Casterton, Leicestershire.
Fortunately, the hire company that owned the digger had fitted it with a Tracker recovery device, which uses satellite tracking technology.
Seven days after the theft, the police picked up the digger’s signal and, supported by a helicopter unit, traced it to a lorry crossing the QE2 Bridge over the Thames at Dartford. After closing the bridge during rush hour they intercepted the lorry, arrested the driver, and found the JCB, a stolen tractor and other items valued at £350,000 inside.
We’ve been reenacting the chase with the digger, police car and helicopter stress toys sent to us by Tracker (pictured). “Beep beep! Vrrrrmmmm…”
…racing site plant without breaking the law?
If you always wanted to burn some rubber in a dumper truck, you can indulge your taste for speed at Diggerland, a family adventure park with sites in Kent, Devon, Durham and Yorkshire. Imagine the excitement in the CM office when we were invited to Diggerland in Kent, to take part in a day of JCB digger skills challenges. The “world’s noisiest press event” will provide the setting to test Arco’s Sensear high noise communication device, which is designed to suppress harmful background noise without blocking speech.
