City news in 250 words: Thursday 10 March

FIRE-FIGHTERS are set to get bedrooms as part of cost-cutting measures aimed at making them work 24 hour shifts. The new plans would see fire-fighters working 12 hours on duty and a further 12 hours on call where they will be paid 30 per cent of their wage. Altrincham has been identified as possible location for the trial, due to low night-time callouts.

A COUPLE from Stockport have been forced to censor a car sticker after being visited by a police officer. The complaint was passed on to police by a local councillor who received it from a resident. The couple were informed that the sticker was deemed offensive under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, due to an expletive, and that they faced a fine if they did not remove or censor it. The couple complied.

PETER HOOK is set to perform Joy Division’s second album ‘Closer’ in full at his Manchester club, The Factory. This follows in the success of last year’s performance of the first Joy Division album ‘Unknown Pleasures’. Hooky and ex-Happy Mondays singer Rowetta are also set to release an EP of re-recorded Joy Division songs on May 2.

AN ACCOUNTANT has been brought before the courts after driving into a bin man whose lorry blocked the road. Frances Henshaw was said to be ‘snarling like a rabid dog’ at the time of the incident. She was later fined £2,000 and given eight points by Stockport Magistrates, after being found guilty of numerous driving offences.

Out of the window weather forecast: Patchy rain and very windy with sunny spells. Be careful your brolly doesn’t turn inside out.