Manchester 250: Thursday 1 November

A FIREWORK set off deliberately in a shop left a baby hospitalised. A man dressed in a gorilla suit and a Scream mask entered the California Wines shop on Tonge Moor Road, Bolton carrying a huge lit firework. He then dropped the firework and ran out. Inspector Tony Kenyon, of Bolton Police, said: “This was not a small firework. Thankfully the injuries were not severe but it could have been tragic.”

A COFFIN was found abandoned by a bus stop on Crescent Road, Dukinfield in what was believed to be a Halloween prank. However, it was later revealed that the casket fell off the back of a lorry that was traveling to a nearby funeral directors. Two teenagers who found the box, with a name and body size on it, checked that it was empty before taking photographs. Workers from a nearby crematorium came quickly to collect the abandoned coffin.

FAMILIES left without access to their loans and savings after the collapse of credit union, Streetcred, are to be paid compensation by Christmas. The union lent money to people unable to borrow elsewhere but ceased trading with around £500,000 worth of debt.

RIO FERDINAND is ready for this weekend’s clash against Arsenal. The United defender doesn’t believe that the result of the match will determine who will go onto win the Premier League title. In an MUTV interview, he said: “It’s a massive game but no matter who wins it will not be a case of they’ll be the favourites.”