FOI Friday: The stories made possible thanks to FOI in September 2016

A look at some of the stories made possible thanks to FOI laws in the UK – most of which can easily be replicated elsewhere… Ambulances called to one house 500 times < Kent Online Ambulance crews were called to 595 emergency calls from one private address in one year. The astonishing figure came to

FOI Friday: Council credit cards, mental health beds crisis, schools with asbestos and 50 Shades of Grey…

So, what are councils using credit cards for at the moment? < Bristol Post Taxpayers in Bristol have been footing the bill for council workers to stay in expensive hotels, eat at posh restaurants and buy designer clothes, the Bristol Post has learned. Almost £680,000 was spent on Bristol City Council payment cards last year,

FOI Friday: Thefts from churches, Christmas cuts, Coventry’s oldest driver and hospital drug thieves

Tax relief for independent schools < Croydon Advertiser CROYDON’S independent schools received £6.8 million in business rates relief over the last six years. Figures obtained by the Advertiser through a Freedom of Information request to Croydon Council show the extent to which the town’s private schools receive financial support. What gets stolen from churches? <

A headline which shows the pun still has a place in the online world

If you listen to regular newsroom logic, the internet is to blame for many things, including the death of the clever headline. Search Engine Optimisation, goes the discussion, has killed off the need for a clever headline to draw the reader in. It’s all about getting as many words that people will be searching for

FOI Friday: Nightmare roadwork roads, self service checkout crimes, cost of PFI and student disciplinary offences

The roads dug up more than 600 times in a year < Birmingham Mail Road repairs in Birmingham are causing traffic chaos with some routes being dug up almost every day for the past FIVE years, the Birmingham Mail can reveal. Workmen have had to carry out maintenance on Birmingham’s Broad Street three times a

FOI Friday: Unidentified bodies, chugging, bedroom tax costs and ambulance delays

How many unidentified bodies have been discovered by police? < Liverpool Echo THE ECHO today explores the riddle of 11 mystery bodies that lay open on Merseyside Police’s files. The unidentified bodies and body parts – dating back to 1972 – include a decomposed foot found in a trainer which washed up on Hightown beach

The four letter word which has rescued many a front page….

…. but how nervous will the sub who put this front page together have been? There but for the grace of God….  

FOI Friday: Ambulance call out hot spots, crisis fund rejections, Premier League policing and missed 101 calls

Most frequent ambulance call out homes < BBC The Welsh Ambulance Service is urging people to think before dialling 999, after one home rang for an ambulance 290 times in a year. Of the call-outs to the property in Colwyn Bay, Conwy, 98 resulted in hospital visits. The service spent 3,660 hours dealing with the

FOI Friday: The cost of murder, shoplifting hotspots, firefighter complaints and the return of wrong fuel in cop cars

The cost of Murder – Birmingham Mail West Mercia Police spend fortune in bid to track down killers and see justice done A Midland police force has spent more than £2.5 million on just FIVE murder investigations in the last five years. The cases were the most expensive investigated by West Mercia Police, according to

The 12 days of local Pressmasness: 6 criminal Grannies

If Christmas is all about giving, then it’s only right we celebrate the Freedom of Information request which keeps on giving – the one about old people and the crimes they first commit. It’s a bit like The Snowman, or Only Fools and Horses – a repeat which can be guaranteed to turn up at