When last Rhuthun/Ruthin hit the national news it was because of the tragedy that was the flooding along Mwrog Street, Borthyn, Park Road and Crispin Yard.
The town's in the national news again, this time for something thankfully much more trivial. It's all thanks to the humble Tesco hand shopping baskets that have gone missing. They're disappearing from Tesco Rhuthun quicker than mince pies at Christmas.
This first appeared in no less a newspaper than the Daily Mail. Said a Mail journo,
One report suggested there were only 16 baskets left in store. Another said there were just 12 left. A member of staff is reported to say that of the 500, they had only 11.
The Free Press took this up on the following day. It asked Tesco if they could take a photograph of an empty basket rake but, stupidly, Tesco said "no" when this might've highlighted the issue for them. Said Tesco, "he store is very busy and we feel that it would be an inconvenience to our staff and customers to have a photographer in there". Yet, the Daily Mail managed to get a picture of one such empty rack, although whether this was at Rhuthun or not is unclear. Perhaps the Free Press should've entered with a discrete portable phone camera. No one would've known.
The Co-op was not afflicted.
The story went around the world. Well, at least as far as Stoke on Trent and Ghana. Yet, it appears the news hadn't reached the local police.
The town's in the national news again, this time for something thankfully much more trivial. It's all thanks to the humble Tesco hand shopping baskets that have gone missing. They're disappearing from Tesco Rhuthun quicker than mince pies at Christmas.
"A Tesco supermarket has had 500 of its shopping baskets stolen after a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags was introduced last year"Is this really in response to the Welsh government's 5p levy on single use bags? If so, it's a somewhat delayed response: the charge was applicable almost a year earlier, on October 1st. Or, since then, has the same person been nicking baskets at the rate of two visits a week? Or is Rhuthun in the grip of an organised basket-steeling ring to order?
One report suggested there were only 16 baskets left in store. Another said there were just 12 left. A member of staff is reported to say that of the 500, they had only 11.
The Free Press took this up on the following day. It asked Tesco if they could take a photograph of an empty basket rake but, stupidly, Tesco said "no" when this might've highlighted the issue for them. Said Tesco, "he store is very busy and we feel that it would be an inconvenience to our staff and customers to have a photographer in there". Yet, the Daily Mail managed to get a picture of one such empty rack, although whether this was at Rhuthun or not is unclear. Perhaps the Free Press should've entered with a discrete portable phone camera. No one would've known.
The Co-op was not afflicted.
The story went around the world. Well, at least as far as Stoke on Trent and Ghana. Yet, it appears the news hadn't reached the local police.