Pride came before a fall for the journalist who set about parking her shiny new black Polo at the local police HQ, according to Cambs Times diarist Samuel Brakespeare.

Masons News Agency's newest recruit shunted into a Volvo, behind whose wheel sat the head of major investigations, Det Chief Supt Russell Wate.

Unimpressed by the driving prowess of 27-year-old Catherine Morris, he left his icy stare to deliver the only rebuke necessary since, fortunately, no physical damage to either cars was involved.

Catherine would have preferred a news black-out – but the rest of the car park at Huntingdon nick was filled with hacks all en route to the same briefing!

(poor sod)

Do you remember our story about the couple plagued with calls from house buyers after their home was spotted in a 25-year-old reprint of the paper?

The Birmingham Mail has now received more than £30 in cheques for people wanting to take part in a reader travel offer of a horse-drawn canal trip, advertised in the same Aston Villa commemorative edition.

Quicksave? Kwik Save?

They used a Moulinex...

And finally, sage advice from one regional news firm’s company car guardians on phoning someone who MIGHT just be driving: "What the caller should avoid is putting themselves in a position whereby the driver, if involved in an accident subsequently investigated by the police, blames the caller for keeping them talking when they were driving."

I rest my case, m'lud.