Sometimes the hardest stories to find are the ones right under your nose...

At least it would seem so from the tale of one journalism lecturer, who is overseeing a group of students in Birmingham working hard to find stories for their own news website.

According to him, they may have scooped the Post and Mail with a story picked up on the papers' own online forum.

A class of 16 online journalism students from UCE Birmingham have been writing articles for UCE news. They included Todd Nash, who told of claims that police are failing to crack down on the trading of illegal goods across Birmingham.

He followed the story up after spotting a forum post which said car boot sales across the region were a target for crooks.

But, according to UCE Birmingham senior lecturer Paul Bradshaw, Todd may also have pipped the very papers which led him to the story.

Referring to the story on his own blog, he said: "A search of their own site suggests they didn't spot it themselves."

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