A tornado on the River Humber brought high drama to the Grimsby Telegraph offices – and resulted in a front page which sold out that day’s editions.

By 10.20am, Page One for the first edition was almost finished. Then the phone rang.The call was from the first of many readers who called to report a tornado.

It came from the beach safety officer at Cleethorpes who had the managed to capture the phenomenon on his video system.

Then came a call from 17-year-old Stuart East, who was visiting the resort for the day. He rang to offer a picture he had taken on his digital camera.

Photographic manager Dave Moss set off to check it out. Back in the office Tony Hyde, the chief sub, alerted by deputy news editor Dave Atkin started scrapping the entire front page.

The result – a great effort by newsroom staff which resulted in a paper only 10 minutes late off-stone carrying a detailed story.

Dave Moss was back by 11am and the paper changed P1 on the run to give the first picture of the twister.

By its main edition the front had changed again – this time to a poster style treatment of the picture. Inside, Page two was cleared for more pictures and eye-witness accounts.

Throughout the event the phones rang constantly with readers swamping the switchboard to tell their stories and offer more pictures.

The result – a massive boost to sales that day with agents calling the paper throughout the afternoon for extras.

Do you have a story for us?
Ring the HoldTheFrontPage newsdesk on
01332 291111 x6022, or to e-mail us now – click here