Two national newspapers have attempted to steal a regional daily’s scoop by claiming to have “rescued” a village cut off for 20 days by the snow.

Both The Sun and the Daily Express today reported how their staff fought their way through snow drifts to deliver vital provisions to residents in Cow Ark, a remote hamlet in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley.

In fact a reporter and photographer from the Lancashire Telegraph had got there 24 hours earlier, carrying bags of shopping on a quad bike.

Editor Kevin Young said today: “We feel a bit like Amundsen who made it to the South Pole first, but everyone keeps banging on about Captain Scott.”

Yesterday’s edition of the Telegraph told how chief reporter David Watkinson and picture editor Neil Johnson attempted to make their way on foot along the only access road into the village before being ferried the rest of the way on a resident’s quad bike.

“We brought along bags of shopping, including milk and bread, to help some of the families through,” said David in a first-person piece published in the paper.

But the Telegraph’s exclusive appeared to signal the start of a veritable invasion of the village by tabloid reporters.

Today’s Sun reported: “Villagers in remote Cow Ark, Lancs – cut off for three weeks since heavy snow on December 17 – were overjoyed yesterday when The Sun came to their rescue. Our mercy crew delivered bread, milk, cheese, ham and other vital provisions – including Britain’s favourite newspaper.”

The Express also reported how a villager had “carried our reporter on his bike so the Daily Express could bring fruit, veg, cheese, ham, milk and bread for the hungry villagers.”

The Daily Mail also carried the story in full, although it held back from claiming to have delivered more groceries.

The road into Cow Ark has been impassable due to snow and ice since the first snowfall on 17 December and has continued to get worse over the past 20 days.

Ribble Valley Council attempted to send a recycling wagon into the village before Christmas but it crashed and has remained in a ditch beside the road ever since.

Comments

oldcynic (08/01/2010 17:43:30)
Your story implies that the Sun and the Express were actually doing their own delivering. I think not, somehow. “Our reporter” and “our mercy crew” sound like a rewrite to me, not a bit of copycat heroism… typical tabloid hackery. Hope the lineage rate was good, boys!

Web Man (11/01/2010 09:16:55)
National newspapers steal hundreds of stories from the regional press every day. It’s shoddy journalism at best and thieving at worst. Since you have to leave your morals at the door to work for a national I don’t think The Sun or Express will be feeling particularly bad at this latest incident.