Above: Dean Taberner braves the snow to clean a HMV store in Chesterfield, UK.
UK Snow Chaos: It might be causing chaos across the county, but for some the snow is also a reason to celebrate. Children dragged last year's sledges out of the garage to take full advantage of the schools shutting their doors and even adults got in on the fun. As well as the standard snowmen springing up in streets and gardens, more inventive sculptures are being built. Ground works contractor Andy Walker, 37, built the mammoth snowman with the help of window cleaners Robert Blanchard, 17, and James O'Kane, 16. Mr Walker said: "I've always wanted to build a massive snowman, but this is the first year I've done it. "Up to about 13ft, Rob was standing on top of him and we were throwing compacted snow up to him. A lot of people have been coming up and taking pictures." Igloos were also being built around the city. County council engineer Tom Mumby spent the night in his snow dome and a giant igloo built on Newhaven Drive, near Brant Road, also got some attention.
Window cleaners die after scaffolding fall beside Burj: Two men died yesterday after falling from the 27th floor of a building under construction next to the Burj Khalifa. Dubai Police confirmed that the men were installing glass when their cradle malfunctioned at around 4pm and plummeted to the ground. An anonymous source said the side-winch of their cradle had failed. Picture evidence of the accident scene distributed by the police today shows that both men were wearing safety harnesses. According to a security guard at the building site, the men were both from India.
ATLANTA - Tuesday night's line of severe storms, which even spawned a tornado, claimed the life of a Conyers man as he was driving through Gwinnett County. Gwinnett Police said Wednesday that Matthew Mitchell, 54, of Conyers was driving on South Rockbridge Road near Stone Mountain when a tree trunk split in half and the huge tree fell on his minivan, killing him. "We heard the boom," said Wilda Thompson, who lives in the area. She described the sound as like a crack of thunder. She said it was as dark as night just then. She ran into the rain to try to help. "It was just an awful scene. I looked over and I kept screaming, 'Answer me if anybody's in there, answer me if anybody's in there.' And we heard no answer." Then she saw the driver, as rescue crews arrived. "The car was crushed up. I mean it looked like a rolled-up Coca Cola can, it was so crushed." Gwinnett County police said Mitchell was killed instantly. His minivan rolled down the road and into the side of a hill. Mitchell owned and ran a janitorial and window cleaning business - married, with four, grown children. "I mean, that gentleman wasn't doing anything wrong, trying to get home to his family" Thompson said. "For that tree and him to be there, at that time when that tree fell, it's God's fate.... Nothing anyone could have done. I asked the fireman, the fireman said, 'We don't think he knew what hit him.'"
Trader/Window cleaner quits over pavement protest: A Fleetwood trader has closed his business after complaining of his treatment by Wyre Council. Kenneth O'Sullivan who ran the Kurious second-hand and collectables shop on Lord Street was furious when he was asked by the council to move furniture and other items from the pavement. His stock had been on both sides of the path – prompting a complaint to the council there was difficulty in getting past. But Mr O'Sullivan said: "Of course people can get past: it's ridiculous. "I was in the building game but that was struggling because of the recession so I tried this. "I've been here for eight weeks and it's been going well. "I have been selling cheap things for people who haven't got a lot of money. I never had any money when I was younger so I like to see people getting a bit of help. "This is just the shop that Fleetwood needs Well, now they have lost another thing in Fleetwood. "I know I had stuff outside but they have tables and chairs outside in Cleveleys and there is no problem. It should be the same for everybody."
He said: "I just can't stand this ridiculous bureaucracy so I'm starting to pack up. "I don't need this aggravation. I also have a window cleaning business I can be getting on with." A Wyre Council spokeswoman said: "Following a complaint from a member of the public who was unable to get their wheelchair past goods being displayed on the pavement, a street scene officer visited the site. "The shop owner was advised that he was committing an offence and in the interest of public safety was asked to immediately remove those items that were causing an obstruction."
Window cleaner beats knife rap: A former window cleaner was last week cleared of illegally having a lock knife after a sheriff accepted that he used it for his work. Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that the knife was found when 40-year-old Graeme Ritchie was searched after being approached by plain clothes police as he sat in his car, with two other men, in the Tesco car park in Glasgow Road. Ritchie, of John Kennedy Place, Kilmarnock, claimed that he used the knife – which he had in his pocket – for cutting rubber cleaning blades and ropes he used to secure his ladders.
Constable Mark McInnes said that he and his colleague first followed Ritchie’s vehicle in August 2009 because they suspected that he was another man who was a disqualified driver. The PC said that afterwards, he had then decided to search Ritchie for drugs because of his agitated manner. He said: “When he did come out of the vehicle, he immediately put his hands into his pockets. I immediately asked him to remove his hands which he refused to do.”
He said that, asked about the knife, Ritchie responded: “It’s just a pocket knife.” Cross-examined by Sandy Currie, defending, PC McInness accepted that there were ladders on the roof of the car, buckets and other cleaning equipment inside and that Ritchie had said that he was a window cleaner. He also admitted that the man had later said that he used the knife “for cutting ropes or rubber”. Giving evidence, Ritchie said that, at the time, he had been working as a window cleaner for only around two weeks. He admitted that he did not have a council licence to clean windows and was claiming benefits.
Ritchie told the court that the knife was in his pocket because he used it while up his ladder to cut sections of rope and cleaning blades. He also said that when police approached him he knew that they were looking for someone else as he had been stopped three times in the preceding weeks by officers on the look-out for another individual who drove a similar car. Sheriff Robert Vaughan – who earlier rejected a legal submission by Mr Currie – said: “The Crown has produced a case to answer. It has been answered to a sufficient extent. “I accept the defence of good reason.” He found Ritchie not guilty.
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