Lancashire nostalgia in 1998: Preston North End loo-sing; roaming herd; and boob tube
Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1998:
North End on a loo-sing streak...
Preston North End’s season has already gone down the pan after the club was relegated to Division Seven - of soccer’s loo league.
Toilet facilities for away fans at PNE’s Deepdale stadium are ranked 71st out of the 92 clubs in England and Wales in a survey.
That puts the club in the unenviable position of being top of Division Seven, a division for facilities judged to be “Oh, Gawd! Territory”.
PNE bosses have wiped their hands of the survey, saying it must not take into account the recent multi-million pound ground improvements at Deepdale.
But the club, riding high in the real Second Division, can at least take heart from the fact that a number of North West neighbours do far worse in the national toilets table. Both Blackpool and Wigan languish in the bottom division.
Roaming herd halts morning rush-hour
A herd of cattle brought chaos to rush-hour traffic when they wandered onto a major road into Preston.
The 20 bullocks, owned by Myerscough College, were believed to have been residing in a field at the college-owned Gables Farm site on Lindle Lane, Penwortham, near Preston.
The intrepid group then headed towards Preston via Penwortham Way - taking in a brief tour of the nearby Booths supermarket.
PC Ian Mercer, of Penwortham Police, said officers were called to the scene shortly before 8am and spent more than an hour herding them back to the field with the help from a local farmer.
A procession of motorists coming onto Penwortham Way followed closely behind which caused long tailbacks.
No pleasure as TV turns into boob tube
A family has blasted leisure bosses for “boobing” by not sacking two female workers who proudly displayed their assets on their family video.
When mum Nicholas Lloyd and partner Kevin Metcalfe returned from a mid-week trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach their eyes nearly popped out when they found two women exposing their bare boobs on the family camcorder film.
Nichola, 23, and Kevin, 28, who live in Ince, near Wigan, had taken their daughter Shannon to the world famous fun part with their neighbours.
Having only bought the camcorder the day before, the couple decided to capture the day trip on film but when they returned home Nichola said they were horrified at what they saw.
The incident happened when Nichola and her pal Suzanne Holland decided to take their children on another ride while Kevin and Suzanne’s husband Paul went on the Pepsi Max Big One.
Kevin left the video camera with two female employees and was none the wiser to their antics until he arrive home - apparently the two women thought he was on a stag do and would enjoy the surprise.