WHAT HAPPENED ON 8th January 1997?

7th January 1997

NITROGEN DIOXIDE 5pm Tue 7 Jan

Wales Scotland & N.Ireland

	Air	Level
	Quality	(ppb)
URBAN sites
Edinburgh Centre	Very Good	26
Glasgow City Chambers	Very Good	38
Glasgow Centre	Very Good	31
Belfast Centre	Very Good	32
Swansea Centre - -
Cardiff Centre	Very Good	24
RURAL sites
North Scotland	Very Good	1

8th January 1997

WATCHDOG FINES LLOYDS OVER PENSION SALE

Lloyds Bank has been fined £325 000 by a City watchdog for breaching rules relating to personal pensions selling. The bank is the first to fall foul of IMRO over the advice given to customers transferring from company schemes. Lloyds is also being made to pay costs of £63 000. The bank agreed to a settlement on the grounds that it did not provide all the information needed to make a "balanced and informed decision".

8th January 1997

MORE REPORTS INTO SEX OFFENDER COMMENTS

Council officials are calling for more reports on a housing officer after he told residents that a sex offender was living in their street in Birmingham. The offender's windows were smashed & he was moved from the area. The city council has suspended the officer but local residents have signed a petition demanding the officer's reinstatement. A disciplinary hearing into the case has been adjourned pending the reports.

7th January 1997

WICKES PRICE HALVED ON RETURN TO

Wickes returned to the stock market after seven months ` at a price. The DIY group's shares were quoted at 200p at the official start of trading (before closing at 196\p) compared with a rights issue value of 150p. But it represented a 51% drop in the adjusted price following the company's stock exchange suspension last June over financial irregularities. Former senior managers are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

8th January 1997

WATCHDOG FINES LLOYDS OVER PENSION SALE

Lloyds Bank has been fined £325 000 by a City watchdog for breaching rules relating to personal pensions selling. The bank is the first to fall foul of IMRO over the advice given to customers transferring from company schemes. Lloyds is also being made to pay costs of £63 000. The bank agreed to a settlement on the grounds that it did not provide all the information needed to make a "balanced and informed decision".

8th January 1997

JOBS RISE FROM THE ASHES OF YORKSHIRE

A Yorkshire furniture firm is launching a comeback despite losing its factory in a fire last year. Yorkshire Pine was based at Thirsk in North Yorkshire but is now poised to reopen in Darlington Co Durham. The re-location will bring up to 180 jobs to the area. The company said it was encouraged by the many expressions of support from its customers.

7th January 1997

I notice the NHS is set to overspend

#150m presumably on the rate of suffering ` bravo! What a pity the same could not be said of the £1.33bn loss to taxpayers that the Child Support Agency has so far delivered. Mrs Rosina Bell Ilfracombe Devon

8th January 1997

WATCHDOG FINES LLOYDS OVER PENSION SALE

Lloyds Bank has been fined £325 000 by a City watchdog for breaching rules relating to personal pensions selling. The bank is the first to fall foul of IMRO over the advice given to customers transferring from company schemes. Lloyds is also being made to pay costs of £63 000. The bank agreed to a settlement on the grounds that it did not provide all the information needed to make a "balanced and informed decision".

8th January 1997

WOMAN COMPENSATED AFTER LOSING HER BABY

A woman from Nottinghamshire has won substantial compensation from the NHS following the loss of her unborn child. Jane Henson took action after doctors at King's Mill hospital in Sutton-in Ashfield carried out a hysterectomy ` without noticing she was pregnant. North Nottinghamshire Health Authority has agreed to pay her a five-figure sum Mrs Henson is the second patient at the hospital to win a settlement in similar circumstances.

7th January 1997

BOEING-MD LINK-UP "TO BENEFIT AIRBUS"

The link-up of US plane-making giants Boeing & McDonnell Douglas is likely to help rather than harm the European Airbus consortium experts claim. Airbus Industrie in which BAe has a 20% stake might be "secretly relieved" at the merger it was suggested. Flight International magazine's Kieran Daly said McDonnell Douglas had been forcing Airbus & Boeing to sell aircraft at "ridiculously low prices". Now a "proper two-horse race" could develop with no impact expected on jobs in Britain. Watchdog to probe merger plan >>>>

8th January 1997

WATCHDOG FINES LLOYDS OVER PENSION SALE

Lloyds Bank has been fined £325 000 by a City watchdog for breaching rules relating to personal pensions selling. The bank is the first to fall foul of IMRO over the advice given to customers transferring from company schemes. Lloyds is also being made to pay costs of £63 000. The bank agreed to a settlement on the grounds that it did not provide all the information needed to make a "balanced and informed decision".

8th January 1997

TOAST Toastmaster Ivor Spencer says he will use the Internet to publicise his call for a worldwide toast to the Queen on the first day of the Millennium. ASSAULT The organiser of a drum majorette club Victor Pearce has been jailed for 30 months for repeatedly indecently assaulting a 12-year-old pupil in his south London home. BARINGS Former executive Mary Walz who last month lost her claim for a £0.5m bonus has been ordered to pay £5 000 by a City watchdog. The fine related to disciplinary proceedings against her.