Local News

A major fire at a school in our area has been averted by the buildings sprinkler system;

The volunteers of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team were called into action in our area;

...and police are warning members of the public to be vigilant after fraudsters posing as employees of Virgin Media attempted to trick thousands of pounds from a man in the Redcar area.

A major fire at a school in our area has been averted by the buildings sprinkler system.

Cleveland Fire Brigade was called to a fire at Bydales School in Marske just after 8pm on Monday evening.

However the was out on arrival thanks to sprinklers that had been installed, protecting the school from significant damage.

The incident comes just weeks after Chief Fire Officer Ian Hayton praised Hartlepool Borough Council’s move to introduce a policy ensuring sprinkler systems will be included in all plans for new schools. 

The fire, which took place at Bydales School on Marlborough Avenue, was caused by an electrical fault in a washing machine which was situated in the caretaker’s office.

Two fire engines attended the incident, one from Redcar and one from Skelton, but the fire was already out on their arrival. 

The fire caused smoke damage and water damage to the caretakers office, foyer and the entrance to the school.

Crews left the scene shortly before 9.30pm.

The volunteers of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team were called into action in our area.

Just after 9pm on Monday the team were contacted by ambulance personnel to assist them to extricate a young woman who had fallen near Errington Woods at New Marske.

The local woman had been walking her St Bernard dog when it bumped into her injuring her knee.

18 team members attended the incident site and gave the woman pain relief.

They then carried her approximately 400m on one of their stretchers to a waiting ambulance.

Police are warning members of the public to be vigilant after fraudsters posing as employees of Virgin Media attempted to trick thousands of pounds from a man in the Redcar area.

The victim was contacted by telephone by someone claiming to work for Virgin Media and they claimed that he had an issue with his wi-fi router.

The fraudsters assured the man that they would be able to fix the issue, and he was told that he was owed a refund. They then gained access to his bank account and tricked the victim into transferring funds to a bank account located in Thailand. 

The following month the victim was again contacted by the same fraudsters who had taken out a loan in the victim’s name. He was almost scammed out of thousands more, but thankfully the bank noticed the transaction and were able to stop it.

Officers are warning the public that scammers are developing more sophisticated ways to trick people, so are asking people to be very wary of unsolicited and unexpected calls and never to give away personal information regarding bank accounts.