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Oops! The Silly Mistakes Thread

Drug suspects trapped in container call Antwerp police for help

Two men got locked in a metal container full of cocaine on the hottest day on record

Two suspected drug traffickers were forced to call the police on themselves after getting locked in stifling heat in a shipping container packed with cocaine at the port of Antwerp.

The two men, aged 24 and 25, had to make an emergency call to the police, during which they said they had been “trapped” while trying to take possession of the drugs.

It took two hours for the police to locate the correct container at the port of Antwerp, which is the second largest in the world.

Armed police opened the container to find the men stripped to their waists and dehydrated in the extreme heat of last week.

The men became stuck last Wednesday, on one of the hottest days recorded in Belgium with temperatures exceeding 40C. On being released they had cold water thrown over them to bring down their temperatures. They were not fit for immediate interrogation.

Antwerp seems to be the port of choice for drug smugglers

In June, two men, aged 33 and 35, were arrested from a container at the same location after being discovered by dockers who had locked them up. About 882 kilos of cocaine was found.

A total of 50 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of €2.5bn was seized at the port in 2018, compared to 8.1 tonnes in 2014. A further 4.4 tonnes of heroin was seized, along with 16.8 tonnes of cannabis and 8 tonnes of opiates.
 
"I can't be bothered using the roundabout. I think I'll use the flyover". https://www.lep.co.uk/read-this/driver-banned-dashcam-footage-flying-van/

flyover-shockin-218224.jpg


“Ryan Lamb denied driving a motor vehicle dangerously, but was found guilty...”

:rolleyes:

maximus otter
 
Not so much a silly mistake, more a bloody incompetent one...

According to the police report, Byers examined Neal’s body and determined the cause of death to be natural. The report stated Byers released the body to Byrd and Flanagan Funeral home. But the report explained, once at the funeral home, an employee noticed a hole in Neal’s neck. That’s when the Neal’s body was returned to the morgue where a further autopsy determined he had been murdered, the medical examiner’s office confirmed to FOX 5 News.

https://boingboing.net/2019/08/07/gwinnett-county.html
 
If two people have desks facing each other with the monitors back-to-back, swap the monitor leads.
Switch the font colour to white really winds people up.

If you have the time try resetting spellchecker. Dutch works well, better than French. USA English is to subtle for an immediate reaction but can lead to long term exasperation.
 
Sat in the car, looking through the Haynes Manual on how to bleed the air from my power steering pump. And I found this gem.

'With the engine not running(remove key), turn the steering from lock to lock'

Sorry Haynes, it doesn't work like that.
 
So, having changed one of my car's bottom ball joint, and decided that the other one was ok. I had a change of heart this morning. May as well change both of them. why risk a possible failure

So, up with the lark (the larks rise quite late around here) and proceeded to strip out the bottom arm.

And as I was taking it into the shed to cut out the old joint.........

I realise I had taken off the wrong side. I had already fixed this arm.

Put it all back together, Declared it a Guinness day.

INT21.
 
Actually, not deserved at all. But it was hot.(the weather, not the Guinness).
 
No need :)

If I can't be hard on myself, who can I be hard on ?

I dislike incompetence in others. But really hate it in myself.

INT21.
 
Many years ago, late 60s, when I was in the army, posted to Berlin, I wa back in England on a course. I had reason to go to army medical centre at Catterick.

One of the doctors, a German, asked me where I was posted. I said 'Berlin, in Germany'.
He responded 'Is Berlin in Germany ?'

I remember thinking 'What ! of course it is'.

It wasn't until years later that I suddenly realised what he meant.
 
When a competition ran to win a toaster signed by Chuck Norris
Back in 1988, things didn’t quite go to plan with a promotion for the Chuck Norris movie, Braddock: Missing In Action 3.

For this particular giveaway, Norris signed five posters for the film, that were to be given away in a raffle. NATO (not that one) duly booked an advert in the local paper, The Milwaukee Journal, and the competition began.

You can probably glean by the fact this article is being written some 30 years on that not everything went to plan. And, indeed, it didn’t.

For somewhere along the way, somebody misheard a word. And when the advert appeared, it wasn’t five signed posters that went into print. It was a signed toaster.
They duly rang up Cannon Films to explain the problem, and asked if Norris would mind signing a toaster instead. It seemed the most logical solution to the problem. A message was thus then relayed to Norris’ reps, and the answer came back: he’d be delighted to.
https://www.filmstories.co.uk/featu...vAc6r8qF5I43hh03JZN9HjGMnbz3JbYIUzToAYYxnCi4g
 
Man charged £55k for a single beer in Manchester hotel

An Australian cricket journalist was mistakenly charged £55,000 for a single bottle of beer in a Manchester hotel.

Peter Lalor ordered the £5.50 Deuchers IPA at the city's Malmaison hotel before being stunned to discover he had been charged £55,315.12 (A$99,983.64).

Mr Lalor, who was in the city to cover the Ashes series, now believes he drank "the most expensive beer in history".

A spokesman for the hotel apologised and said an investigation had been launched.

However, the money left Mr Lalor's bank account and he says he was told it would take 10 business days for the refund to be processed.

Writing on Twitter, he said: "I didn't have my reading glasses when she presented me with a bill. I said I didn't want a receipt and she went to leave.

"Something, however, made me ask: 'How much did I just pay for that beer?' She checked, covered her mouth, started to giggle and refused to tell me, saying only there had been a mistake and she would fix it.

Mr Lalor, who also writes about beer for his newspaper, said: "To add insult to injury they charged a £1,000 transaction fee. Until the money comes back I won't rest easy."
 
Well he had enough in his account to cover it

I started to pick at the story last night and gave up. It is weirdly out of focus. You would think it might focus on the bank which allowed the transaction but it only mentions Visa, who distanced themselves from the decision. Then there is stuff about beer . . . The bbc can surely do better than this! :dunno:
 
In a way they should have queried the amount, they would usually contact you to make sure there is no fraud being committed, because that is a hell of an amount, it should have rung bells
 
A man who was given a pair of trousers by Jimi Hendrix which could have sold for up to £25,000 says they are worthless after he had them taken up three inches so he could wear them.

Mickey Martin, now 73, says he was stunned to be handed the red suede strides by the legendary guitarist during a gig in Cheltenham, in February 1967 when he was just 21.

18004006-7421963-image-a-11_1567501050015.jpg


Mr Martin had been playing snooker when the owner of Cheltenham's Blue Moon club ran in and asked for someone to work that evening as he was short-staffed.

Grandfather Mickey then spent the next few hours running soft drinks from the bar to Hendrix and his band and says he found himself in the dressing room after the show.

Mr Hendrix showed his gratitude for Mr Martin's hard work.

'Jimi came over to me, gave me a pair of trousers and said, 'here you are man - thanks a lot for taking care,' Mr Martin said.

Mickey didn't get the psychedelic rocker, performing as the 'Jimmie Hendrix Experience,' to sign the trousers.

'I didn't bother with any autograph, the thought didn't enter my head. If I had that [the signature] they might be worth something,' Mr Martin said.

He also went on to wear the trousers for around a year after the show and even had them altered which has compromised their value.

'I had about three and a half inches taken off the bottom. I wore them at least once a week. I would have thought altering the bottom would have affected the price too, they are not all intact. But, I wanted to wear them.'

'You know what it's like when you are young - you want to show off!' he added.

A lack of proof along with the alterations means the trousers are probably worthless.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...5-000-worthless-grandfather-altered-them.html

maximus otter
 
A man who was given a pair of trousers by Jimi Hendrix which could have sold for up to £25,000 says they are worthless after he had them taken up three inches so he could wear them.

Mickey Martin, now 73, says he was stunned to be handed the red suede strides by the legendary guitarist during a gig in Cheltenham, in February 1967 when he was just 21.

18004006-7421963-image-a-11_1567501050015.jpg


Mr Martin had been playing snooker when the owner of Cheltenham's Blue Moon club ran in and asked for someone to work that evening as he was short-staffed.

Grandfather Mickey then spent the next few hours running soft drinks from the bar to Hendrix and his band and says he found himself in the dressing room after the show.

Mr Hendrix showed his gratitude for Mr Martin's hard work.

'Jimi came over to me, gave me a pair of trousers and said, 'here you are man - thanks a lot for taking care,' Mr Martin said.

Mickey didn't get the psychedelic rocker, performing as the 'Jimmie Hendrix Experience,' to sign the trousers.

'I didn't bother with any autograph, the thought didn't enter my head. If I had that [the signature] they might be worth something,' Mr Martin said.

He also went on to wear the trousers for around a year after the show and even had them altered which has compromised their value.

'I had about three and a half inches taken off the bottom. I wore them at least once a week. I would have thought altering the bottom would have affected the price too, they are not all intact. But, I wanted to wear them.'

'You know what it's like when you are young - you want to show off!' he added.

A lack of proof along with the alterations means the trousers are probably worthless.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...5-000-worthless-grandfather-altered-them.html

maximus otter
What an arse
 
Sydenham shooting: Man 'accidentally killed himself after bullet bounced off car'

Witnesses have claimed a man accidentally killed himself as police investigate his death in south-east London.

Scotland Yard responded to reports of suspicious activity in Sydenham at 3.45pm today, with firearms officers being summoned after shots were heard.

The victim, in his twenties, was found with gunshot wounds and died at the scene at 3.50pm, police said.

Witnesses in the area told the PA news agency they had heard reports the man had accidentally shot himself.

I post this with no comment except to wonder if it belongs in the 'Strange Deaths' thread.
 
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