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AYCLIFFETODAY
NEWS BRIEFS
SUSPENDED JAIL FOR
DRINK-DRIVE WOMAN
A Newton Aycliffe woman has been
handed a suspended jail sentence and
a three-year ban for drink driving.
As
revealed
by
Aycliffe
Neighbourhood Police Team Sergeant
in his blog on Aycliffe Today, 52-yearold Julie Turvey appeared at the town’s
Magistrates Court in April, charged with
drink driving.
She was committed to prison for 15
weeks, suspended for 12 months, and
disqualified from holding or obtaining a
driving licence for three years.
Go to www.aycliffetoday.co.uk to
see Sgt Edwards’ blog in full.
PAYING THE PRICE FOR
ENVIRO CRIMES
More than 130 people are paying the
price for committing environmental
offences in County Durham in March.
Durham
County
Council’s
neighbourhood protection team tackles
issues including fly tipping, dog fouling,
littering and anti-social behaviour.
The team issued the following fixed
penalty notices – 89 for littering, 10 for
dog fouling and 35 for failing to respond
to requests to clear untidy yards and
gardens.
There were five prosecutions for
non-payment of fixed penalty notices,
issued for failing to respond to requests
to clear untidy yards and gardens, and
eight prosecutions for non-payment of
fines for littering.
THE RIGHT WAY TO BIN IT
Residents across County Durham are
being reminded to ‘Bin it right’ to make
sure their recycling can continue to be
used to make new products.
The six-month ‘Bin it right’ campaign
will encourage residents to put the right
items in the right bin to stop recyclable
material being contaminated and
spoiled by items that can’t be recycled.
Recycling assistants will also be on
hand to give advice to households in
areas where recycling contamination is
most common.
Further information on what items
go where is available at www.durham.
gov.uk/whatgoeswhere or call 03000
26 1000.
The Floor Company directors Tom Cockerill and Sarah Fanning inside their purposebuilt showroom on Whessoe Road in Darlington.
WOOD FIRM CHIPPER
AFTER SOLID START TO THE YEAR
County Durham wood specialists
have more than doubled their
workforce in the last two months
after celebrating a recordbreaking start to the year.
The Wood Floor Company, which
lists celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay
as one of its customers, has spent
thousands of pounds on renovating
its premises on Whessoe Road in
Darlington.
Now directors Tom Cockerill and
Sarah Fanning - a Darlington couple
who are set to tie the knot this
summer - are expecting turnover
to at least double this year after
increasing staff numbers from eight
to 16 in the last two months.
They’ve spent £35,000 on their
purpose-built facility, which is now
officially the largest Ted Todd and
Atkinson & Kirby showroom in the
UK, and now hope to hit a £1m-ayear target.
Tom said: “Orders are starting
to go through the roof and the
number of people we’re getting
through the door has exceeded our
expectations.
“Last year we turned over
£400,000 and we’re on course to
do about £800,000 as it stands, but
the target is to hit the £1m mark by
February 2015.”
The Wood Floor Company
is the only official Ted Todd
showroom between Edinburgh and
Manchester, with about 75 per cent
of business coming from domestic
home owners and the rest through
commercial and public sector.
Tom personally worked on a
new kitchen for Gordon Ramsay’s
Wandsworth Common home in
South London as well as a project
for the journalist and commentator
Janet Street Porter.
Closer to home, the firm has
worked on projects at Durham’s
Cathedral, The University of Hull
as well as the Dolphin Centre in
Darlington.
“It was fantastic to work for
high-profile personalities, but our
bread-and-butter comes from our
doorstep in County Durham and
Darlington,” says Tom.
“We’re now gradually increasing
awareness of our name to the
whole of the North.”
Sarah added: “Investing in the
business has really paid off for us.
“It was a gamble but we think the
standard of products we’re dealing
with and selling on a daily basis are
some of the best available.”
Find out more about
The Wood Floor Company at
www.thewoodfloorco.co.uk