10 Years' Service Award

I got a newsletter from one of our suppliers this morning. It's a bit like a blog but on paper instead of on the Internet. Anyway, a story caught my eye. The Managing Director was pictured presenting a "well merited 10 Year Service Award" at a recent presentation. I just wondered how the directors got together to decide that Steve Smith (not his real name) merited this award. "I see Steve's been here ten years now. Do you think he merits a 10 years' service award?" "I'd go as far as to say say it's well merited". So Steve well done for meriting your ten year award. Be interested to hear about the people who work for ten years who don't merit one.

Another thing caught my eye whilst glancing through the local paper "The Southport Visiter" (yes we know it's spelled wrongly) on Friday. It seems that the local Sally Army is going all weird this year and proudly announced they are holding a "Christmas Bizarre". That's a real change from the old stuffy image of the Army with the brass bands and Victorian uniforms. We'll have to go and check it out. I wonder what they'll have in store for us instead of the mince pies, tombola and carol singing.



It's so quiet in here today. The factory is closed on Mondays but, in addition this week we've got Jenny and Craig on holiday, so that means we are very thin on the ground in the office too. So please bear with us if we are bit slow answering the phone.



I wrote about the long firm fraud that we fell for the other week and how Marion turned into Miss Marple and investigated everything that had gone on and got the police involved almost instantly. As a result of Marion's vigilance the police were able to get to the warehouse that stored all the fraudulently obtained goods before the fraudsters could sell it(it was full so we weren't the only mugs)and today Steve Eyres from our assembly team has driven to Scotland to bring our stuff back. So, thanks to Jenny's intuition and Marion's investigative skills ,we have lost nothing (other than Steve's overtime and the cost of the fuel) and a number of other relieved suppliers will be getting their goods back. As for the fraudster? Lets hope that he gets his just deserts.


Not only is Marion an ace investigator, she should also be a tipster. Last night after my customary weekly football accumulator bet had lost, she told me to bet on Jamie and Lloyd to be in the last two on X Factor and then for Jamie to be eliminated. I did and won £44. So what are next week's lottery numbers love?

I stand to win £170 if Olly wins. And speaking of Olly winning. How did he get on when he appeared on Deal or No Deal?

A Belated Happy Birthday Gav

I was away visiting a customer yesterday (yes I do work sometimes) so I missed reporting our buyer and assistant director Gavin Ford's birthday. Gav has been with Instanta for longer than I have so that's over half his life. He started on the shop floor and then set up our own lathe department. Following that, he went on to gain a university degree in engineering and learned how to operate our latest CNC lathes before moving into the office role of buyer. Gavin is responsible for all our purchases and he also plays a big part in the running of our BSI approved quality and environmental management systems. Proud father to Nick, Gav has the longest Instanta journey to work travelling in daily from Horwich where he lives with his partner Julie.Outside work, Gav is a keen fan of St Helens rugby league club and a regular off road motorcyclist. Congratulatons Gav.



I got my book printed for family and friends and the copies arrived today. I'm very pleased with it and hope that people enjoy it. If you get a copy don't worry, you don't have to read it!I got the copies done on the espresso book machine at Blackwell's in London. They offer a great service and give amateur authors like me a chance to have their work professionally presented. My book is on the Harper Collins authonomy web site. I've had some good comments and feedback but I don't think I'm going to retire on it.



We've been done. We've fallen victims to what is known as a "long firm fraud". This is a fraud where an apparently legitimate business is set up and then goods are ordered and not paid for. You might say "that's not fraud, that's just business" but no, this was a deliberate con. The "customer" set up as a wholesaler and provided us with apparently legitimate references. We followed these up carefully and opened the account with a £2,000 credit limit. The first order came in last week and we sent the goods out but then a second order came just a couple of days later. Marion and I were away but Jenny was suspicious and asked us about it. Marion put her Miss Marple hat on and within half an hour was pretty sure that we had been done. She managed to trace two more victims who told her exactly the same story. We contacted the police who acted with commendable speed in this instance and found a warehouse full of stuff. Whether or not our four 1500 boilers are there or not we are waiting to find out. This is the second time that we have been victims to this con in the last ten years. Maybe we'll learn one day but these people are so convincing and the set up is elaborate.



A big night for my team Liverpool tonight. If we lose to Lyon we are going to be out of the Champions League during the league stages for the first time in ages.I can't say that I am 100% confident that we'll win but Rafa says we'll do it so that's OK then.It must be a big match. I'm giving up my regular Orange Wednesday cinema trip.

I was just watching the lads using the fork lift truck in the factory. They're pretty good at driving it. Here's someone who was not quite so good.