POLICE are appealing for information after a window was smashed on a van in Truro.

The driver's window on the white Peugeot Expert van was smashed between 11.30pm and 3.30am on Thursday night in Comprigney Close in Truro.

Anyone with information is being asked to call Truro police on 101 quoting reference number CR/082905/14.

TRURO magistrates granted discontinuances in two cases before them following a submission by the prosecution.

Two women were jointly charged with harassing Madeline Jones by adding an excessive amount of salt to prepared soup and adding turmeric powder to dried porridge intended for her consumption, during February at Feock.

They were Chloe George, aged 21, of Bonecellars Row, Tresillian, and Christel Rideout, aged 33, of Station Hill, Chacewater.

SHAUN ROLLASON, aged 45, of Charlotte Close, Mount Hawke, pleaded not guilty at Truro Magistrates' Court to a charge of rape between September 2008 and November 2009 at Mount Hawke. His case was sent to Truro Crown Court on July 18.

THAT Cheryl Cole popped up on my Facebook the other day.

It would seem the awful contest that thrusts people into the spotlight who shouldn't be there – The X Factor – is returning to our screens imminently. Not my screen – I can't stand that rubbish after watching it in its early years.

Year after year, average singers with tearful stories, or good singers with less personality than Jon Bon Jovi's small toe, grace a stage and somehow convince foolish people with too much money to vote for them – usually by doing pseudo-sign language for "call me" with an imaginary telephone. The winners aren't the best singer or performer and certainly not the person who can write a good song.

No, it's usually someone who has a smidgen of talent in all areas but stands out for being a bit loveable, for establishing a connection to the audience and for having that hateful "X-factor".

So the new Toyota Verso – with its seven seats but not-very-big body, 62mpg, 12.7 second nought to 60 time, bland name and associated "Verso-tility" marketing puns – shouldn't be much to shout out. But I blimmin' loved it.

The off-centre, slanted main dials take a moment to get used to, but help create space in front of the driver that makes the Verso feel more airy.

Steering wheel controls are uncluttered and sensible, giving you all you need to operate the stereo and phone functions and it's hard to find fault with the interior at all. It's all well laid out, easy on the eye and most importantly, works smoothly without wondering how on earth you warm your feet or change the radio station.

After having a bit of a grumble with a recent test drive car, it's a small but brilliant pleasure to realise you can have your hand on the gear stick, in any gear, and have the heating controls within a finger's reach. Most importantly, in our recent spate of hot weather, the AC button was the closest. The seats are also some of the most comfortable I've sat in. But these features are barely scratching the surface of my Verso joy.

It's one of the smoothest rides I've been in to date. This is due to the combination of suspension evening out the road surface, the seats keeping you snug and 124 gentle horses pulling inside the refined engine. But that's not meant to say it's slow – while its performance is never going to be described as "sporty" – remember it's a seven-seater MPV – I can't say pace was ever a problem. Once you're up to motorway speeds, there's easily enough extra power on tap to get yourself some penalty points or a even a driving ban.

The reason for this?

Well, it's due in no small part to the 1.6-litre BMW engine that's found its way into the Toyota.

The diesel is quiet, efficient and is capable of good fuel economy.

Hitting 62mpg in the real world might not be too realistic, but even with a heavy right foot over Cornish hills and traffic, we easily averaged into the 40s.

There's clever design for the seven seats, which pop-up in the boot space when you need them, and there's an underfloor area to stash the boot cover, rather than have to take it out and leave it in the kitchen.

Driving new cars each week as a job, and having tested almost 30 brand new cars this year already, it takes a lot for something to stand out.

But the Verso did, and I'd put it at the top of the list which ticks all the boxes for my personal needs, if I had a spare £22,000.

It's far greater to drive and live with than it is on paper – it has that mysterious X Factor.

The Verso range starts at £17,700 on the road.

And for that money, it's far better value per pound than buying anything that's sprung out of that awful TV show.

MARK ENTWISTLE, aged 36, of Sinns Common, Redruth, pleaded not guilty at Truro Magistrates' Court to assaulting Sarah Jane Oliver at Truro on May 10 and to harassing her by repeatedly phoning, texting and messaging, attending her home and loitering in a public park nearby.

The case was adjourned pending a trial, also at Truro Magistrates' Court, on August 27.

A LOCAL councillor will be offering residents the chance to air their concerns at a fortnightly surgery.

Councillor Paul White, a member of Safer Camborne, will be holding his next surgery this afternoon at the All Saints Community Centre in Tuckingmill.

The drop-in session will take place from 3.30pm until 4.30pm and will address any issues of concern to residents.

THE new Greene King IPA Championship season kicks off on the first weekend in September and the Cornish Pirates have been handed successive home fixtures as their new-look squad gets ready to make its mark, writes Dick Straughan.

British & Irish Cup runners-up Leeds Carnegie visit the Mennaye Field on the weekend of September 5-7, with promotion outsiders London Scottish due in Cornwall a week later.

Big spending Bristol provide the first away trip in Round 3 as the Pirates travel to make their first ever visit to Ashton Gate, the home of Bristol City FC, and the opening month concludes with another home tie against Moseley.

In Round 9 the Pirates will travel to Brickfields looking to extend their winning run in Devon against Plymouth Albion, with that fixture currently scheduled for Saturday December 27, with Albion having this week announced that they will play all home matches on Saturdays next season.

Travel

New Year sees Jersey travel to the Mennaye. And a week later the Pirates are on the road to Sixways to take on recently relegated Worcester Warriors and will also host last season's play-off final runners-up Bristol in a tough opening month of 2015.

Plymouth Albion travel to Cornwall at the end of March and the final month of the season brings a third league meeting at St Peter against Jersey in Round 20 before a home game against Worcester.

The final scheduled fixtures in the regular season of the Championship will be on Saturday April 25 with Leeds, as they did in the final game of last season, hosting the Cornish Pirates at Headingley.

Provisional Championship fixture list 2014-2015

R1 – Sept 5/6/7 – Leeds Carnegie (h)

R2 – Sept 12/13/14 – London Scottish (h)

R3 – Sept 19/20/21 – Bristol (a)

R4 – Sept 26/27/28 – Moseley (h)

R5 – Oct 3/4/5 – Doncaster Knights (a)

R6 – Nov 7/8/9 – Nottingham (h)

R7 – Nov 14/15/16 – Rotherham (a)

R8 – Nov 21/22/23 – Bedford Blues (h)

R9 – Sat Dec 27 Plymouth Albion (a)

R10 – Jan 2/3/4 – Jersey (h)

R11 – Jan 9/10/11 – Worcester (a)

R12 – Jan 16/17/18 – London Scottish (a)

R13 – Jan 30/31/1 – Bristol (h)

R14 – Feb 6/7/8 – Moseley (a)

R15 – Feb 13/14/15 – Doncaster (h)

R16 – Feb 20/21/22 – Nottingham (a)

R17 – Mar 6/7/8 – Rotherham Titans (h)

R18 – Mar 20/21/22 – Bedford Blues (a)

R19 – Mar 27/28/29 – Plymouth Alb (h)

R20 – Apr 10/11/12 – Jersey (a)

R21 – Apr 17/18/19 – Worcester (h)

R22 – Apr 25 – Leeds Carnegie (a)

Play-offs: May 1/2/3 and May 8/9/10.

Finals: w/c May 11 and w/c May 18.

The Pirates will face some long road trips as they look to qualify for the knock-out stages of the British & Irish Cup next season.

The 2010 winners have been quarter-finalists in each of the past two seasons but have endured narrow home defeats to Munster and Pontypridd respectively.

Now they must face Bedford Blues and newly promoted Doncaster Knights along with a yet to be decided Welsh opponent in a streamlined competition this season which excludes Scottish Premiership clubs.

There are five qualifying pools and in each the winner will go through to the quarter-final. The three best runners-up will also progress.

The Pirates have been drawn in Pool 4 and kick-off their competition on the weekend of October 10-12th at home to Bedford. They travel to Castle Park to face Doncaster a week later before returning home to play Wales 1. Welsh participants will be decided by a pre-season knock-out competition.

On the final weekend in November the Pirates make the return trip to Wales before the re-matches against Doncaster and Bedford over the following two weeks.

British & Irish Cup 2014-2015 fixture dates: Round 1 – Cornish Pirates v Bedford Oct 10/11/12; Round 2 – Doncaster v Cornish Pirates Oct 17/18/19; Round 3 – Cornish Pirates v Wales 1 Oct 24/25/26; Round 4 – Wales 1 v Cornish Pirates Nov 28/29/30; Round 5 – Cornish Pirates v Doncaster Dec 5/6/7; Round 6 – Bedford v Cornish Pirates Dec 12/13/14. Quarter-finals: Jan 23/24/25; Semi-finals: Mar 13/14/15; Final: Apr 3/4/5.

FOR an hour or so on Tuesday lunchtime Cornwall threatened to pull off another famous win in the Unicorns Counties Championship.

They gave the reigning champions, Cheshire, a real fright at Alderley Edge. Cheshire's last defeat in three-day cricket was almost two years ago, when Cornwall won by 105 runs at Truro.

That achievement looked set to be repeated as the Duchy closed in on a victory target of 258. They ended up 40 runs short however, after dramatically losing their last four wickets for one run, in 18 balls.

The first was that of Christian Purchase, who holed out to long off after playing a spectacular knock. His county best of 91 came off 72 balls, with ten fours and six sixes.

Werrington's Paul Smith also played his part, with 22, as the pair added 82 for the seventh wicket in only 15 overs.

Changes

It's the fifth time Purchase has passed 75 in just seven championship appearances, and a maiden century most surely be only a matter of time. It followed Matt Rowe's 59, made off 103 balls with eight boundaries.

Cornwall made two changes from the win at Henley, with Jake Libby and Neil Ivamy recalled replacing the unavailable Scott Harvey and Alex Smeeth.

Cheshire elected to bat in sunny conditions at Moss Lane, and with Rick Moore hitting a century they were well placed at 220 for four with 24 overs still available.

They were restricted to 280 for nine, however, with Shakil Ahmed taking five for 88. Cornwall replied with 54 for one in the 27 overs up to stumps but were dismissed on the second morning for 158, before lunch.

Jake Libby top scored with 34, Smith made 23 and Purchase and Dan Jarman 20 each. Cheshire struggled themselves in their second innings and were all out for 135 with Ahmed (4-60) and Neil Ivamy (4-37) sharing eight wickets.

They were 47 for five at one stage before Lee Dixon got what proved to be a vital 54 off 58 balls. Cornwall were left with almost two hours batting on the second evening, in which time they lost Robins, Libby, Jarman and night-watchman Kelvin Snell, for 72 runs. Ahmed took nine wickets for 148 in the match.

Cornwall are next in action a week on Sunday, when Wales Minor Counties visit Truro. They were denied victory this week when Berkshire held out for a draw at Usk. Elsewhere Devon had a second successive two-day win, beating Oxfordshire by nine wickets at Banbury. Wiltshire are the only other side with two wins after they beat Dorset by 97 runs at Corsham and Herefordshire beat Shropshire by 260 runs at Shifnal.

THE new Greene King IPA Championship season kicks off on the first weekend in September and the Cornish Pirates have been handed successive home fixtures as their new-look squad gets ready to make its mark, writes Dick Straughan.

British & Irish Cup runners-up Leeds Carnegie visit the Mennaye Field on the weekend of September 5-7, with promotion outsiders London Scottish due in Cornwall a week later.

Big spending Bristol provide the first away trip in Round 3 as the Pirates travel to make their first ever visit to Ashton Gate, the home of Bristol City FC, and the opening month concludes with another home tie against Moseley.

In Round 9 the Pirates will travel to Brickfields looking to extend their winning run in Devon against Plymouth Albion, with that fixture currently scheduled for December 19-21. New Year sees Jersey travel to the Mennaye.

A week later the Pirates are on the road to Sixways to take on recently relegated Worcester Warriors and will also host last season's play-off final runners-up Bristol in a tough opening month of 2015.

Plymouth Albion travel to Cornwall at the end of March and the final month of the season brings a third league meeting at St Peter against Jersey in Round 20 before a home game against Worcester.

The final scheduled fixtures in the regular season of the Championship will be on Saturday April 25 with Leeds, as they did in the final game of last season, hosting the Cornish Pirates at Headingley.

Find the full 2014-2015 Championship fixture list at www.cornishguardian.co.uk

A COMMUNITY celebration day will take place in Hayle this weekend.

Visitors to Blooming Hayle, an annual event put on by organisation Hayle in Bloom, will be entertained by music, dance and water sports, with special activities planned for children, at the King George V Memorial Walk.

Blooming Hayle, which also features a selection of stands and stalls, takes place on Sunday from noon until 4pm.

A parade will march from North Quay to the open-air swimming pool at 11.45am to start the celebrations before the event is officially opened by the town mayor at noon.

Heyl Town Band, Bodriggy Academy Choir and the Godrevy Singers and other musical acts will perform throughout the afternoon: gig racing starts at 2.15pm.

POLICE have stepped up their hunt for a car which could be linked with the possible attempted abduction of two "very, very young innocent children" in Truro.

Officers have been sent into schools to discuss the incidents, which have also prompted 'vigilante' attacks on similar but unrelated vehicles.

A new appeal has been made for information about a dark sports car which is believed to be linked with approaches that were made to two young children in the city.

A dark green Mazda sports car, was seen near the shoppers' car park in Old Bridge Street in Truro at the time an eight-year-old girl was approached by a car and asked by the driver to get in.

Police said they were still unsure whether the vehicle was linked to the incident due to inconsistencies in the description.

They are keen to eliminate it from their inquiries if possible.

The incident in Old Bridge Street happened at about 4pm on June 6, while a car of a similar description was seen in Malabar Road on June 8 when a witness saw the driver watching the Junction store.

Upon seeing a nine-year-old girl leave the store a motorist opened his door, possibly with a view to talking to the girl, before leaving the area at speed.

Police would now like to speak to the driver of a dark green/British racing green Mazda MX5 car pictured by CCTV in the area.

Detective Constable Matthew Cobb, from Truro police, said: "We have had quite a good response from the earlier appeal about these incidents but we would like to hear from anyone else who saw a car of this description in those areas.

"We believe it is the same car which was in the area at the time but we want to be able to eliminate any cars of this description from our investigation."

DC Cobb stressed that while two girls had been approached by a motorist, it was still a rare incident.

He said: "Truro is still a safe place and we want people to remember that.

"We have had liaison officers going into local schools to speak to staff, parents and children about these incidents and reassure them."

He said that police had received reports that some vehicles of a similar description to those linked with the incidents had been damaged in vigilante-style attacks.

He urged people with information about any vehicles to contact police immediately.

He added: "Both girls involved in these incidents were very, very young innocent children and that is why we are so keen to move ahead with this investigation."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting crime reference EN/137663/14.

 An overturned car is partially blocking a road in Goonhavern.

Motorists are reporting delays in both direction on the B3285 Halt Road between the A3075 Newquay Road junction and Boxheater Junction. 

 Emergency services are at the scene. It is not known if anyone was injured in the incident. 

 Payday lender Wonga must pay £2.6 million – after it was caught using fake law firms to chase debt from customers in arrears. 

They sent letters threatening legal action from fictitious companies and in some cases even added fees for these letters to the indebted borrowers' accounts.

The letters sent from fake companies such as Chainey, D'Amato & Shannon and Barker and Lowe Legal Recoveries were sent to speed up repayments.

As a result cash strapped customers feared their debt had been passed on to a third party – and further legal action was threatened if the debt was not repaid.

Watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said 45,000 customers would be compensated. 

Wonga, which is the UK's largest payday lender, has apologised "unreservedly" for the failings between October 2008 and November 2010.  

The lender, which charges annual interest rates of up to 5,853 per cent, will offer £50 to each customer affected in most cases. 

It also discovered technical errors with its systems resulting in 200,000 people overpaying – usually by less than £5. 

The announcement comes after several executive exits from the lender, including co-founder Errol Damelin and CEO Niall Wass.

Did you receive a letter from one of Wonga's fake law firms to chase your debt? Contact, reporter Caroline Chick at cchick@c-dm.co.uk 

 Travelling between Falmouth and Helston is normally a pleasant 15-minute drive. 

The road is largely straight, with overtaking lanes, lay-bys and garages. Road signage and visibility are generally good: but this road has claimed the lives of 14 people in just 10 years, not to mention countless non-fatal accidents which have left victims with serious injuries. 

At the inquest into the death of Peter Coram, police and officials from council roads contractor Cormac explained to the coroner all that had been done to make the route safe. 

Cornwall Council's stance is that the road is not dangerous. 

Councillors and residents from Helston to Penryn disagree. 

Mabe councillor Pete Tisdale was one of the first on the scene of a "horrendous" accident in which Merryn Butler lost her life in 2010. "There was nothing left of the car. It looked like it had been hit by a bomb," he says. "That was what prompted me to start looking into this." 

Since Ms Butler's death, four more people have died. 

Mr Tisdale started campaigning for traffic-calming measures with Mabe Parish Council in 2010. "It's only a matter of time before it will happen again," he said. "How many more people have to die before something is done about this road? That's what I said last time in 2010, and it's still happening. 

"Cornwall Council tell me it's not the most dangerous road in the county, but how many people have to die before it becomes that?" 

At Mr Coram's inquest in Truro this week, Cormac road safety engineer Adrian Roberts said the A394 had a good accident record and did not feature on the county's accident black spot list. 

Mr Roberts said he had a concern over the "apparent smoothness" of that section of the road, but forensic collision investigator PC Glynn Griffin said grip tests conducted after the incident showed the road performed "better than expected". 

In Mr Coram's case, it was his habit of not wearing a seatbelt, combined with black ice, which led to his death. 

PC Griffin said the other driver, Valerie Howard, survived despite suffering "a more severe impact", because she had worn a seatbelt. 

Edgcumbe resident Shaun Collins, who witnessed the aftermath of Mr Coram's accident on an icy Sunday morning in January, said: "I've never seen anything like it. It's amazing the woman survived. You wouldn't believe it if you'd seen the car." 

In January, Mr Collins joined other residents and a local councillor in calling for action. 

Loveday Jenkin, Cornwall councillor for Crowan and Wendron, said: "This accident highlights that it is a dangerous piece of road. People perceive it as wide open road but it has a number of junctions along it." 

Last year a motorist demolished a bus stop at the same spot which only an hour earlier had been full of schoolchildren. In March a man driving an X-type Jaguar left the road at the same place and smashed into a line of parked cars at the Autotrend garage.

Luckily, the driver survived without serious injury. 

Further down the road at Trevennen in 2010, Barney Clowe was not so lucky. 

The Falmouth motorcyclist died six months before Ms Butler lost her life near Gables filling station. The driver of the car with which Mr Clowe collided, Heinz Birkenbeul, was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £1,200 costs to the prosecution for causing his death. 

In 2009, three men admitted a charge of dangerous driving after Christian Vinnicombe died during a road race against friends. Each was given a 50-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to carry out unpaid work. 

In 2007, Graham Thacker was jailed for three years for causing the deaths of a popular preacher, David Green, and his wife Lynn. Police road casualty reduction officer PC Dave Trowt said the force was investigating some of the incidents along the A394, listening to the concerns of local residents and dealing with the issue of speeding – with mobile and fixed speed cameras – in an effort to reduce casualties.

 "While each collision is different, the overriding cause is human error," he said. "The road itself is being looked at in order to examine whether or not any changes can be made to help reduce casualties, but the best way to reduce these tragic circumstances is for drivers themselves to concentrate more on driving and to slow down." 

Cornwall Council, meanwhile, says it does not believe this section of road is inherently dangerous, explaining: "Detailed investigations of these accidents have shown that they have largely been as a direct result of specific driver behaviour or unusual weather conditions rather than being related to the road layout.

 "We have reviewed the speed limit along the A394 in line with government guidance which encourages councils to take factors such as existing traffic speeds, the road layout and the collision history into account." 

ON Friday Skrillex will headline the massive Other Stage at Glastonbury in front of thousands of revellers - it will be an entire universe away from the sparse crowd he entertained at Eden last night.

The electronic superstar has sold millions of records, picked up countless awards and is more used to playing in front of capacity crowds around the world. Sadly it appears that Cornwall hasn't quite caught up with the rest of the world yet.

But those who had ventured out to see this superstar DJ were treated to an aural and ocular spectacular.

Admittedly I had only heard a scattering of the US turntable supremo's tunes, but just hearing the smash hit Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites was enough to grab my attention.

And while he has the ability of turning your home stereo into a booming soundsystem with his pounding beats and enormous bass live he is another proposition altogether.

His entrance to the Eden arena was somewhat muted for someone who is known for leaping around the stage - he merely swapped places with warm-up act Tchami and started slamming in some enormous slabs of bass. However, it appeared many in the audience were unaware that the main act had taken to the stage.

The penny soon dropped though and the audience were clearly ready to dance the night away.

Eden's arena would seem custom made for a dance act with the entire bowl of the Bodelva pit filled with beats, bass, squeaks and bleeps. In fact at points you could feel your clothes being moved by the power of the bass - the last time I experienced that was when I saw Orbital at the defunct Cornwall Coliseum....

Combined with some incredible visuals it was a treat for all the senses with a mish-mash of animation, film, strobes and lazers. At times it was as if Skrillex had handed over responsibility for his backdrop to a teenager with everything from Flappy Bird and Transformer-style robots to The Lion King and aliens.

And then you had Skrillex himself bouncing up and down almost for the entire set like a kid who has swallowed an entire tube of Smarties - clambering all over his rig and encouraging everyone to get involved. He even managed at one point to convince the entire crowd to crouch to the floor.

At times you wondered whether it was going to start being predictable but then the diminutive DJ would throw a curveball with a slice of dub vocals and even some old school hip hop from Kool Keith into the mix.

This was one of only two dates that Skrillex is doing in the UK this summer - and from the variety of languages being spoken at Eden a few fans had travelled from afar to catch him in action. It's just a shame that there was not more local support for this captivating show.

DIZZEE Rascal played a storming set at the Eden Sessions on Saturday night and while on stage filmed a video which he later posted on his Instagram account.

The video shows the crowd going crazy for the rap star as well as showing the balloons, streamers, smoke cannons and confetti which filled the air at the end of the show.

Can you spot yourself in the video? Let us know in the comments below.

A severe weather warning has been issued for the next two days, with heavy thundery showers expected to cause localised flooding.

The warning is in place from 4am tomorrow until 9pm on Saturday evening.

Forecasters say the downpours could cause disruption to transport and for outdoor events.

The warning, issued by the Met Office states: "Showers will become heavy and thundery across southwestern parts of England and Wales early on Friday, moving northeast to affect other areas south of The Wash to North Wales during the day. 

"Some reduction in activity is expected overnight, before further slow moving heavy and thundery downpours develop during Saturday, easing from the north later. 

" The public should be aware that the resulting downpours may lead to localised flooding and potential disruption to transport and outdoor events."