Wirral born Tony and the Daily Telegraph Team Rally on
Photographs taken by Craig Boon in Sweden

AFTER 1,879 kilometres across snow and ice, Sky Sports presenter Tony Jardine and Tom Cary finished 36th overall on Rally Sweden, the opening round of the 2010 World Rally Championship.

Co-driving on his first ever WRC event, journalist Tom Cary from the Daily Telegraph was delighted to have navigated his media partner Jardine successfully through such a demanding rally. As they drove over the finish ramp in Karlstad on Sunday 14 February 2010, Cary said:- “When I took up the challenge eight months ago of training to become a WRC co-driver I had no idea how much work would be involved, and what a phenomenal experience it would be to compete against the best in World Rally. It’s a great feeling to have finished the rally and to have fulfilled my ultimate goal of co-driving at the highest possible level in rallying. Also, there aren’t many journalists that can say they have had the privilege of competing alongside Kimi Raikkonen. We even led him at one point! In addition, a former World’s Strongest Man, Magnus Samuelsson from Sweden, finished one place ahead of us also on his WRC debut.”

Driving a Subaru Impreza, provided by Subaru Norway, broadcaster and Liverpool born Jardine commented:- “The last stage, Varmullsasen 2, was fantastic but one of the hardest stages of the whole event. The snow had been heavily worn away to expose rocks which caused us a puncture, although up until this point we hadn’t encountered any problems with our special Pirelli studded tyres. We had to crawl downhill for the last 500 metres of the event, before we could change it on the final road section. For the last three stages we had to concentrate on holding off our nearest competitor, Eamonn Boland, and with a tenth between us at one point, we didn’t mess about and just went for it to the finish to hang on to our 36th position! Tom has been superb with his pace note calling and full credit has to go to him for taking on such a challenge as WRC. Big thanks must also go to Subaru Norway and Arne Berg for arranging the car for us and to our service crew from ProSpeed, who always keep us on the road!”

Olly Marshall, from ProSpeed Motorsport, said:- “Tom has been brilliant throughout the entire rally campaign with the Daily Telegraph, and we are all really pleased to see Tony and Tom through Rally Sweden.” The Pirelli and Doodson Broking Group-backed team has completed a total of 21 stages, over four days, in sub-zero temperatures. Ford’s star driver Mikko Hirvonen was the winner of Rally Sweden, finishing 43.7 seconds ahead of Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb.

Just a few days later F1 journalist Maurice Hamilton alongside Tony Jardine competed in the Rally Sun seeker, that took place over 26 February 2010 to 27 February 2010. Rallying an MG ZR the media pairing finished first in class N1 and 30th overall in the Bournemouth-based event, which was also the opening round of the MSA Gravel Rally Championship.

Despite no rainfall on Saturday, 26 February 2010, the poor conditions faced by competitors in the forests around Ringwood meant that stage eight of the rally, Stapehill, was cancelled. Standing water on Stapehill was the reason for the organisers just running ten full stages, with the rally having officially started in Poole on Friday night and finishing the following evening by Bournemouth Pier on the seafront.

Delighted with his first in class trophy, Hamilton commented:- "Rallying is a great passion of mine and I always look forward to getting back out there on the stages. It’s been a fun weekend, and although it was difficult due to the conditions, we just wanted to get stuck in and finish as best as we could. It was fantastic to secure our first in class position. I must say a big thank you to Tony and the ProSpeed team for inviting me to join them once again on a rally.”

Driver and President of the Southern Car Club, Tony Jardine, has competed in numerous Rally Sunseeker events and said:- “That was actually the toughest Rally Sunseeker for at least ten years, but it was a great challenge. We were up to our axles in mud on certain parts of the rally and it was the right decision for stage eight to be called off, it would have just taken out too many competitors.”

Liverpool born Jardine continued:- “Apart from a small spin on special stage six, we did well to keep our MG on the right tracks. Maurice is one of the best journalist co-drivers there is, and his time keeping, pace note calling and general approach to rallying is brilliant. Our trusty ProSpeed boys, from the York based outfit, did a superb job in service and thanks to Kumho for tyres that handled all the punishment that the event’s rough ground could throw at us! ”

Winning the Rally Sunseeker for an amazing seventh time was Marcus Dodd, in his Hyundai, finishing 33.7 seconds ahead of Andrew Burton who was competing in the same class. 

‘humans should not be bought and sold’

OVER 30 local volunteers and activists will gather in Liverpool city centre on Saturday, 13 March 2010, for a 5 minute creative protest – a ‘flash mob’ event – which will be filmed and broadcast online after the event to help raise awareness of human trafficking in Liverpool and the UK, as part of National Freedom Week (8 March to 13 March 2010).

Carrying super-size barcodes the group will make a visual, high impact statement to Saturday shoppers – even inviting passers by to buy them - to help highlight the shocking fact that many human beings are being bought and sold into the sex trade.

This simple, arty event intends to raise people’s awareness of human trafficking, which is the fastest growing global crime – which is currently taking place widely in cities across the UK, as well as overseas.

Last year, a UK government report stated as a conservative estimate, that there are at least 5,000 trafficking survivors in the UK.

Although the abolition of slavery took place in1833, slavery is still alive and well in the UK today, in new but equally cruel forms – and local activists are keen to raise awareness of the issue throughout National Freedom Week.

According to UN reports, over 1.2 million children are trafficked across international borders every year as part of the sex trade, with profits that are second only to those of the international drugs trade.

Brenda Garner, Stop the Traffik, Regional Co-ordinator for North West says:- “We wanted to find a thought-provoking, creative and interactive way to let other people in Liverpool know that slavery is not just something from history books. Women, children and men are being bought and sold today, and maybe even in our own communities. The organised crime of buying and selling people against their will is slavery in a modern form, and goes against every basic human right. The stories from survivors across the UK are really shocking and we know there are so many others just like them who are not free, but we all have a chance to take some responsibility and help end it.”

The Stop The Traffik group will be filming the event and posting the five minute ‘flash mob’ event online via sites like You Tube and Facebook, in the hope of inspiring many others to look out for signs of human trafficking too.

Brenda adds:- “Everyone can help by looking for simple signs of human trafficking in your local area - it’s about keeping your eyes open and asking whether the lone child without any possessions knows who they are travelling to meet, or noticing whether someone near you is rarely allowed out of their house, unless their employer or guardian is with them. We hope that this flash mob for Freedom Week really does bring freedom here in Liverpool."

To view the group’s ‘flash mob’ online via YouTube and search for 'flash mob for freedom week Liverpool'.

You can also find more information on human trafficking at:- stopthetraffik.org.

For anyone who is interested in getting involved in Liverpool’s local Stop the Traffik ACT Group, please contact via emailing:- liverpool.act@google.co.uk, or if you want to report anything suspicious, please contact the UK trafficking centre via calling:- 0114 252 3891, or your local police branch.

Should we get street signs warning of 'drunken pedestrians'?

FOOD for thought is our new section, that we hope will provide a funny look on some of the problems affecting us all on Merseyside. We have been receiving reports that Southport has been a lot quieter than normal, so we headed into town to investigate. We have to admit that across the board, the after effects of recession and the cold weather still seems to affecting the town's nightlife, but the atmosphere is now far more relaxed and fun than it has been in years. What still shocks us is the fact that cars and other vehicles still drive down Waverley Street at night. The fact that pedestrians who have been out having fun and are in a very narrow road made us think about a story which the international media have ran on 9 March 2010. All of us over the age of 18 know that binge-drinking is a problem and when walking around Southport or Liverpool at night you often see a person staggering around popular nightspot areas, close to the bars and restaurants. In fact, in any western city in the world, you tend to get this! Well in Romania, according to the Telegraph, there have been a number of road accidents in the town of Pecica, caused by drunken revellers, with some even resulting in fatalities. Ok, drink drivers are a problem throughout the world over, but in this case as Peter Antal, the Pecica Mayor, said:- "it's not motorists’ fault, it is the town’s pedestrians!" So, as the story goes, he came up with an idea to stop this happening, after he visited an unnamed town in Germany. So what is this idea? Well, this town in Germany had installed signs similar to those he planned to install, warning of 'drunken pedestrians'... So with pen in hand, he designed and ordered 10 bright red warning triangle signs, complete with the phrase “Attention - Drunks” and a picture of a person crawling on their knees, whilst clutching a glass in one hand. These where then installed on his towns roads. This got me thinking, would it work over here? Would that help drivers, who are out during the early hours of the morning when binge-drinking pub crawls end? Would it make people more drunk pedestrian aware? The Pecica Mayor, said in the Telegraph that they have a "very vibrant nightlife and the two don't mix" adding that “We must warn drivers that sometimes people who have little control over their actions can suddenly appear in the road.” Was he on the right lines, or do you agree with his critics in the Romanian border town who have suggested that:- "signs send out the wrong message."

Let us know what you think by emailing us to:- news24@southportreporter.com. To read the Telegraph report go to:- www.telegraph.co.uk