The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 3

THE GUARDIAN Thursday June 3 1993 HOME NEWS 3 Home Secretary intervenes Bilateral agreements review Troublemakers escape record 75 fans to be told to leave Pub wrecked during arrests Police deny provocation W9 Britain urges Norway to prosecute football fans in riot Michael White and Vlvek Chaudhary as next year's World Cup finals in the US approaches. Officers from the FBI have already been liaising with the football unit to prevent violence at a US tournament involving England this summer, and at the World Cup finals should England qualify. The Football Association said it would demand a full report into the violence. An England fan injured in a fight between supporters and restaurant doormen on Monday was still seriously ill in hospital last night with a blood clot on the brain. Nine England fans were last night fined for illegally selling soccer memorabilia and four for stealing tickets from Norwegians.

David Mellor, the former sports minister, said on the same programme: "The Norwegians were given information for them to stop these people but they obviously didn't do so. Now these yobs have caused all this trouble and they are coming back to Britain without a stain on their reputation." Labour's sports spokesman, Tom Pendry, joined Mr Howard in urging the Norwegian authorities to prosecute the troublemakers. He said the Government should call all-party talks to see if further legislation to prevent hooliganism is required. The violence has further tarnished English football's image Another witness said the police were brutal, claiming they even handcuffed a blind Norwegian. The football unit of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, which monitors hooligans, said yesterday that most of those arrested were known troublemakers, whose names had been given to the Norwegian police.

Superintendent Adrian Appleby, head of the unit, told Radio 4's World at One: "It makes me very frustrated. Some have been deported from country after country and never been convicted. They even buy single tickets because they know they will be deported back." only if they have details of convictions in other countries. The Home Office has already negotiated procedures with Scotland (which has its own legal system), Italy and Sweden, under which details of convictions are automatically forwarded for perusal by magistrates. Mr Howard said: "I shall be reviewing our relations with other countries to see if more bilateral agreements can be reached before the next important matches take place.

That would then enable the courts to restrict troublemakers to this country when games are being played overseas." He hinted that it was impor tant that his department reached an understanding with the United States ahead of next year's World Cup finals in the hope of deterring hooligans if England qualify. Oslo police denied allegations that they overreacted and provoked yesterday's violence, which they said was carefully planned. According to some reports, trouble broke out when two policemen entered the Palleet pub and tried to arrest an English soccer fan but were stopped by others. Frank Jensen, a police spokesman, said English fans attacked officers, hurling furniture and stones, and prevented them from making an arrest. "The Oslo police provoke no one and we have a relatively low profile," he said.

"People inside the pub began to throw chairs out of the windows and were trying to hit the police. They broke windows, lamps, furniture and tables. The whole place was destroyed." John Birmingham, a disc jockey at the Palleet, said trouble began after mounted police ordered fans to stop drinking in the street, an offence in Norway. "One of the lads raised his glass and said Skol to the police and that was that, they just moved in. They dragged people out and made them lie in the street, even innocent people." wrecked.

Damage was estimated at 100,000. Oslo police said the fans would be held until today and then released without charge, prompting criticism of the decision and adding to British ministers' frustration over the incident. Knut Smedsrud, a police spokesman, explained: "If they the fans are attacking pohce officers, that's one thing, but in an incident like the one at the Palleet, it is difficult to know who has done what." Under Britain's 1989 Football Spectators Act magistrates can prevent frequent offenders from leaving the country to attend overseas fixtures, but THE Home Secretary, Michael Howard, yesterday urged the Norwegian authorities to prosecute England football supporters involved in rioting in Oslo on the eve of the World Cup qualifying match against Norway. Police arrested 75 England fans and a Norwegian after trouble erupted at the Palleet pub in Olso in the early hours of yesterday. More than 100 officers were called to the scene and in the ensuing battle the pub was Care homes 'near to bankruptcy' David Brlndle, Social Services Correspondent PRIVATE residential and nursing homes are heading for bankruptcy after only two months of the new community care system, the National Care Homes Association, representing 3,000 proprietors, said yesterday.

It claims many social services departments are failing to refer elderly and disabled people to private homes and vacancy levels are climbing at an "alarming" rate. Sheila Scott, the association's chief executive, said: "Too many of our members are already facing financial ruin. rals. She said one northern city authority had still not finalised its assessment procedures. There were also reports of social services departments making all referrals to their own homes or homes recently transferred out of local authority ownership, she said.

John Gilliland, proprietor of a 23-bed, high-dependency care home in Selby, North Yorkshire, said he had had no referrals. He had three vacancies and would have four if a resident currently in hospital did not return. "If we reduce by another two, we will come under severe financial pressures," said Mr Gilliland, whose fees start at 220 a week. It has been widely assumed was very no doubt much happier than it will be in quarantine." Several animal-loving Brits have offered a home to the stallion, though diplomatic niceties will prevent its being simply handed away. Lecturers at Mr Major's local agricultural college in Cam-bridgeshireyesterday joined the list of those noT wanting to" look a gift horse in the mouth.

The three-year-old could be just the thing for a breeding programme at Cambridgeshire Col This will, of course, be a tragedy for the home owner, but it will be even worse for the residents or patients who are facing the threat of homelessness." Since April 1, social services have had responsibility for assessing the needs of people seeking state help with care. The association says its worst fears about the new system are being realised. Most of its members have had no referrals in the past two months. Some proprietors are being warned by their banks that their vacancy levels cannot continue, the association said. Ms Scott blamed the caution and unpreparedness of social services for the lack of refer Turkmenistan was displeased at Britain's apparent tardiness in shipping over the thoroughbred Akhal-Tekke, two months after he was presented to John Major for his 50th birthday.

"Thpv'rp ucpH tn things nnt. happening' a spokesman saw. i aon i mink this is a big issue. They've given us a horse, and we11go ana get it sometime. "The question of its languishing in some stable is not true.

The man dealing with it from the embassy saw it last week. Foreign Office eager to avert its gaze from mouth of Major's gift horse I iti.nlnnpnj I nnrl llnnmr rtn I lncift if A m-tOI ll 1 1 irf nnH Hnt and it happy lege of Agriculture and Louise Jury IT is not that the Prime Minister does not want his gift horse, the Foreign Office was eager toexpiain. 'fi'fsjuSlhaf iiu 3,000 miles away, and there are no procedures laid down at the Mm oi Ag tor importing horses from the extreme south of whar was Soviet central Asia. The Foreign Office yesterday was puzzled by press accusations that President Niyazov of Captive audience Dave Dixon with the van he is holding, to Hoover hijack is fastest draw in Van being held until free flight tickets arrive has become a tourist attraction to rival Keswick pencil museum, reports Martin Wainwright NOW THERE'S A SEASIDE AWARD THAT CONSIDERS EVERYTHING- many homes, both private and council-run, will go to the wall in areas of over-provision. Social services directors admitted referrals had been far lower than anticipated.

John Ransford, secretary of the Association of Directors of Social Services, said many people entered homes in the last few weeks of the old system. The level of activity in April and May was consequently artificially low. "It is far too early to draw conclusions," he said. A Department of Health spokesman said the NCHA was making premature judgments. "Care homes which offer good quality services at the right price have nothing to fear." Horti culture, with a sideline as a fund-raiser for the Riding for the Disabled Association, lecturer Petur Benedikz said.

The Foreign Office hopes to have arrangements in place-Within a week. The spokesman1 explained the difficulty: "Without wanting to sound mean about it. these things all have to "come from abudget somewhere. "No, we don't know where the money's coming from yet." Leader comment, page 23 UMtf 702888 WHILE Southern society flocked to the Derby yesterday, Northerners made for the more rugged attraction of the Great Hoover Van of Workington. Wedged between two mud-splattered Volvos at the end of a rutted farm track, the deceptively humdrum Ford Escort 1.8D has quickly become a big draw for visitors to Cumbria and the Lakes.

A possible rival for Sella-field nuclear tours and the Keswick pencil museum, it was famously captured last weekend by a Hoover flight victim, Dave Dixon. Like all great historical relics, it has poignant human detail: the Hoover engineer's uneaten packed lunch, with a shiny apple on the sandwiches. News in brief the delight of crowds of visitors police have declared the affair a civil quarrel. Hoover is contemplating its next move. Hoover staff have been instructed not to park on private property, in case van-blockading spreads.

The rule would mean carrying equipment to Mr Dixon's kitchen through 200 yards of mud and puddles, and past knots of journalists and sightseers. "It's been pandemonium," said Mr Dixon between phone calls. "My neighbours, luckily very nice people, have got used to sheltering people from the rain." Other villagers in Seaton have stopped him in the street to shake his hand, and his big blue lorry, the original blockade weapon, is greeted with flashing headlights whenever it trundles into Workington or Maryport. "I've had hundreds of calls from other Hoover victims," he said, "including at least three who want to borrow the van when I've finished." Consumer expert to watch taxman Elizabeth Filkin, a consumer affairs specialist and former chief executive of the National Association of Citizen's Advice Bureaux, was named yesterday as the adjudicator to handle taxpayers' grievances about slow or rude Inland Revenue treatment. Bug closes holiday camp Pontins holiday village'at Sand Bay, near Weston-super-Mare, Avon, was closed for 12 days yesterday to rid the complex of a stomach virus that has hit more than 200 people.

About 300 holidaymakers had to leave. S1 5m ecstacy seized More than 15 million worth of the drug ecstasy was seized in a raid last night on the "most sophisticated laboratory in police said. Seven people were arrested at a former warehouse and at homes in north London. Welsh soap spreads A Welsh language television soap is going nationwide, with English sub-titles, on BBC 2. Pobol Cwm (People of the Valley) has been popular in Wales for 19 years.

PHOTOGRAPH: DON McPHEE the North Privileged visitors on the Van Tour can also see the Hoover washing machine that started the siege. Mr Dixon called out the engineer when the spin-dry "sent the thing walking all round the kitchen, ending up banging itself against the In the sitting room a small tableau suggests that 12-year-old Jonathan Dixon may also be a formidable character. He has blockaded his Dinky Land Rover into a fireplace recess with a model farm lorry and several upside-down plastic sheep. "It was wanting to take the lad to Disneyworld which persuaded us to buy the Hoover," said Mr Dixon, before getting back to his job of making horsedrawn carriages and traps. Outside, another visitor peered through the van back window at cartons of Fairy Ultra granules, whose buyers seem likely to face a fair wait.

Two remanded over guns Frank Portonari, 36, and James McCrudden, 32, were remanded in custody for a week by Birmingham magistrates yesterday accused of possessing firearms. Seven pistols and more than 200 rounds of ammunition were said to have been seized in Perry Barr, Birmingham, on Monday. Raft search suspended Rough seas and rain forced a Taiwan police patrol boat to suspend a search yesterday for British explorer Tim Severin and his crew of six trying to sail a bamboo raft from Hong Kong to America. Protesters held Eight demonstrators were arrested yesterday after clashes with workers constructing a 23 million road bridge to the Isle of Skye. Protesters say it will damage the otter population.

Risky read to riches Motorists who picked up 5 and 10 notes at Bolton, Greater Manchester, were wanted yesterday they risked jail if they failed to hand it in. More than 2,000 was missing after a shopkeeper's son drove off with 5,000 takings in a carrier bag on his car roof. THE SEA AND THE SIDE. Catholic shot dead by loyalist in 'mistake' for another man "I haven't touched anything, and he's not been back," said Mr Dixon, aged 42, who snapped when the Hoover man made a light-hearted crack about the fiasco of the company's free flights. After spending 560 on a washing machine last November, and then getting bogged down in the flights chaos (along with up to 200,000 others), Mr Dixon decided to impound J862 UAX at his cottage in High Seaton, Workington, until the arrival of the plane tickets promised him in the company's offer to those buying Hoover products.

Mr Dixon, his wife Janis, and their two labradors keep guard. A horsebox full of steaming manure is drawn up just behind the van. The quarry close to Comber in Co Down when his vehicle was hit by up to 12 bullets. Though wounded a number of times, he staggered out of his lorry, but died in hospital at Dundonald. The gunman drove off in a car later found burnt out in a loyalist estate outside Belfast.

Hours earlier Edward McHugh, a Catholic pensioner killed by the loyalist Red Hand Commando as he watched television, was buried in Castlederg. Private Christopher Wren, aged 34, a part-time member of the Royal Irish Regiment killed by an IRA car bomb, was also buried yesterday. replace police which would patrol streets at least twice an hour during the hours of darkness throughout the year. Police are in favour of the plan, in which security patrols are linked with radio telephones to the nearest station, but want to agree some guidelines before it starts. The Seaside Award, launched in l)l)2, encourages and recognises high standards of safety and cleanliness on Britain's resorts and rural beaches.

Anywhere which receives a Seaside Award must, ot least, reach the water quality level which the EiC considers clean fur bathing, known as the Mandatory Level. Yet the Award isn't just about water, it is also concerned with the quality of the beaches themselves. As a lesuh, the control of litter, sewage, pollution and dogs, as well as the provision of life-guards, public information, toilets and telephones, are all factors which our qualified assessors must consider before making an Award. Those beaches which do attain a Seaside Award continue to be regularly monitored throughout the year and display detailed information about facilities in the area. They also fly flags bearing the Seaside Award logo.

Wherever you see them, you know that you and your family will enjoy high standards of safety and cleanliness. Por a free list of the beaches currently judged to be worthy of a Seaside Award, please contact us at the address below. A LOYALIST gunman shot dead a Catholic lorry driver yesterday, the third victim of terrorism in Northern Ireland in three days, writes John Mullin in Belfast. It appears that Brendan Mc-Kenna, aged 29, from Lurgan, Co Armagh, may have died because he was mistaken for someone else. The Ulster Freedom Fighters, a banned paramilitary group, claimed the killing but named another man as its victim, though later it said Mr McKenna was the right man and accused him of being an IRA member.

Mr McKenna, a self-employed haulier, was on his way to a Village patrols to VILLAGERS at Wyke Regis, Dorset, are to hire a private security firm at a cost of 36,000 a year because they fear overworked police are unable to look after their homes as burglary and vandalism increase. About 600 residents are to be asked to pay 5 a month each for the security firm TIDY BRITAIN GROUP The Seaside Award. Lion House. 2ft Muspole Street, Norwich NR3 1DJ Telephone:.