A Lancashire man has been handed a fine after sticking both his middle fingers up at a road camera to “celebrate” that he was driving under the speed limit.
And now, 44-year-old Ben Baron is crowdfunding to pay his fine.
The incident – which occurred on the commute to work in early December 2020 – happened as Ben approached a known speeding “hotspot” in Clayton-le-Moors where he had previously been caught by a camera before.
Ben admitted that he was just so “elated” to pass the camera while under the limit, that he decided to celebrate by sticking his middle fingers up at the operator.
But unfortunately, this meant that he drove “around 200 metres” with both hands off the wheel.
The dad-of-two and Software Developer then carried on with his day oblivious to the fact, while he had not been committing a speeding offence, he had instead been snapped for “not being in a position to have proper control” of the vehicle, and claims he was “in tears of laughter” after receiving the legal letter with a notice of intended prosecution and images showing him swearing while his passenger laughed along.
Ben joked that the person responsible for handing him the fine has “made it personal”, which is he launched a GoFundMe page to cover the costs, vowing to give any leftover money to charity.
“[When I got the letter] I was in tears of laughter.” Ben said.
“I’ll take one for the team with this one because it’s so funny. It’s a clear-cut case of me flipping the bird at them with both hands [so] it’s a bit of kudos,
“I’m happy to pay the fine.
“I did a celebratory double-flipping, two-handed, which is obviously now leading to the prosecution [and] I carried on doing it for quite a while too, around 200 metres potentially.
“They’ve got good cameras.
“I think, looking on the internet, the maximum fine is £1,000 for that offence [so] I decided to launch a GoFundMe and hopefully people with a sense of humour [will donate].
“I’ll pay the fine off then give the rest to charity if there’s anything left.”
Wikimedia Commons
And he’s right too.
For failing to be in proper control of a motor vehicle, offenders may receive three penalty points and a £100 fine if dealt with by way of a fixed penalty, with the maximum penalty being a £1,000 fine.
While Ben’s GoFundMe page – titled ‘Help Me Pay My Fine For Sticking It To The Man’ – was launched on last Wednesday morning and has yet to attract any donations, he claims that he has been inundated with tips from fellow experienced drivers on how to appeal the fine by online, but admits they didn’t know the full story.
Since he has freely admitted to the offence, he claims he won’t appeal it, but hopes some contributions on his fundraising page maybe soften the financial blow.
Ben said: “I’ve been driving for 20 years. It was a quiet day on the roads since it’s lockdown. I was just driving to the office.
“Online, I’ve had [funny replies] and people telling me how to appeal it, but I don’t think they knew the full story.
“I can’t necessarily appeal it.
Realistically, I don’t think I’ll get away with it because I was doing it.”
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Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025
Emily Sergeant
Rochdale has officially been named Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture for 2025.
Taking over the reins from Bolton – which held the title in 2024 – and following in the footsteps of Stockport before that, which held the title in 2023, and even hosted a massive ‘Town of Culture Weekender’ festival with 50+ free events to celebrate and bring its title year to a close, it’s now the turn of the north-eastern Greater Manchester borough of Rochdale.
Rochdale’s year will build on the town’s already-rich cultural history and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement.
More than 35 arts organisations will be bringing together an ambitious programme of festivals, exhibitions, events, and performances throughout the year.
Unfamiliar with what the ‘Greater Manchester Town of Culture’ title is all about? It’s an accolade that’s handed out every year to different boroughs across the region.
Bury was the inaugural title-holder 2020 and held onto it in 2021 too due to the COVID pandemic, before being followed by Stalybridge in 2022, Stockport in 2023, and of course, Bolton in the year just gone.
The title celebrates Greater Manchester’s culture and heritage.
As well as getting a new title to shout about, it also sees the towns given a grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture fund to help develop a programme of cultural events and activities throughout the year.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
In Rochdale’s case, you can expect the ‘very best local talent’, as this year is promising to put ‘people power’ centre stage, with residents helping to plan, develop, and deliver a lineup of creative activities, alongside a number of major events.
This includes the popular free days out for families, an exciting new urban arts festival, two different food and drink festivals, a lantern parade, the Ignite Fire Festival, a Pride parade, and so much more.
You can also expect live music performances, a new people’s gallery, and even some major international collaborations that are yet to be announced.
Rochdale is taking over the reins from Bolton, which held the title in 2024 / Credit: Rochdale Council
“Rochdale is a place with a rich cultural history, so it is great to name it Greater Manchester’s town of culture as it’s town hall and town centre enter a new era,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as the borough was crowned this week.
“Rochdale submitted a fantastic bid for this which, was incredibly exciting and ambitious, while being firmly rooted in its local talent and deep history.
The Manc -
15th February 2021 
