A MOTHER of three and school cook who "loved to laugh" has died as a result of complications from heart surgery.

Melanie Norman, 49, of Queen Elizabeth Drive, died three weeks after the procedure at Royal Brompton Hospital on August 20.

Ms Norman was a cook at Quest Academy for the last couple of years and spent most of her life on the estate.

Her younger brother, Dene, 37, paid tribute to his sister, saying: "Mel was a great sister and a wonderful mum, daughter and grandmother. She was a laugh and she helped myself and others whenever she could."

Ms Norman, mother to Eric, 22, Andrew, 18, and Lee, 7, had a long history with Quest, in Farnborough Avenue, Selsdon, having been educated there when it was known as Monks Hill Comprehensive School.

Louise Stotesbury, the academy's pastoral manager, said: "Mel's sudden passing was a great shock to everyone here at the Quest Academy, where she was a valued member of the school community.

"She was a dedicated colleague to work with in her role in the school's catering department.

"Mel always carried out her work with pride and was deeply appreciated by staff and students. She will be greatly missed by all."

Ms Norman's brother said the family were shocked by the loss but would always remember her, adding: "My three nephews have lost their mum, which is tragic. We have a good family, we have always stuck together and Mel especially was a really good family person.

"She was a great cook and used to cook some really nice dinners. She was outgoing, loved to laugh but never held back with the truth. She would always say what she thought."

One of Ms Norman's big passions was for Betty Boop. Her mother, Maureen, 72, used to buy her models of the cartoon character. She was also a member of the TS Dreadnoughts sea cadets.

Her funeral will take place at Croydon Crematorium on Wednesday at 2.15pm and her family have said all are welcome.

Mr Norman added: "We'd like anyone who does to wear colourful clothes in honour of Mel because that was the type of person she was."

Ms Norman leaves behind her partner John, another sister Victoria, 40 and grandson Max, 4.

Her ashes will be scattered at Greenlawn Memorial Park, in Warlingham.

THE screams of parental joy combined with the shrieks of children's horror are echoing from every corner of Croydon. At last, the summer holidays are OVER. Mwahahaha.

Kids in tow and 20 minutes early for the school gates I pause, watching children trundle along in their shiny new uniforms. This pleases me. Not because of the promise of new beginnings or the excitement I feel for them. No way.

My happiness is because I know somewhere out there is a mother finally allowed to pee in peace and maybe, just maybe, managing to think for more than a second without interruption. Bliss. Joy.

Funnily enough at the start of the summer, I stupidly allowed myself to be fooled. The allure of the weeks ahead with no early school runs, no mountain of uniforms to wash and no difficult homework to supervise or stress over was enticing. Weeks of relaxation lay ahead.

Ha.

Every year, the reality is not quite that. I should have known better than to be so naive.

The first few weeks are a honeymoon period, everyone is getting on, I'm off work for a bit, there is laughter, the house is tidy. But, by the time week three ends, I am firmly reminded of the true value of education.

From week four onwards, relentless sibling squabbling takes hold. It also seems I am constantly feeding or thinking about feeding (I'm sure London Zoo do fewer meal servings) and then lastly the accidental, avoidable breakage of the fourth most valuable item in my home swiftly shatters all my romantic summer illusions.

Those wonderful teachers are actual saints, allowing us pathetic parents that 9-3 respite.

You see at the beginning of the holidays I had conveniently forgotten how high maintenance full-time child caring actually is. In my case I also forgot that during the holidays, I am still, in fact, required to go to work for most of it to find money for the bills. Obviously this is alongside being the cleaner/chef/carer/entertainer extraordinaire.

Any chance of a lie-in doesn't happen. It also feels like with every conscious breath I take, one of my little folk are wanting attention. They NEED school. Seriously, there is only so many repeats of the Lego or Frozen movies or soundtracks that any human can physically bear.

The words 'absence', 'heart' and 'fonder' definitely spring to mind.

TORIES on Croydon Council will be meeting on Saturday September 20 to choose a new leader, following the resignation of former council leader, Mike Fisher yesterday (Friday) night. The date was set a specially convened Conservative group meeting this morning (Saturday) at which Councillor Fisher confirmed his resignation and explained his reasons for accepting a £10,000 pay rise. Controversy over taking the increase, which was made public in the official council record of members' allowances published on Wednesday, was felt by many to have made his continuation as opposition leader untenable. The Advertiser revealed on Wednesday how Cllr Fisher -council leader for eight years until his party lost the elections in May - accepted an 18 per cent pay increase despite being advised against the move by several cabinet members and other senior Tories, including Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell. Their stance came despite the fact they accepted that Cllr Fisher had not done anything illegal by taking the money. Back in 2010, the then Conservative cabinet had agreed they were "not minded" to take increases recommended by the Independent Review Body which sets councillors' allowances. No other cabinet members have taken the suggested increase. Nominations for the leadership of the group will be opening shortly and if there is a contest, the election will take place at the September 20 meeting. Speaking after today's group meeting, Cllr Phil Thomas, a close colleague of Cllr Fisher, said: "Mike has been a really good leader for the town over the last eight years and I have enjoyed working with him because he is a Croydon man through and through. "He pulled the town up by its socks, brought Westfield and Hammerson into Croydon and resolved the financial mess the previous Labour administration had left us in. "Mike was good for Croydon and it is a pity he has had to resign in these circumstances."

STUDENTS who took part in a Crystal Palace FC Foundation summer course 'graduated' at a special ceremony last week.

The foundation has been working with Westfield and Hammerson's Croydon Partnership to provide the six-week summer programme of football, sport and physical activity for young people aged 11-16 in Croydon.

They graduated last Wednesday at Oasis Academy Shirley Park, where part of the course took place.

A slightly more intense course for 13-16 year-olds, modelled on the CPFC pre-season training schedule, was based at Archbishop Lanfranc School.

Edenham High, Harris Academy Purley, Harris Academy South Norwood, Woodcote High and St Andrews High also took part.

Steve Yewman, from the Croydon Partnership, said: "It is encouraging to see so many young people involved in the Crystal Palace Foundation Summer Football Academy and to be able to celebrate their successes with them as they complete their courses.

"The programme has given them a tremendous opportunity to receive top-flight coaching in a challenging, fun environment."

FORMER council leader, Mike Fisher, has apologised for not letting the people of Croydon know he was taking a £10,000 pay increase before it was made public in a council document outlining councillors' payments. Cllr Fisher issued a statement this afternoon (Saturday) after standing down as leader of the opposition on Friday night. He said his decision to resign was also governed by a wish not to damage the reputation of the Conservative party. Cllr Fisher's statement said: "It has been a huge privilege to lead the Conservative group for the last nine years. "I am particularly proud of the work the Conservative administration did to change Croydon for the better between 2006 and 2014." He cited, in particular:  getting the Council's finances back on an even keel;• reducing Council Tax bills in real terms, despite reductions in the funding the Council gets from central government;• transforming standards in schools, which, he said, are now better than the national average and improving more quickly;• getting two of the country's top retail developers, Westfield and Hammerson, to come together to invest over £1 billion transforming Croydon town centre; and • helping the town recover from the riots in 2011 and this year's floods. Cllr Fisher continued: "Shortly after becoming leader of the Council, I decided to devote my time to the role full-time, giving up the security of my career and pension in the Civil Service. "Not only did this have a huge impact on the lives of my family in terms of time commitment and our right to a private life, it also meant making a financial sacrifice with a significant reduction in income. "I chose to make this sacrifice after consultation with my wife as it allowed me to serve our town. "Over the seven years from 2006 to 2013, the allowance that I claimed as leader fell significantly in real terms. That was the right thing to do at a time when we were taking tough decisions on pay increases for council staff. "Last year, after several years of a reduction in real terms year on year in my allowances, I took the decision to claim some of the increase recommended by an independent body and agreed by the council, in the interests of my family. "Although this information was always going to come into the public domain, I did not issue a statement publicly making people aware of this and I deeply regret that error and apologise for it. "I do not want this mistake to damage my reputation and the reputation of the Conservative Party, which I have been proud to represent for over 20 years. "That is why I have taken the difficult decision to stand down as leader of the Conservative Group. "I will continue to serve my constituents in Shirley and hope that people will forgive me for my lapse in judgement." Responding to Cllr Fisher's resignation announcement, Cllrs Dudley Mead and Tim Pollard, the deputy leaders of the Conservative Group, said: "Mike has been a great servant to the town over many years and under his leadership the prospects of our town significantly improved. "We recognise the sacrifices he has made over the years and greatly regret that one error of judgement has made it necessary for him to stand down. " In doing so, he has taken the right decision both for himself and the party. We believe he still has a lot to offer this town. Gavin Barwell, Member of Parliament for Croydon Central, said: "I am glad that Mike has acknowledged that he made a mistake in not being transparent about taking a pay increase. " He has done the right thing in resigning as leader of the Conservative Group. I hope this will go some way to restoring his reputation, because this mistake aside he has done a lot of good for our town." There has been speculation that other senior councillors also secretly awarded themselves pay increases. Four other councillors enquired about retrospectively claiming allowances they were eligible for. Having looked into the matter, Cllrs Steve O'Connell, Vidhi Mohan, Steve Hollands and former Cllr Simon Hoar made it clear that they would not proceed with these claims. In a joint statement the four said: "When we considered this carefully, and after dialogue with the council, we became convinced that retrospectively increasing what we were paid for our work over the last four years would be completely inappropriate".

IN HIS latest column, Crystal Palace legend GEOFF THOMAS assesses the club's transfer deadline day business...

IT CERTAINLY hasn't been boring at Crystal Palace this week, has it?

With Neil Warnock coming back and getting a good start up at Newcastle, and a few new signings, there is plenty to be positive about.

Neil was very successful when he was at the club last time around and he is a very honest guy. Some might say he is an old school manager but while I have never been in his camp as a player, the people I know who have worked with him have enjoyed their time with him.

I think he has done well too since he has come in. Bringing Wilfried Zaha back is the big one and supporters must be looking at that as great business.

I think it has been a year wasted for him and perhaps it was too big a jump or a year too early for him. I am glad he is back though because he is an impact player. He could go 80 minutes without being noticed and then do something special or break a deadlock – what the Premier League is all about.

Kevin Doyle is an interesting one too and I have seen him play at Wolves. You know what you are going to get from him – he has good strength and can be an old-fashioned target man, but he will work well with what Palace have got already.

I like James McArthur too and he is a quality player who has done a great job at Wigan.

I don't know too much about Zeki Fryers, but I think Palace have done great business on deadline day and they are looking a stronger outfit now than they were before.

Bringing Andy Johnson back too is something that the supporters will love because he is a hero.

Now, Neil has the international break to work with the players and the big difference is the result at Newcastle.

If it had been a bad result, it would be difficult but the result and the spirit they showed to come back will mean that Neil and the players will be chomping at the bit to get going again.

VAN driver Ben Haenow carried on Croydon's tradition of success on the X Factor when he appeared on Saturday night's audition show.

The 29-year-old wowed the judges with his rendition of Bill Withers classic Aint No Sunshine, with Simon Cowell saying he was surprised Ben hadn't already been given a record deal.

Ben sailed through to the next round of auditions, earning a yes from all four judges - Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Mel B, and Louis Walsh.

Last year, three Croydon acts made it through to the final 12 on the X Factor live shows - Lorna Simpson, Hannah Barrett, and eventual semi-finalists Rough Copy.

A TEENAGE millionaire is planning to invest £500,000 to turn the old Royal Oak pub site into the biggest shisha bar in London.

The pub, on the Brighton Road roundabout between South Croydon and Purley, has been empty for around ten years.

But now, 18-year-old foreign exchange trader Hashim Haq wants to create somewhere for young people in Purley to relax and spend time with friends.

Hashim started his job as a trader two and a half years ago when a friend of his father showed him the ropes while he was studying at Trinity School, in Shirley.

He was so good at it that after finishing his A levels, Hashim decided to trade full time.

The teenager has lived in Purley with his family for 15 years and now trades from his home in Birch Lane. So when he started thinking about investing his new wealth, Hashim looked no further than his home town.

He told the Advertiser: "I've been quite successful so I wanted to invest my money in something else.

"I spend all day sat behind my desk so I wanted to invest in something that would get me out, and where better than Purley?

"I've grown up here. Most of my life I have spent here and there's not much for people like me to do.

"I like smoking shisha and my friends like it too and we wanted somewhere to chill and it just grew from there."

Hashim plans to turn the former pub into a two-floor shisha and dessert bar called Aroma Shisha Lounge, with 6,000sq ft of floor space to seat 200 people.

He wants to kit the pub out in traditional shisha style and has recently returned from a trip to Morocco where he bought lanterns, chandeliers and booth seating.

The bar will be split into separate floors for shisha smoking and desserts. The shisha area will have a roof specially designed to allow smoke out of the building without letting the rain in.

Hashim admits there are a lot of illegal shisha bars with poor ventilation but says his business will comply fully with health and safety regulations.

The walls will have doors that can be opened to increase air flow and there will be an outdoor heating system fitted inside to keep everyone warm.

Hashim said: "The building has been closed for ten years and is an eyesore.

"I want to make it really fancy and upmarket. And it will be bringing employment into the area too."

A planning application was lodged with Croydon Council last week.

FOR Jenny Brady, an exhibition of First World War memorabilia at Fairfield Halls in November will have a particular poignancy.

This is because a key feature of the display will be two postcards sent by her great grandfather, David Davies, to his wife in Wales from the trenches of the Western Front.

The Hidden Croydon exhibition is being staged in the Fairfield Halls foyer on November 14, ahead of a concert the same evening by the London Mozart Players (LMP).

The concert is the centrepiece of the group's commemoration of the start of the First World War and will feature a specially commissioned choral work by Jonathan Dove, called For An Unknown Soldier.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the LMP and Riddlesdown Collegiate in Purley.

This month, two events are being held at which people are being invited to bring along First World War memorabilia which can be included in the main exhibition.

The first will take place at Fairfield Halls on Tuesday between noon and 2pm and the second on September 19 from 10am to 12.30pm.

Jenny, 25, who is the LMP's concerts co-ordinator, hopes her discovery will encourage many other people to bring along their own treasured memories of the war.

One of her postcards shows the embroidered badge of the Welsh regiment, with which her great grandfather served.

The other, with the illustrated message "Till we meet again", includes a personal greeting in pen from Mr Davies' wife Elizabeth, which says: "I think of you today dear though we are far apart, I send my loving wishes, to greet my true sweetheart. From Lizzie."

Jenny believes her great grandfather must have returned the postcard as it also contains a pencil written message from him saying: "From a hungry husband sending this out of the trenches to you. From Dai to Lizzie."

Explaining how she discovered the postcards, Jenny said: "I was doing some research into the family history and I asked my mum and dad if they had any information.

"My dad pulled out a mass of old photographs of my great grandparents and the postcards were among them. They are very fragile now but they are just amazing."

She said: "All my great grandfathers fought in the trenches and all of them returned home, a fact for which I'm extremely grateful as my grandparents were born post-1918.

"I'm also grateful to my grandmother for recognising the significance of this world event in the context of the Davies family, preserving these postcards for future generations to truly appreciate the personal cost of war."

Jenny said there were not many people alive today whose family had not been affected in some way by the First World War.

Revealing their memories through memorabilia was, she said, "what the Hidden Croydon project is all about".

FORMER session musicians are hoping a five-year ambition to bring a new live theatre venue to Croydon is close to being realised.

Samuel Facey, Mark Nicholson and Dave Prince run the DOXA Partnership, which describes itself as a company using the creative arts as a "tool of engagement" with the community.

Operating out of offices in Union Road, West Croydon, the partnership members have been searching for suitable premises for their arts venue venture.

Mr Facey said: "We had been unable to find anywhere suitable until I came across the Pilton industrial estate at Pitlake by accident when I was out walking. I noticed there was an empty warehouse to let and we approached the owners about renting it. I did not even know the estate existed before then."

The result of this chance discovery is the partners submitting a planning application to Croydon Council seeking to turn the building into a multifunctional auditorium and performance space.

The aim is to provide a theatre, rehearsal space, a music studio and education and training facilities. If planning permission is granted, it will be open seven days a week for performances with a maximum capacity of 250 people.

DOXA also want to make the facilities open to local community groups and possibly hire them out to a church for services.

But it is the theatre aspect of the project which is exciting Mr Facey the most.

He said they wanted to use the expertise they had gained over the past 25 years to put something back in to the community.

And high on the list of aims is offering facilities for the production of new plays.

Mr Facey said: "This is what is missing from Croydon. The Warehouse Theatre was very good at doing that but there has been nothing like it in Croydon since it was closed."

He added: "We want to produce in-house ourselves but we will also have the facility to allow outside producers to come in and stage their own shows."

Mr Facey said DOXA believed the premises were in a good location, within easy walking distance of West Croydon bus and railway stations and tram stops.

The centre would also provide new jobs and bring a building which has been empty since 2009 back into use.

A CAMPAIGN to raise £100,000 for a complete revamp of a children's playground in Old Coulsdon has been launched.

The Friends of Grange Park Play Area, a group of mums, dads and concerned locals, say the park is outdated and want to refurbish it with brand new equipment.

Coulsdon East Councillor Chris Wright, chairman of the group, said the park's play area is in "desperate need" of renovation.

"We want to make sure that the children in this area have an opportunity to go outside and enjoy themselves," he said.

"At the moment it's not that attractive to the youngsters, it's not dangerous but the swings, for example, have been there for nearly 20 years. If I was a kid I would think they're a bit old hat.

"The only way it can be done is to scrap the lot and start again, so that's what we've got to do."

The first phase of their fundraising involves carrying out a survey to find out what parents and children who use the park want – whether they think the park needs a revamp and what equipment they'd like to see installed.

The Friends are hoping to get around 500 residents to fill in the online questionnaire, the results of which they can take to charities and other groups offering grant money.

Pupils at three nearby schools; Coulsdon Church of England Primary, Oasis Academy Byron and Keston Primary, will also have the chance to enter a competition to design their own park

"We want to get local businesses and the community interested. It's a community effort as much as anything," said Cllr Wright.

"I'm quite excited because we've got a very good group of people working on it. A lot of young people have got involved.

"When we have the results of the survey, we then have to start making bids to various charities and organisations who can supply us with the grant money.

"As soon as we get it done, we'll be going hell for leather and doing everything to get the new equipment funded as soon as possible."

The survey can be completed at http://www.friendsofgrangepark.com/survey

ADVERTISER editor GLENN EBREY looks at how the resignation of former Croydon Council leader Mike Fisher played out in the media and on social media...

SO Mike Fisher has gone.

In truth, he couldn't survive. As our editorial on Friday said, it wasn't just the acceptance of a pay rise in the current climate that reflected badly on the Tory leader, but also the way he went about it.

Personally speaking, I've never been a great supporter of the idea that someone has to be sacked every time a misdemeanour is committed. Show me a man who hasn't made a mistake and….

And, on that subject, the way some on social media have been pouring over the carcass of Mike Fisher's political career in recent days has been, if not distasteful, at least a bit unsettling and weird. I get euphoric about many things but, I must admit, I've never celebrated a good old resignation. But regardless, Mike Fisher's departure was – in this case – the right outcome.

The interesting sub-text (well to a very small percentage of the Croydon population anyway) has been the way this story has been reported. Some have suggested it was 'Twitter wot won it' – that Mike Fisher would have ridden out the storm had a dozen or so Twitter obsessives not enjoyed an orgy of self-congratulation at their 'wadgate' hashtag (no, me neither).

I've been accused by at least one Tweeter of being 'catty' in my tone, while others have suggested this is some sort of watershed moment – where the worm turned away from the traditional media (i.e: us) and towards citizen journalism.

Hopefully cat-free, I wanted to address these points, free of the restrictive 140-character Twitter limit. Unlike some, I also don't want to spend the whole day clogging up people's Twitter feeds with what is, let's be honest, a pretty niche (nay, dull) debate.

Firstly, it's worth noting the Advertiser broke the story in the first place. Our local government guru Ian Austen has 45-years' experience and a wealth of contacts in and around the town hall. We're not going to reveal his source but, suffice to say, Ian's relationships in the corridors of power helped us report this exclusive. It's wholly possible, had Ian not got the story, that we would still be none the wiser and #Wadgate would make even less sense than it does now.

We also have a website, on which we followed and updated the story throughout the next few days. The idea we're just a print product who have to wait a full week for the next bite of the cherry is, again, false.

But I would happily admit that the pressure and scrutiny the instant medium of Twitter creates did play a part in accelerating this story. Rubbish hashtag aside, it hastened the debate, it hastened the calls for Cllr Fisher to quit and, ultimately, hastened his departure. I'm not keen on the gloating that's followed but yes – I'd agree the Twitterati did play a role in at least the speed of Mike Fisher's exit. Please don't take this as the cue for another love-in...

A final point I've made on Twitter is, to put it simply, who cares? How many people are actually bothered about this? To be clear – people should be bothered, they should care if our elected representatives are acting questionably. But interest and engagement in local politics is at such a low that, frankly, I'm not sure many people in Croydon know who Mike Fisher is, let alone know or want to read about his pay rise.

We, at the Advertiser, do care and I, as an editor, am very strong on the idea we should do our bit to engage people in the political process and make it as relevant as possible to a wider audience. This doesn't mean getting bogged down in playground rows and petty politics, it means – in the case of this story for example – looking at the wider context of Mike Fisher's actions, and how he took this increase while cutting services and laying off lollipop ladies. It doesn't matter which colour rosette he wears - it's irrelevant.

We'll keep breaking these stories and providing as much analysis and context as we can. But we'll leave the politics, posturing, and pontification to Twitter.

And finally, I wanted to address the subject of citizen journalism. From a personal perspective, I don't have any problem with it at all and think it's a generally positive trend. In fact, in many cases, the citizen approach can add more expertise and a different angle to a story than if written by a traditionally 'trained' reporter. My only issue is with those who show little respect for my team and their work and seem to think Twitter and blogging spells the death knell for the Croydon Advertiser.

It doesn't – there is room for us all.

I'll even swallow the odd daft hashtag…

THE Crystal Palace FC Foundation is appealing for help funding motorised wheelchairs for its new powerchair football team.

Powerchair is a fast-moving four-a-side indoor disability football game which has been compared as a wheelchair football equivalent to the creativity-driven futsal.

The Crystal Palace FC Powerchair Football team had its first training session in November last year and played a first friendly against Sevenoaks PFC, at Combe Bank School, in Sevenoaks, on August 21.

When the squad started weekly training sessions at Fusion Waddon Leisure Centre, it was part of Inclusive United, a London disability football initiative funded by the FA, Wembley National Stadium Trust and London Sport.

That funding ran out in June but the foundation and Croydon Sports Development Team, in partnership with the Wheelchair FA, have managed to keep the sessions running.

However, Michael Harrington, of the Crystal Palace FC Foundation, said he was still hoping for more support for the scheme.

He said: "The next stage is we are going to join the league but we do have a few obstacles, the main one being the cost of the chairs.

"We are very grateful to our current partners but the chairs cost £5,000 and we want to make sure the team continues.

"We are based in an area where a lot of the players will have the same financial restraints as any other."

The team lost its first game 3-0 against the experienced Sevenoaks outfit but learned a lot from their first real taste of powerchair football.

Mr McDermott added: "We did our first session with two players from St Giles School in South Croydon, then week two we had three, week three we had four and it has grown to about ten.

"One of the girls said after the game that she felt like she was in another world."

To find out more about powerchair football or if you are interested in supporting the Crystal Palace FC Foundation, contact MichaelHarrington@cpfcfoundation.org

HERE'S Croydon van driver Ben Haenow, smashing it out of the park - as the kids say - on Saturday night's X Factor.

The 29-year-old impressed the ITV show's judges with his performance of Bill Withers classic, Aint No Sunshine. Simon Cowell was especially glowing in his praise, expressing surprise that Ben hadn't yet been offered a record deal.

Watch his audition here.

A MAN from New Addington who police caught carrying a handgun and a lock knife in a minicab has been jailed for five years and eight months.

Jordan Battick, of Cudham Drive, was handed the sentence at Croydon Crown Court on September 4 after he pleaded guilty to possessing the firearm and knife.

The unemployed 23-year-old was stopped by armed police acting on intelligence as he traveled in the minicab in Gravel Hill on June 5. Officers found the handgun wrapped in a flannel inside a bag Battick had with him.

Detective Constable Tom Sole, from Croydon CID, who carried out the investigation, said: "This should send a clear message that if you carry guns or knives in Croydon or London, then you will be targeted by the police. Gun crime has reduced significantly in Croydon over the past year, but we will not be letting up in our efforts to reduce it even further.

"I'd also urge anyone who may have information about those who may be carrying or using guns to get in touch with police or Crimestoppers so that we can take action."

Anyone with information about those involved in the use or possession of firearms can call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. 

A CHARITY is concerned that workers at two Croydon brothels could have been victims of human trafficking.

The brothels were raided by police within three weeks of each other after complaints from residents in Chatfield Road, Broad Green.

Evidence uncovered during the investigation suggested there was a similar operation running in Green Lane, Norbury.

Eighteen Romanian nationals were found in the properties and served with papers to leave the UK within 30 days.

That time is almost up, and Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) is concerned the 12 women and six men could have been victims of trafficking.

Chairman Peter Cox said: "In this case the first thing [for the police] to deal with is what they see, the superficial thing and potential criminals.

"While it is only right that illegal operations should be stopped, I wonder whether the people were victims rather than possible criminals? Were there people controlling these illegal services?

"Simply sending victims out of UK can often mean they fall into the hands of traffickers who will exploit them further or if they go home they can be disowned by their families."

The Chatfield Road raid, on July 23, was carried out by officers from the Metropolitan Police's antisocial behaviour team as well as immigration officers, and found a number of rooms set up for sexual activity.

Officers went to the Green Lane site on August 8 where they discovered nine women and six men. Although they were not arrested, they were warned they would be if they continued to commit sexual offences at the properties.

A Met spokesman said when officers raid brothels they look for signs of trafficking. If they suspect it is happening, they pass details on to specialist officers within the Met's human trafficking unit.

The spokesman added: "At the two venues visited recently in Croydon, no evidence of trafficking was found.

"Our officers were accompanied by Romanian officers and all those present were spoken to and also given advice and information on how to contact police should they have any information, concerns, or are a victim of trafficking."

For more information on trafficking and slavery and how to spot it visit modernslavery.co.uk or theccat.com Anyone with information regarding human trafficking can call the Met's freephone helpline on 0800 783 2589 or the Modern Slavery helpline on 0800 0121 700.

FIREFIGHTERS were quick on the scene of road collision between two cars outside the fire station in Norbury last night.

A woman believed to be in her fifties, who was driving one of the cars, had to be cut free with hydraulic cutting equipment and was taken to hospital with head and neck injuries.

Another driver, in his twenties, was treated for shock at the scene.

The two cars collided at around 6.45pm at the junction of London Road and Norbury Court Road.

A TEENAGER was taken to hospital after being stabbed in the leg in New Addington. 

Police were called to reports that a boy had been injured near the Man on the Moon Pub, by Frensham Drive, at 9.30pm on Friday (September 5). 

A 17-year-old boy had been riding his bike through an alleyway off Chertsey Crescent and Fieldway when he was stabbed in the leg by a group of youths. He then made his way to Frensham Drive and the emergency services were called. 

London Ambulance Service (LAS) sent a single response vehicle and an ambulance to the scene. A spokesman said the boy was taken to hospital as a "priority".

Detectives from Croydon police are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made. 

A Croydon cleaner has enlisted the help of her cat to keep her customers' homes mice free.

Andrea Troth, from Mopp cleaners who lives in South Norwood, first bought her cat Cimpa a year ago when she found a rat in her house and her landlord wouldn't help her get rid of it. So when one of her clients had a problem with mice the 54-year-old offered Cimpa's services.

Katherine Andrews, 31, found mice in the kitchen of her Islington home one night when she got up for a cup of tea: "I nearly screamed the house down as I saw a mouse shoot across the kitchen floor. After that I began to find droppings in the back of the cupboards," she said.

"I absolutely hated it. I know in London it's common but I keep my house very clean so it was horrid to think they were scuttling around regardless."

Ms Andrews is allergic to cats and was wary about having Cimpa fix the problem so Ms Troth took him to the house for three days while she was on holiday.

"He was brilliant I haven't had a problem since. I've told some of my neighbours about him and he's already in demand," Ms Andrews said.

"I was delighted. She's [Ms Troth] such a lovely person, she really goes out of her way to keep my house immaculate but this was really another level all together ," she added.

And now Cimpa has helped other clients too, ridding one house of over twenty mice.

"He likes it I think," said Ms Troth. "He's a very lovely cat and I think he made a very big change because they have never seen the mice again."