A CRANK caller using the name of actress Joanna Lumley has been sabotaging sales of today's Croydon Advertiser.
The seemingly unemployed prankster found time between episodes of Jeremy Kyle and Loose Women to call dozens of newsagents and supermarkets across the borough, pretending to be a representative of the paper and claiming a "legal issue" with our Margaret Thatcher front page means it has to be pulled from the shelves immediately.
Bizarrely, the conwoman has adopted the name of the Avengers and Absolutely Fabulous star Lumley, to carry out her act of sabotage.
Several supermarkets fell for the con but have now put the paper back on sale, after the Advertiser assured all vendors it was a hoax.
Advertiser editor Glenn Ebrey said: "I've been in journalism for almost a decade but never heard of anything like this before.
"It started with one call from a newsagent, but soon became clear a number of shops had been targeted. Then, came the Lumley bombshell.
"Rest assured - the paper is on sale as usual and there is no issue, either legal or otherwise.
"Plus, if you don't much care for Margaret Thatcher, there's plenty of other great stories in this week's edition."
The seemingly unemployed prankster found time between episodes of Jeremy Kyle and Loose Women to call dozens of newsagents and supermarkets across the borough, pretending to be a representative of the paper and claiming a "legal issue" with our Margaret Thatcher front page means it has to be pulled from the shelves immediately.
Bizarrely, the conwoman has adopted the name of the Avengers and Absolutely Fabulous star Lumley, to carry out her act of sabotage.
Several supermarkets fell for the con but have now put the paper back on sale, after the Advertiser assured all vendors it was a hoax.
Advertiser editor Glenn Ebrey said: "I've been in journalism for almost a decade but never heard of anything like this before.
"It started with one call from a newsagent, but soon became clear a number of shops had been targeted. Then, came the Lumley bombshell.
"Rest assured - the paper is on sale as usual and there is no issue, either legal or otherwise.
"Plus, if you don't much care for Margaret Thatcher, there's plenty of other great stories in this week's edition."
