News

Man charged after van driven towards crowd of people in Bolton

No one was injured during the incident.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 8th August 2022

A man has been charged after a van was driven into a crowd of people in a town centre in Bolton over the weekend.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has confirmed that a man has been charged with dangerous and drink driving after an incident occurred on Market Street in Westhoughton – which is the borough town’s commercial high street – at around 1:30am on Saturday, and prompted a large emergency services response to rush to the scene shortly after.

The road was closed and a cordon was put in place shortly afterwards, with police confirmed to be making enquiries throughout Saturday morning.

Nobody was injured during the incident, and GMP believes it to have been “domestic related”.

27-year-old Riesse Hamilton, of Elmbridge Walk in Bolton, was arrested at the scene, and he has since been charged with one count of dangerous driving and one count of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

ADVERTISEMENT

He also been charged with three counts of attempted Section 18 assault following the incident.

Speaking on the incident, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police explained: “The charges are in relation to an incident which occurred on Saturday morning (6 August 2022), just after 1.30am, when police received a report of a male driving a van into a group of people on Market Street, Westhoughton.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read more: Driving instructor smashes into lamppost after overtaking ambulance in Bolton

“Officers attended and Hamilton was arrested at the scene.

“No serious injuries were reported and it is believed that the incident was domestic related.”

Featured Image – Google Maps

News

Micah Richards reveals dad ‘unexpectedly’ died shortly before going on air for England v Argentina last night

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Micah Richards has revealed that his dad died shortly before he went on air for the World Cup semi final last night.

The former right back – who most-notably played for Manchester City for a decade from 2005-2015, and for the England national team from 2006-2012 – was one of the BBC’s pundits providing on-air analysis last night as England faced Argentina in a highly anticipated semi final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup last night.

The two teams faced off in Atlanta, and while goals came from both sides, it was ultimately Argentina that reigned supreme – securing a 2-1 win over the Three Lions.

But while much of the country is grieving the fact that football won’t be ‘coming home’ (well, for another two years at least), Richards is grieving on a deeper level.

He took to Instagram after the loss last night to share with his 1.4m followers that shortly before he went on air, his father Lincoln passed away ‘unexpectedly’ – calling him the ‘proudest parent possible’ in a touching tribute.

“He has left us all too soon,” Richards began in his tribute.

“Hwas my greatest fan. He barely missed a game my entire life. He would take me wherever I needed to go when I was a kid and he was the proudest parent possible during my professional career. It was so rare for him to not be by my side.

“I know how much watching England World Cup games means to everyone at home, and how the experience bonds families together across the generations, like nothing else.

“I know, particularly as a proud old-school Yorkshireman, dad would’ve wanted the show to go on this evening. And so it did.”

Read more:

Richards closed out his tribute by saying that he was thinking of his siblings and wider family as they all remember Lincoln.

“[He was] my hero and inspiration.”

Featured Image – BBC (via YouTube)

News

Argentina facing disciplinary action for controversial banner after beating England

Danny Jones Danny Jones FIFA set to punish Argentina for Falklands flag after England game World Cup semi-final

In the aftermath of England crashing out of the 2026 World Cup following their defeat in the semi-final, their opponents Argentina look set to face disciplinary action for a controversial flag held up in the wake of beating their old enemies.

For anyone who quickly turned off the telly after the Three Lions‘ 2-1 defeat and might have missed it, the Argentinian national squad waved a makeshift sign which read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.”

In English, this translates to “The Falklands are Argentine.”

Referring to the historic conflict between the two countries, which took place more than four decades ago, the statement has been described as inflammatory by some, with No. 10 Downing Street having issued an official response as the team now reportedly risks punishment by FIFA.

Multiple major outlets now believe that a financial penalty at the very least is expected to be passed down for the divisive political message.

As noted by the BBC above, this is by no means the first time this has happened, and perceived ‘tragedy chanting’ among other problematic behaviour from both fan bases has been a recurring issue whenever the two sides have played since.

To put things into context, the Falklands War, which lasted for 74 days, led to the deaths of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, with three civilians on the islands also losing their lives.

As such, there is still plenty of bad blood between the South American country and Great Britain, with members of the nation’s leading party even weighing in with provocative and rather public posts on social media ahead of the game.

Vice President Victoria Villarruel has been among the most vocal online.

The reaction from the UK government was direct, too, with business secretary Peter Kyle telling Sky News: “I had left and gone to bed before the banner came onto the pitch, but I saw the images this morning, and of course, it’s entirely inappropriate.

“Politics should stay away from football. That is a very clear principle of the World Cup, but any consequences that come from that are now a decision for FIFA.”

Speaking to the BBC, he went on to add: “We expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this. I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the rules of not having political activity as part of football.”

It’s also worth noting that Argentina have prior form for this kind of display.

The predicted outcome looks more than likely, with FIFA having previously fined £20,000 for a similar stunt before a friendly against Slovenia back in 2014.

‘La Albiceleste’ and their fellow compatriots won’t care one bit, of course, as they’re now into another World Cup final and could join Brazil, Italy and France in becoming back-to-back global champions.

Meanwhile, plenty have criticised Thomas Tuchel‘s change in tactics and substitutions as England went more defensive after going a goal up, and the post-mortem from his first run as manager will no doubt continue in the coming days; whether he makes it consecutive tournaments or not, we’ll wait and see.

If you can bring yourself to watch it back, you can watch the highlights along with the extended post-match reaction in full down below.

Heartbreaking.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE

Featured Images — Pedro Ramiro (via X)

More News

Injection / jab

News

Young people urged to book ‘lifesaving’ meningitis jabs this summer before heading to university

Manchester actor Benedict Wong given honorary degree by Salford Uni

Art & Culture

Salford-born Marvel star Benedict Wong gives inspiring speech after receiving honorary degree

Alexandra Park

Manchester

Seven Manchester green spaces have been named some of the best in the UK

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches