Corrie’s Maureen has lost the plot
Coronation Street favourite Maureen Lipman literally lost the plot — when she left her scripts for the show in a taxi.
The actress, 73, who plays Evelyn Plummer, slipped up while she was on her way to work with her Corrie co-star Rula Lenska, 72, who plays Claudia Colby in the ITV soap.
The show’s scripts are usually closely guarded to make sure storylines are not leaked.
But Maureen had her lines in a backpack which she forgot to take with her when the friends arrived at the studios in the black cab.
And when the bag was finally found a week later, the scripts, along with her iPad and sung la s se s , were gone.
The firm was given two weeks to pay up after major drainage problems at a newly- built school and adjoining community hub.
Defects included a collapsed drain, blocked pipes, sewer problems and debris left in pipework,
The civil action was pursued on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council by privatecompany Transform Schools, who supervised the bui lding of Stepps Primary and Cultural Centre near Glasgow.
Transform was hired by North Lanarkshire in 2007, under the controversial PFI to oversee the construction of 17 similar projects.
Balfour Beatty was then contracted to do the work.
But a judge in the Court of Session in Edinburgh has ordered Balfour Beatty to pay back £ 4million in a judgment published on February 18. It has until Tuesday to hand it over.
Transform raised the action with an adjudicator after a drain collapsed at the cultural centre last June, requiring costly emergency repairs.
The adjudicator ruled that Balfour Beatty should pay Transform the sum.
Transform then raised the action for enforcement after the construction firm refused, claiming the adjudicator’s decision was a “breach of natural justice”.
However, Judge Lord
Er i c h t u p h e l d t he adjudicator’s decision.
He said: “The latent defects concerning the foul drainage are latent defects as defined in the contract.
“The defenders are liable to the pursuers damages of £ 4,029,574, in respect of costs and direct losses incurred as a consequence of these latent defects.”
Stepps Primary School and Cultural Centre –which runs school after-care and toddlers’ groups – was built in 2007. Transform has the contract to maintain the building until 2039.
North Lanark shi re Council said: “We are working with Transform Schools to address the drainage issues beneath the school building.”
Transform Schools was set up 20 years ago to build and maintain facilities in the UK under PFI contracts.
Balfour Beatty originally owned Transform Schools but sold it in 2014 to a private investment firm for about £ 42million. In 2018, Balfour Beatty was ranked as the biggest construction contractor in the UK.
Audit Scotland last month said PFI contracts must be subject to greater scrutiny. They said the public sector has paid £13billion for 136 projects such as schools and hospitals since 1998 and will pay a further £27billion until 2048.
Balfour Beatty said: “As legal proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
David Cameron’s Big Society body is being investigated by Government chiefs after his protege was given £15,000 of taxpayers’ cash to find a new job.
The move comes after £150,000-a-year Michael Lynas quit amid allegations of catastrophic mismanagement and tens of millions of pounds of missing taxpayers’ cash.
The National Citizenship Service Trust was set up in 2011 to help 16 and 17-year- olds develop skills for life and work.