News Letter, Wednesday, December 10, 2008 3

www.newsletter.co.uk 17 37 NEWS

PROBE: MV Canna
PICTURE: Steven McAuley
Revellers
warned of
stolen tickets
BY PHIL CROSSEY
p.crossey@newsletter.co.uk
FESTIVE revellers who are
planning to attend this year’s
Planetlove Boxing Day event in
Belfast’s King’s Hall should be
wary of stolen tickets, police
have warned.
The advice follows two recent
robberies during which more
than 100 tickets for the
December 26 dance music con-
cert were stolen.
Police are now advising con-
certgoers not to buy tickets
from unauthorised sources.
World-renowned DJs such as
Armin van Buuren, Lisa
Lashes, Alex Kidd, John
O’Callaghan and Marcella
Woods will be performing at the
show, which is expected to
draw a crowd of up to 6,000 peo-
ple.
Tickets for the event cost
£32.50 and £52.50 and the warn-
ing also applies to anyone who
is thinking of buying a ticket as
a Christmas gift.

Ferry tender report set

Each ticket for the concert
has a unique barcode and will
be scanned by an electronic
admission system at the
door.
The stolen tickets – which
have the serial numbers G5-151
to G5-200 and G1-127 to G1-199

to reveal ‘serious issues’

– are now void and worthless.
Anyone with information or
who thinks they may have pur-
chased a stolen ticket, or who is
offered one for sale, should
contact CID at Musgrave Street
on 0845 600 8000.

BY SAM McBRIDE Mr O’Driscoll did anything improper to “whitewash” by the department of

win the contract, the DRD tendering “serious issues” surrounding the tender

sam.mcbride@newsletter.co.uk
A SIX-MONTH investigation will today
reveal “serious problems” in the tender-
ing process for the £4 million Rathlin
ferry contract, the News Letter under-
stands.
process has been the subject of a series
of allegations.
It is understood that DRD permanent
secretary Paul Priestly and other senior
DRD civil servants along with John
Dowdall, head of the Northern Ireland
Audit Office, will attend today’s hear-
ing.
ROBERT H GAULT
process.
“We need answers and the fact that it
is coming to the committee shows that
it is a live issue,” he said.
✴ ❄ ✳
Christmas Starts
“There is more work to be done on this
and I suspect that after there has been a
presentation by the officials there will
be more questions to be asked than

The independent investigator’s report
into the contract – which is subsidised
through the Department of Regional
Development (DRD) with £4 million of
public money – will this morning be
presented at a private session of
Stormont’s Regional Development
Committee.
The ferry contract was awarded to
Press will not be allowed to attend the
meeting but a copy of the “substantial”
report is to be published this afternoon,
DRD said.
Several sources involved in the inves-
tigation said that today’s report will
raise a number of serious issues for
DRD to address.
One said: “It’s such a detailed report
SALE
answers given.”
And MEP Jim Allister, who asked the
Audit Office to investigate the contract,
said of the investigation: “It must not be
Wed 10th
swept under the carpet – there might be
some role for a briefing in private but
December
✴
thereafter I would have thought that
they must go into public session and
❄
❄ ALL MENSWEAR
the public must know about this,” he

❅
Cork businessman Ciaran O’Driscoll in with so many allegations.” said.
April. North Antrim DUP MLA Mervyn ■ Full coverage of the investigation
Although there is no suggestion that Storey said that there must be no report in tomorrow’s News Letter

LESS ❄20%
On
purchases
over £50

Company corrects online euro gaffe ❅ ALL HOMEWEAR✴

✳
THE Rathlin ferry yester- following week customers “But we should never tain circumstances, be con-
day began accepting ster- would be able to pay in have been in this position sidered to be a misleading

LESS 20%
ling as payment on its sterling. “We should never have omission under the On
website after weeks of only But on Monday travellers allowed someone who was Consumer Protection from purchases
allowing travellers to pay in booking on the website operating in Northern Unfair Trading Regulations
euro. were still only able to pay Ireland to put on their web- over £50
2008.

The latest in a series of
gaffes to have beset the
lifeline ferry service, pay-
ments were only accepted
in the foreign currency
until yesterday, despite
sterling being legal tender
in the UK.
When the News Letter
contacted Cork business-
man Ciaran O’Driscoll, who
runs the ferry, almost a
month ago about the anom-
aly, he insisted that by the
in euro.
Local DUP MLA Mervyn
Storey, who raised con-
cerns about the currency
issue, said that it was
“totally unacceptable” that
the ferry had refused to
accept sterling on its web-
site for so long.
Mr Storey said: “I wel-
come the fact that the web-
site reflects that sterling is
our currency rather than
the euro.
site that tourists and
islanders could only pay in
euro.”
A spokeswoman for the
Department of Enterprise,
Trade and Investment’s
Trading Standards Service
said: “There is no legisla-
tion which specifically
states that prices for servic-
es must be displayed in
sterling.
“However, the absence of
a sterling price may, in cer-
✴ ALL✳SPORTSWEAR✴
“In relation to goods
(products), the Price
Marking Order (Northern
Ireland) 2004 requires the
selling price to be in ster- ❄
LESS 10%
ling.” On
She said that traders purchases
wanting to accept foreign over £50
currency had to also give
an indication of the selling
price in that currency,
together with details of any
❅ Late Night Opening until 9pm:
Friday 19th Dec, Mon 22nd Dec & Tues 23rd Dec ❅
26-28 Church Street, Ballymoney
commission to be charged.
✴ Telephone 028 276 63236 ✴