A pensioner left locked out of her home in the dark believes she was ripped off by a “rogue trader” who charged a staggering £1,600 to get her into the property.
The Ashford woman paid the eye-watering bill after being told the job had been carried out at the “going rate”.
Also in today's podcast, a Strood family of three made homeless after a blaze destroyed their home of 14 years say they have “lost everything”.
They are now living in temporary accommodation after their garden shed caught alight and spread to the house.
A court has heard how a father-of-three attacked a drunken man who smashed his car windscreen while he was sat in traffic with his family.
The 30-year-old lost his rag after shards of glass showered his partner and children when they were stuck in a queue in Sittingbourne.
As the government's struggle to get the Rwanda Bill though continues, the KentOnline Podcast has heard from a Margate artist about a new exhibition including work done by young refugees.
Called 'Leave to Remain', it's a collaboration with the Kent Refugee Action Network.
And in cricket, it's a big test for Kent tomorrow as they host last years winners Surry in the County Championship.
You can hear from head coach Matt Walker about their tactics after coming away with a draw against Essex.
Do you love antiques and vintage? Then don't miss our amazing antiques and vintage fare. This coming Saturday and Sunday at the Deathling Showground near Maidstone. With over 400 inside and outside sellers, there'll be thousands of antique and vintage treasures for you to explore. From furniture to jewelry to home and garden vintage, there's so much for you to browse and buy. There's free parking, refreshments and children enter for free. Dogs are welcome too. For more details, visit lovefares.com. Kent Online News News You Can Trust This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner Hello, hope you're okay. Thank you for downloading today's podcast on Thursday, April 18th. Coming up, we've got an update on the Rwanda bill and we'll hear from a Medway-based sports group that have had thousands of pounds worth of equipment stolen. But first, let's take a look at one of our most red stories today. Ashford woman has spoken out after being charged 1600 pounds to be let back into her own home. Jane Marnie got locked out after going for a dog walk. Despite having the keys, the door wouldn't open and she was forced to call a locksmith. Jane has been speaking to reporter Chantel Weller. I thought it was dear, but I genuinely had no idea what he should have been charging, none whatsoever. And when you, you know, when you sit inside in your living room, you can go through things and look at, as you said, trust, pilot, whatever, what the going rate should be. You know, we're outside in the dark, just trying to get into our property. And I was stupid enough to give him the money, but I do believe this chap needs exposing for what he is. He's a conman. And I believe that he took advantage of us because, I mean, had it been six foot bloke come to the door, I doubt that he would have done that, you know, he's taking advantage of our situation being here on our own. So do you think he saw that and thought I can charge as much as I like? I absolutely do, yeah, absolutely. And that's why he did what he did. And, you know, he, he, I'm not saying he does it to everybody, but all of the locksmiths that I'd spoken to know of these companies that he has and know people that he's, he's scammed and conned. He may be working on his own, he may be working with others that I don't know. But I have been on to trading standards who have already had him or the company flagged up with a red flag. They're aware of them. And they've asked me to provide three quotes from bona fide locksmiths to this guy who's a dress I have, but I'll be doing that. And if there's no response within 14 days and trading standards want to know, you know, that as well. So they are looking into it. What do you think might have happened to say you haven't had those funds available at the time in the bank account? What do you think he might have done? Do you think he wouldn't have given you the keys up? I absolutely do. I don't think he would have given me the keys, whether or not he would have, I'm not saying he threatened me in any way, he didn't physically threaten me. But he made me feel intimidated. He was stood in my kitchen with the keys, clenched firmly in his hand, holding the card reader, and when I'd said to him it's a bit more expensive than I thought, it's very expensive. And he just kept not shaking his head and saying, "No, no, that's the going rate, that's the going rate." No, I felt that I had no option other than to pay him. And I'm thinking to myself, "Well, if I don't pay him," and he goes away, "I've got to call another one out," and they might charge me the same. I don't know. You know, I just didn't know what to do. I know you see there's about a quarter to ten at this point, and it's getting late. It's getting late, and when it gets to that time and you've obviously been under a lot of stress, you just want it to be done. Indeed. And now I can sit here on this sofa talking to you thinking, "What a fool. How could I have been so stupid?" But at the time, you just don't think like that. I just wanted to get in, to get secure, and sorted out afterwards, so to speak. But it wasn't, as I say, I lay in bed that night thinking, "Oh, that was really expensive." But, you know, now, never again, I'm never going to be conned like that again. Other locksmiths have told the Kent Online podcast the work would cost less than £300. The company's been reported to trading standards. Kent Online News. A teenage motorcyclist killed in a crash on the M25 has been named. 19-year-old Andrina Everett from Kent died after a collision involving a car which was being chased by police through the Dartford crossing. Her fiancé has described her as "the most loving person, two teenagers, have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving." A paramedic who admitted causing the death of his colleague in a crash on the A21 in Kent has been spared jail. 21-year-old Alice Clark was killed when the ambulance she was travelling in crashed into a cement lorry in January 2022. 45-year-old Edward Ryding, who lives in Kemp's farm road in Crowborough, pleaded guilty to causing her death by careless driving and has been given a nine-month suspended sentence. A man's needed facial reconstruction surgery after being attacked when he smashed a man's windscreen in Sittingborne, Roy Spicer, who was driving the car, lashed out when it happened last August and left his victim unconscious. The 30-year-old from Denham Grove has admitted GBH and the case has been sent to Crown Court for sentencing. A family say they've lost everything after a fire at their home in Strewd. The blaze broke out at the property on Darnley Road last month. Now, friends and family are raising money to help them move. A teenage boy, who was arrested, has been released without charge. Police have launched an investigation after a car crashed into a garden wall near Ashford. The driver fled the scene after it happened in Canterbury Road in Willersboro on Sunday evening. No injuries were reported, but the wall was destroyed and two vans were damaged by flying debris. A BMW stolen from Dover will be returned to its rightful owner after police spotted it at a petrol station. Officers were in Minskat near Ramsgate when they seized the vehicle. The driver was also arrested and later released while investigations continue. Kent Online News Rishi Sunak suffered another setback over his Rwanda asylum bill. He'd hoped it would become law this week and allow him to send some people to the African country this spring. But members of the House of Lords have voted for further changes, so it'll return to the comments next week. It comes as a Kent-based artist has launched a new exhibition which features artwork by young refugees who've come to the country. Jose Campos, known as Studio Lenko, is based in Margate and worked with teenagers from the Kent Refugee Action Network to produce pieces of art, including a volcano sculpture. Jose has been telling Lauren Hampshire about how he left El Salvador as a child and how that inspired this exhibition, which is called "Leaf to Remain". I'm aware of Margate's proximity to border crossings. I also have a history of working in education as well as a secondary school teacher and I thought it would be great to include the voices of the people at Pran. I believe as well that you have a story yourself of sort of feeling displaced and moving to a different country. Can you tell me your story? So I was born in El Salvador and during the Salvador and Civil War I actually fled the country and I walked with my mother to the United States. There I grew up and documented. So I kind of grew up with this feeling of being invisible and having to hide. And so I take it then that makes you want to work. I guess you feel like you can relate to these young people that are coming over. Yeah, this exhibition is a direct reflection on my experience of being displaced and also just sort of shining a light on this story because sometimes it's an invisible story. And I think that using art as a sort of conduit for these conversations is really important. Asama Shakir works with Kran, he's explained why the exhibition is so important. In my opinion like art is international language and it speaks for everyone. And I believe it just like allowed them to express their feeling, you know, to have some links with other, you know, cultures and also for them to have that sense of belonging to the community they live in and also to get introduced to, you know, new culture that they never thought about before because it was okay is by diverse country and here is like you have multiple cultures and our young people can be part of that culture in the future. And this is what art does actually, they just like give this initial introduction for them and also give them that relief that everyone is equal, everyone the same and they can like achieve something by doing art. And have some of the young people have they said too that it has really helped them? Yeah, so part one of the work at the beginnings they had to draw on the walls, some volcanoes and they said they had the best feeling ever, you know, because they were just free to do whatever they want, on the wall, no one would tell them not to do that, no one would tell them. So and some of them they were very broad, they felt like the volcano was like, as same as them, it was like a kind of a link to their journey to the UK. So this is how they experience them. The exhibition will be at the Carl Friedman Gallery until the 16th of June. Kent Online News. Thousands of pounds worth of equipment has been stolen from a Medway Sports Group working with disadvantaged children. Sport on your doorstep provides coaching and activity sessions across the county, bosses say their lock up in chat and was ransacked and more than 4,000 pounds worth of kit taken. Mark Ruffsedge is the director of sports to your door, he's been speaking to Ollie from our colleagues at KMTV. The whole reason we exist is to engage young people and families in those underserved communities. We have to take the sport right to the heart of those communities to remove as many barriers as we can and one of those barriers is obviously cost and us bringing equipment and our coaching staff right at the center of these communities means that cost and access to provision is one big barrier that's removed. So obviously without this equipment that allows us to pop up in those communities, it leaves us in a difficult position. Because are you struggling at the moment to be able to do what you used to do, do you not have the equipment now to kind of post those events that you were doing in the past? On scale, we'll always find a solution to a problem so nothing will never let anything completely come to a standstill but what it has done is probably hindered our opportunities for upscaling it a little bit so we're just having to make some cuts where we can. But yeah, in answer, how long has the T-Shock questioned, yeah it's impacting probably the scale of the delivery we're allowing to do but like I said, we're pretty much a solution-based organisation so we'll find solutions rather than problems. Oli also spoke to Aaron Kempster who is the Medway area lead. He's explained the reaction from the people in the community who use the service. I have this appointment and people are upset because it's our local community that we're trying to deliver sessions to and it's happened in our community. It's not like this equipment is somewhere else, it's within the community that we're trying to deliver to and it's a real shame that it's happened within our own communities I think, just a bit upset, a bit disappointed and like I say, hopefully it just doesn't happen again and we can keep delivering these sessions. Because obviously this is a big part of Medway, like are you worried about a thing that has happened in the future or happened to other groups as well, more the rest along the lines? Unfortunately, this is the area we're delivering our sessions in, it's going to happen potentially. I don't want to say I hope it happens to somebody else because of course I don't but it will happen and unfortunately I think we need to maybe put things in place that can prevent it or at least make it easier to work out why it's happening because yeah we don't want to be in this position every few months, every six months or so, so yeah unfortunately we are in an area where these things do happen but I guess we're out there delivering sessions to our young people to hopefully prevent them from being involved in any of these sorts of activities. The first thing about what you do is it's kind of preventative of how people get into a difficult mindset and avoiding kind of like going down bad pathways in life and I was wondering like do you think that like without a service like yours these things keep happening makes it harder for you to operate, is there a higher chance for you to fall into these difficult pathways? Yeah most definitely, I was only talking to some children last week at a session and they asked, we were in a town centre doing some boxing and they said why are you here? So I said oh we're here to keep you guys away from causing trouble in the local fast food restaurants or whatever it is they're doing and I said if we can get you away from that and get you to change your mindset then we've done our job and I think unfortunately obviously if we can't get out and engage with these people and just try and trigger their mindsets then unfortunately they may go down the wrong path which is what we don't want so hopefully we can still be out there and deliver those sessions to change their minds. It's online news, I can't cinema has been given a new name after the local council took over running it, Picture House announced in February it was backing out of the Elwick Place site after six years from next week it'll be known as the Ashford cinema 26 jobs have been saved by the authority. The market at Canterbury is set to return this summer two years after being axed, the 700 year old attraction will return to its traditional spot in St. George's Street, stall holders had to move in 2022 ahead of a £1 million revamp of the area which was completely deleted last year. Farmers in Kent say the cherry season is set to start ahead a schedule after a spell of warm sunny weather after lots of rain. The owners of little-shasted farms say produce could hit supermarket shelves as early as the end of May. Cherries have been grown on the site in sitting born for the past 80 years. Ahead of the apprentice final on TV tonight a former candidate from Kent says he's heading to the US to try and make his fortune. Raj Donata was on the first series of the show and reached week nine before being fired. The 49 year old from Dartford admits he hasn't watched an episode since appearing and admits the experience wasn't what he was expecting. Kent's online sports. Jenna's first-end Kent's Emma Radicarnu breezed through her first round match at the Stuttgart Open last night. She beat former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber 6261. She will face check teenager Linda Noscova later today. I played her once when I think she was coming just coming through, she qualified for the French and I played her first round and it's like a three hour slog outdoors in Paris. It's going to be a tough match of course and she's in great form and it's some big thing since. And in cricket Kent head coach Matt Walker insists they've got to get the basics right if they want to compete with the best in the country. Having escaped from a rain affected final day at Essex on Monday with a draw thanks largely to teenage debutante Jaden Denley Walker wants his players to learn from their opponents. It doesn't get any easier for Kent who will host Surrey at Canterbury from tomorrow. Matt Walker says they'll have to be at their very best. It's the biggest challenge because as you say they're the back-to-back champions. They are the best side in the country and that's fact. But actually we've competed pretty well over the last couple of seasons and quite made the most of some situations we've got ourselves in last year was a tough situation we found ourselves in actually controlling that game really well and something pretty extraordinary happened on that last day for them but yeah I mean look down their side there they're full of elite players, world-class players and they can chop and change around and bring it even more. So we've got to be our very best absolutely. But Duke Ball next week it'd be a different prospect. And there's some huge positives that are happening I think the former Daniel and Joe and obviously Compo with his innings this week and it's another week of cricket that I think should have got two pretty scrappy drawers over the first two weeks this season give us a bit of confidence that we know he can scrap and we know he can fight and we know he can compete with some really good sides. Play gets underway at Canterbury at 11. That's all from us today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and Threads. You can also get the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning via the briefing to sign up just head to kentonline.co.uk news you can trust. This is the Kenton Line Podcast. (dramatic music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
