Creating Narrative and Copy

I selected two stories from newspapers to use as inspiration for a short story which I will later incorporate into a layout design. The Outcome is shown below.

Mini Cooper Mayhem

A two-year old named Daniel has been the topic of choice this week in southwest Manchester. The toddler caused mayhem last Saturday as he carried out dangerous driving whilst drunk. Daniel’s mum Lorraine has spoken to us regarding the incident, “Well, that morning had been quite relaxing for me up until the event. I had just fed him half an hour previous, before witnessing him racing down the street in his electric car!”

Officers from the scene have described the incident as a “one of a kind” even with the recent drink driving rates rising for those who are underage. Officer Green reports “I had been on a case to track down a stolen vehicle when this case of a drive away toddler came up on my radio, well at first I thought the lads down at station were pulling my leg. I then continued on my current case before seeing the child speed right past me and through a red traffic light, it wasn’t until then that I believed the happenings were true!” Passers by were left astounded to the point of even dropping they’re shopping as the young lad swept past them on High Lane the officer reports.

CCTV tapes have shown Daniel at speeds of 80mph on a busy high street road, this is as traffic is left colliding in turn causing mass panic and obstructions along the way. His mum tells us “I immediately was in a state of panic, I didn’t know what to do, so my initial reaction was to leap into my car and try to catch-up with him. This left me in despair as I ended up getting lost in traffic, to which I then parked and alerted the police and my husband Derek to the situation.“ Derek works at Premier Inn on the outskirts of Sheffield and was distraught at the news of his son. “Upon hearing the news I instantly drove back to Manchester, though with it being a busy Saturday afternoon I soon got stuck waiting on the motorway leaving me feeling useless. The whereabouts of Daniel remained a mystery until the police sent out a helicopter to track him down, though this also proved a challenge. Green claims “I was told the helicopter lost him at one point before they eventually found him again later asleep at the wheel.”

Police soon received reports from a customer at ASDA demanding compensation for a fall she suffered within the store. ASDA customer relation’s officer Mike tells us of the incident “we received a customer complaint regarding the cleanliness of our store, to which I investigated. The customer, an elderly lady named Dorothy informed us they had suffered a shock fall after slipping on and having as evidence what appeared to be a used nappy.” To this shocking discovery I contacted security while the lady escorted me to the isle in question. The security checked CCTV only to find video footage of a toddler roaming about through our store in what presumably was a toy car before taking milk and dummies off the lower shelves and sneaking off out the store. They also found that the toddler had in fact left a present of sorts in the way of his used nappy on the floor, which was followed by the said lady tripping on such. Mike tells us “When I later reviewed the footage I found it comedic in a way, knowing that the lady was not injured first of course” The footage showed the fall which proceeded with the nappy flipping up into the air before landing on Dorothy’s head. The customer was in such dismay over what had happened she demanded someone be made responsible for leaving the child unattended whether it had entered the shop alone or not. I spoke to my colleagues who all agreed the best course of action here was to contact the police to which we put the lady in contact with.

Dorothy describes her fall to us as a horrific case of negligence “It was only due to me needing a small top-up of milk that led me to my local ASDA that day and I was thoroughly in shock at the events which occurred. Never before in all my life have I come across such negligence, don’t get me wrong the little bane didn’t know what he was doing, I don’t blame him. I say this is down to the increased bad parenting in this day and age, it is shameful and in my view parents should be put onto a course on how to look after their children once they know or plan to have one.” I asked Dorothy if she thought her outlook on the parents was a bit extreme to which she replied “Certainly not! And if they hadn’t have given me compensation for the fall, which may I say could have left me disabled, they would certainly be hearing from a court!”

I spoke to customer consultant Mike on his views of the parents ”Well I don’t know what to say really, it could have happened to anyone, who knows how the lad got here though. One thing is for sure however the parents need to be a lot more vigilant in future. I’m just glad that the toddler got back safe and sound.”

Taken from reports from the public, it is believed that Daniel had proceeded to drive towards a flock of pigeons before promptly parking underneath a tree, to which he feel asleep under. It was here that the helicopter pinpointed his location to Chorlton Park and retrieved the toddler from the vehicle. Once notified, PC Green picked up the said electric car from the site and took this back to the police station for confiscation until the rightful owners turned up for retrieval. In-between time it was noted that the car was in fact built for toddlers and meant as a toy, this lead to further investigation as to the cause of such speed provided by the electric car.

Daniel’s gran Vicky spoke to us regarding the mini car “I had purchased it as a Christmas gift for Daniel which had passed, what 5 months ago now?” asked by the police as to where she purchased the vehicle Vicky replied “Well my friend Audrey told me how she had managed to get some really good bargains online as Christmas presents, so I thought I would give it a shot. I found this company called TechTodd who sell a range of mini electric cars aimed at toddlers to play with, well I never imagined it would reach that speed!” After investigation by the police on suspicion of selling falsified goods they tracked down the seller of the car and found while Vicky thought she was buying a genuine product, it was in fact one of a line of recalled stock which had been put up onto an auction site. Constable Stanley tells us “This is a serious offence and the seller responsible has been barred from all auction sites for a period of one year and has been issued of a ten thousand pound fine for selling faulty goods. This could have resulted in the unthinkable but by pure chance little Daniel is still here with us and now we are working with the auction site to remove all listings of such and warn those who have also purchased products from this seller.”

Derek tells us “we are so relived to have him back home safe, Vicky has told us she is shaken up and isn’t going to trust online shopping websites again. Though I have reassured her and explained this is a very rare occurrence and I will check any items out for her in future with thorough safety checks.” Once home Daniel was taken to the GP for a check-up to ensure his health was unaffected, though while testing his blood Dr Chapel found there was a significant amount of alcohol within the toddler’s system. Dr Chapel explains “It turns out while Lorraine had breastfed the lad she hadn’t realized the effects her night before may have had on the milk she produced, therefore Daniel was in fact “drunk” from the milk explaining why he didn’t seem fazed by the events which occurred.”

This brings about a need for awareness on drinking while breastfeeding and it is advised if you do pursue to have a night out then you must ensure you carry out a home milk screening test. Chapel explains “On this occasion the parents were lucky as the levels shown within his system although significant were just below the critical levels, however that doesn’t take away from the harm on the child’s liver which may incur to which we need to give him regular health check-ups for the next 6 months.”

We spoke to Lorraine about Daniel’s alcoholic pursuits and she described the day as "a parent’s worst nightmare, I never imagined one night out could result in alcoholic breast milk, I had noticed he seem subdued to his normal energetic self but I put it down to having just been fed.” “In regards to the toy car, well Derek seems to be confident in being able to tell if a website is safe, but personally I share my mum’s view in not trusting such sites, its not worth the risk.”

Lorraine and Derek ended up paying five hundred pounds in compensation for the fall though the original request was double this, they mutually agreed on the compromised amount due to the lack of injury, with the exception of a bruised elbow, that Dorothy sustained. Lorraine has also been given a nurse’s appointment, in order to discuss the best ways to ensure her milk is safe for Daniel after a night out.


*Please note that although the story is originally inspired from newspaper articles, the story itself as shown above is a work of fiction. Therefore any names, characters, events and incidents are products of the authors imagination or used in a fictious manner.