AND HERE IS THE NEWS…

….a light look at the latest local news with Caroline Manson

First fires of the summer arrive

Hot dry conditions and a strong Tramontane wind are never good news for fire-fighters, and this Thursday was no exception.  Around 50 firefighters were called to a fire on scrubland on the outskirts of Le Soler and concerned one hectare of vegetation.  The water bomber helicopter was mobilised and made no less than 9 drops, meaning that the fire was quickly contained.  Around the same time two other fires were reported in Salses-le-Chateau near the A9 motorway.

Border controllers find stash of tobacco

Police officers monitoring the border were carrying out vehicle checks just by the Laetitia restaurant on the Le Perthus road.  They spotted a Renault Kangoo coming back from Spain and asked the driver to stop so that they could check out all the cartons that seemed to be loaded inside.  The driver was not in agreement and drove off at high speed in the direction of Maureillas-Las-Ilas.  For some reason he decided to abandon his car and try to walk away but the police quickly apprehended the 20 year old man on the streets of the village.  In the car they discovered a total of 1225 cartons of cigarettes that he had been smuggling from Spain.  The young man received an 8 month suspended sentence, a customs fine of 159,250 euros and a ban on entering French territory for 10 years.

Three public pools out of action this summer

The AlberAquatic inter municipal pool in Argeles-Sur-Mer was first closed during the summer of 2023 when the department was hard hit by the drought.  This political measure saved nearly 2 million litres of drinking water.  For the same reasons they decided to keep the pool closed during the summers of 2024 and 2025 but this summer regular users (and tourists) were hoping that now that the water table situation has finally improved the pool would remain open during the summer.  They are going to be disappointed.  The Mayor stated that closing the pool was a measure of common sense, considering that the sea is just one kilometre away.  Elne could have provided a solution but their municipal pool is currently undergoing renovation works which were due to be completed by mid-July.  The former Mayor is furious and stated that ‘not everyone has a private pool and not everyone is ready to let their teenager go to the beach alone’.  Not much relief in Perpignan either as the Moulin-a-Vent pools are scheduled to be closed between July 6 and August 9th – but these dates could change.

Change to exit numbers on the Spanish Motorway

The Spanish authorities have recently decided to replace the classic ascending order of Exits by the relevant kilometre point.  Apparently this logic already exists on a large part of the Spanish motorway network but had never been applied on the AP-7 near the Franco-Spanish border.  What this means is that Exit 1 Jonquera Nord has now become Exit 3 (being 3km from the start of the AP-7).  Exit 2 Jonquera is now Exit 6, and Exit 3 Figueras Nord is now Exit 20.

Should’ve gone to SpecSavers?

On Sunday 7th June a lady driver (sorry!) made a violent turn while trying to avoid a collision with another car and ended up crashing her car into the front window of Direct Optic, an optician’s on Avenue de Grande-Bretagne in Perpignan.  Drug and alcohol tests were carried out but it just turned out to be a complete accident.  The shop had only been open for 2 months but has now had to close for these major repairs – and the owner is particularly upset as on December 29th a grandmother crashed through the window of his other shop in Le Soler!

And finally…..

A bus driver could not believe her eyes as she approached the little town of Nefiach, as in front of her was a grey saloon car towing a shopping trolley full of groceries.  She asked one of her passengers to film the vehicle as she followed it for several kilometres as it travelled between Millas and Nefiach.  The trolley even overturned as the driver made a turn at the roundabout in front of the gendarmerie – but two people actually helped him put everything back in and he continued on his way, finally turning into the cemetery.  There is no update to this story and whether the driver was questioned or arrested.