Bunhill: U-turn

IT looked like the end of the road last week for the 36 lorry drivers who, having once braved the Wapping picket lines for Rupert Murdoch, were fighting against dismissal by TNT.

The drivers took their case to the industrial tribunal in Manchester only to be warned that if they were to lose, they might be ordered to pay TNT's costs. They had raised pounds 25,000 towards the fight but with TNT's costs in the region of pounds 50,000 and rising they decided to throw in the towel. All except one. Cheryl Cooper, a doughty lass from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, refused to give in and won pounds 6,000. Following her example, another driver sacked his barrister and continued the battle and others are rejoining the fray. Well done Cheryl.

ONE of his clients may have been declared bankrupt, but George Walker's solicitor, Michael Coleman, still enjoys the life of a jet-setter. After seeing Walker's creditors deliver the coup de grace on Wednesday, Coleman, a partner in the London firm of Harkavys, excused himself because he said he had to fly to Portugal. At a previous hearing, Coleman turned up looking tanned and tired but unflustered. 'I've just got off a plane from Hong Kong,' he explained.

But this was not the limit of Coleman's travels. I phoned his office a few weeks ago, but failed to catch him. 'I'm sorry,' explained a secretary. 'Mr Coleman's off seeing clients in Casablanca.'