Other News In Brief

Church Records And Sells ‘Sound Of Silence’

"Silence" has been recorded on to a CD and released by an East Sussex church to raise its profile and generate funds for the building.

Members of St Peter's Church, East Blatchington, have sold their first copies at an open day, and taken orders for more.

The recording of the church's atmosphere includes the ambient sounds of voices, footsteps and occasional background traffic noise.

Church technician Robin Yarnton said: "Mostly people have said it's nice and they like it, and that it's quiet and peaceful.

"It does what it says on the tin. Silence is all you get."

Call Made For Single Two-Day Postal Sevice

Royal Mail users have paved the way for replacing first- and second-class post with a new single-tier service that delivers mail over two days, in a survey published by the postal regulator.

Ofcom said nearly six out of 10 households and businesses would prefer to have a single class of service – "less expensive than first class, but delivered in two days".

A survey of Royal Mail customers found that while the majority of customers use first class, fewer than one in 10 households said they needed to deal with their post on the same day it arrives. Businesses held the same view, according to the survey.

PPI Claims Firms Made To Change Ads

Two claims management firms have been told to change their advertising after overstating how difficult it would be for consumers to reclaim payment protection insurance (PPI) premiums from banks and building societies.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered the companies, Gladstone Brookes and Consumer Finance Claims, to alter adverts that suggested reclaiming PPI was a lengthy process and that consumers had more chance of success if they used a claims management company.

Claims management companies offer to take cases against lenders on consumers' behalf, usually on a no-win no-fee basis. They often take as much as 25% of the eventual pay out, and lenders and regulators have urged people to make claims directly rather than through these firms.

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