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Eight Engines wins Production Company of the Year at Prolific North Champions Awards 2026

Manchester-based video production company Eight Engines has been named Production Company of the Year at the Prolific North Champions Awards 2026, marking a landmark moment for a business that has grown into one of the region’s most exciting production studios.
The award was announced at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford, where hundreds of leading figures from across the North’s creative, digital, tech and media sectors gathered to celebrate the best of the industry.
The prize recognises production companies and studios delivering the most visually striking and effective content across marketing, TV and film, with judges considering creativity, effectiveness, evidence of growth and wider impact.
For Eight Engines, the recognition reflects years of creative ambition, investment in its team and a growing reputation for producing high-quality content for clients across aviation, hospitality, technology, entertainment, retail, gaming, transport, charity and the arts.
Their customer roster now includes companies including EasyJet, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Sony Pictures, Timpson, Google and Facebook (Meta).
Jack Leigh, Creative Director at Eight Engines, said he was proud but quick to credit the wider northern creative community, “I’m unbelievably lucky to work with the best team in the world, in the greatest city on earth.
It’s lovely to get recognition for all the work we’ve put into Eight Engines, but the North is full to burst with amazing agencies, production companies and creative people. Ultimately, it’s just a privilege to be a small part of that community.”
Eight Engines was founded with an ambition to blend the craft and technical excellence of big-budget film and television production with a culture that is supportive, creative and genuinely enjoyable to be part of.
The team’s roots are in broadcast, with credits across some of the UK’s most recognisable film and TV productions. That pedigree informs every project the studio takes on, whether a brand campaign, a documentary, a theatre production or a social media series.
Central to that is a permanent core team, including directors, camera operators, assistants, editors and producers, many of whom joined as juniors and have developed with the business over the past five years. In a sector often built around short-term freelance structures, Eight Engines has deliberately chosen to build stability, both for its clients and for the people doing the work.
Over the past two years, the business has grown significantly, taking on larger and more ambitious projects, expanding its direct client relationships and developing its role as a creative partner.
Jack reflected on the journey that led to the award, “The company is technically 10 years old, but four years ago I bought out a former business partner and suddenly found myself trying to figure out what the company actually was, what I wanted it to become, and whether I was capable of leading it there.
“Since then, everything has changed. We’ve built an in-house team so talented people can do brilliant work with a bit of stability in a ridiculously unstable industry. We’ve pushed for bigger, braver, more creative projects. And we’ve built the systems behind the scenes that help us squeeze every bit of value out of every second of a project.
“The one constant has been the team pulling together and solving problems. The work matters, of course. But the people are what make Eight Engines special.”
The Prolific North Champions Awards celebrate the organisations, teams and individuals putting the North on the map in the creative and digital sectors.
For Eight Engines, the Production Company of the Year title gives external recognition to a period of change that has seen the Manchester studio strengthen its team, deepen its client relationships and build a creative culture that has become central to its success.

Man United transfer news LIVE: Huge Tonali update, new Ederson agreement, Leao bargain

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Remember Turki Al-Sheikh? The man who once posted a cryptic message on X suggesting Manchester United were in an ‘advanced stage’ of a takeover.

He said: “The best news I heard today is that Manchester United is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor. I hope he’s better than the previous owners.”

He later clarified he was not the ‘new investor’, but now he now wants to buy Derby County.

The Times is reporting that the EFL and the Independent Football Regulator are aware of Turki Al-Sheikh’s interest in the Championship club, but both organisations declined to comment when approached by them.

Al-Sheikh is a government minister in Saudi Arabia’s royal court and is the man behind Saudi Arabia’s takeover of boxing.

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Turki-Al-Sheikh(Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Man City vs Aston Villa LIVE Pep Guardiola names final Man City XI and makes sweeping changes

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Manchester City welcome Aston Villa to the Etihad Stadium for the final day of the Premier League season and Pep Guardiola’s final match in charge of the Blues

Man United transfer news LIVE – Ederson 'advanced talks', Elliot Anderson update, £80m battle

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Thomas Tuchel has named the England squad for this summer’s World Cup, with some Manchester United players missing out.

There is no place in the squad for Harry Magure and Luke Shaw, but Marcus Rashford has been included after enjoying a loan spell at Barcelona this season.

England squad confirmed for World Cup 2026:

Goalkeepers: Pickford, D. Henderson, Trafford

Defenders: James, Quansah, Konsa, Stones, Guehi, O’Reilly, Burn, Spence, Livramento

Midfielders: Rice, Anderson, Mainoo, J. Henderson, Rogers, Eze, Bellingham

Forwards: Saka, Madueke, Rashford, Gordon, Kane, Watkins, Toney

BNKer and Doorly unveil partnership aimed at redefining modern residential living

Manchester-founded proptech company BNKer continues to tackle the UK residential market’s growing space challenge through its in-building self-storage solution, now forming a partnership with fellow fast-growing proptec Doorly.

After a successful first year, bringing self storage to the doorstep of over 4500 apartments, BNKer has already begun making its mark on the UK’s residential property market. Since launching in Manchester, the proptech company has quickly connected with leading property developers across the North West – including the renowned Renaker – and beyond, bringing its onsite self-storage solution to some of the most sought-after home hotspots. Now, through a partnership with fellow Manchester-founded and rapidly expanding start-up Doorly, the two businesses are working together to reshape the way renters experience modern apartment living.

Also founded in Manchester, Doorly has created a platform designed to simplify everyday living by connecting users with trusted local service providers. Through the app, users can browse, compare and connect with professionals offering a wide range of home services – from at-home hairdressing and beauty treatments to cleaning, babysitting, dog walking and more. By linking with BNKer, residents can now book extra space.

Like BNKer, Doorly places the end user at the centre of its model. The platform provides a natural opportunity for BNKer to introduce its storage solution directly to people navigating the realities of modern apartment living.

With a clear ambition to place its self-storage solution in front of the right audiences across the UK, BNKer’s partnership with Doorly marks an important step in both companies’ growth journeys. By connecting BNKer with Doorly’s growing renter audience, the collaboration creates opportunities to raise awareness of the storage solution while opening the door to new conversations with developers and property operators across the UK.

Michael Lawes, Founder of Doorly, said: “This was a very natural partnership for us, particularly as both businesses are at similar points in our growth journeys. Doorly was created to make everyday living easier by connecting people with trusted local services, and BNKer is tackling another major challenge many people face in modern apartments – the lack of space.

“As we continue expanding beyond the North West and into cities across the UK, it made sense to work with a company that shares a similar outlook on improving the way people live in their homes. Through this partnership, we can introduce BNKer’s solution to the people experiencing these challenges first-hand.”
The timing of the collaboration is particularly relevant as both companies look towards further expansion in London, where the challenges of limited apartment space are felt most acutely. As rental living continues to grow across the capital’s high-density developments, demand for practical, accessible storage solutions is only increasing.

David Fricker, Founder of BNKer, said: “Partnering with Doorly gives us the opportunity to connect directly with the people experiencing the space challenges that come with modern apartment living.

“Doorly gives residents access to services from their phones, so now they can reserve extra space as and when they need it.

“Our goal has always been to help buildings make better use of the space they already have. Doorly has built a platform that speaks directly to residents across the UK, so working together allows us to better understand which residents need for extra space and where, while continuing to build relationships across the wider residential property sector.”

As both companies continue expanding their presence across the UK, the partnership reflects a shared ambition to improve the everyday realities of apartment living – connecting residents with the services and space they need while helping landlords make better use of the buildings they manage.

Manchester director’s guide to the first 7 days after receiving a winding-up petition

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For Manchester company directors facing a winding-up petition for the first time, few documents carry greater legal and commercial significance. Yet despite the seriousness of the situation, many directors still misunderstand the process – and make critical mistakes in how they respond.

The seven days after you receive a winding-up petition aren’t a planning window. They’re triage. And what you do in that week determines what happens to your company, to you personally, and to the realistic options you’ll have from that point forward.
This is your guide to those seven days. Not a replacement for proper legal advice. But the framework that, according to Matt Haycox’s book RIGGED: The Directors’ Survival Manual, every director should have in front of them before they pick up the phone.

Day 1: Work Out What You’re Actually Holding
First things first. Before you do anything, establish what this document actually is.

A winding-up petition isn’t a letter. Not a demand. Not a warning. It’s the formal start of legal proceedings, filed at the High Court, seeking an order to compulsorily liquidate your company. By the time it’s in your hands, it’s been filed. There’s a hearing date. The petitioning creditor — HMRC most often, sometimes a trade creditor, occasionally a former employee or landlord — has decided informal recovery is done and court action is the route.
Here’s the bit most directors miss in those first few hours: the petition will be advertised in the London Gazette.

That advertisement triggers everything that follows. Once it appears, your bank can freeze your accounts. Suppliers will pull credit lines. Customers — especially those who monitor the Gazette as standard practice (and plenty of Manchester businesses do) — will know you’re in insolvency proceedings.
The advertisement doesn’t happen Day 1. Usually appears around seven working days after presentation. That gap? That’s your window. Most of what follows is about what you do inside it.

“The Gazette advertisement is the hammer,” Haycox says. “Everything before it is negotiation. Everything after is damage control. Directors who don’t get that lose options every day they wait.”

Day 1, Part Two: Don’t Sign a Thing
Second thing to nail down before any conversations start: disciplined inaction on documents.

Hours after receiving a winding-up petition, you’ll start getting contacted. Some will be professionals who monitor court filings and spotted your company as fresh business. Some will be your existing advisers wanting to schedule meetings. Some will show up as engagement letters, retainer agreements, proposals for immediate appointment.

Don’t sign any of it Day 1. Don’t sign it Day 2 either.

The single most expensive mistake directors make in week one is signing with the first Insolvency Practitioner through the door, assuming speed equals competence.

It doesn’t. That engagement letter determines the procedure that follows. The procedure determines the IP’s fee income. The two are linked in ways rarely explained up front — and you need to understand them before signature, not after.

Day 2: Who’s Actually Petitioning, and For What
Before external conversations, you need two things clear. Who petitioned. What for.

In most recent UK winding-up petitions, the answer is HMRC. The basis? Typically unpaid VAT, PAYE, corporation tax. The figures will be in the petition itself — amounts, dates, prior correspondence.

Work out if the debt is genuinely owed at the amount claimed. Check if there are disputes over assessments, penalties, underlying transactions that might form the basis of a challenge. Check if any payments you’ve made haven’t been credited.

If the debt’s genuinely owed at roughly the claimed amount, your strategic position differs from one where there’s a real dispute. A genuinely disputed debt can sometimes form the basis for an application to restrain advertisement or dismiss the petition. An undisputed debt can’t.

The clarity matters because it shapes everything next. A director walking into meetings without knowing exactly who petitioned and why has already lost ground.

Day 3: Get Actually Independent Advice
Day three — time to seek advice. And the critical word there is independent.

Independent means specific things here. Advice from someone whose fee doesn’t hinge on which procedure you pick. A second opinion before any engagement letter gets signed with any IP. Treating the recommendation from your existing accountant — especially if they’ve suggested a specific IP they “work with” — as one input, not a decision.

This is where the structural argument running through RIGGED becomes actionable. Many accountants maintain ongoing referral relationships with specific IPs. Those relationships are rarely disclosed at the moment of referral. The recommendation might be perfectly sound, but you’ve no way to evaluate it without a second opinion from outside that referral chain.

“Get the second opinion,” Haycox says. “Before you sign anything. From somebody whose fee doesn’t depend on your choice. Cost of that conversation is the lowest you’ll incur in this whole process. Cost of skipping it? Highest.”

A genuinely independent adviser will walk you through the full menu of responses. That includes: paying the debt in full where feasible, negotiating time to pay, applying to court to restrain advertisement where there’s genuine dispute, proposing a Company Voluntary Arrangement, entering administration, or — where appropriate — accepting compulsory liquidation as the realistic outcome and managing it accordingly.

If the advice on Day 3 includes only one or two options, it’s incomplete. Not necessarily bad faith. Just a sign you need a wider conversation before committing.

Day 4: Take Stock of Your Personal Exposure
Fourth day — in parallel with strategic conversations about the company — take a clear-eyed look at your personal financial exposure.

This is the part most directors get to last. It’s the part they most consistently wish they’d tackled first. The corporate insolvency is the headline. The personal consequences follow you for years in many cases.

Your inventory needs to cover: every personal guarantee you’ve ever signed, including for refinanced or repaid facilities; current balance of your directors’ loan account; any overdrawn current account or unrecorded drawings; any transactions in the past two years that could be tagged as preferences or transactions at undervalue; any conduct that might objectively support a wrongful trading finding.
Why now rather than after the hearing? Because some exposures can be managed differently depending on which procedure gets chosen for the company. Some procedures expose directors to detailed conduct investigations. Some provide more latitude for negotiating personal liabilities. The procedure minimising IP fees isn’t necessarily the one minimising personal exposure — and the one maximising company rescue isn’t necessarily the one maximising director protection.
These trade-offs need understanding before any procedure starts. They can’t, usually, be unwound after.

Day 5: Pick a Strategy, Not Just a Procedure
Day five — ideally the day you set strategic direction. The distinction between strategy and procedure matters.

A procedure — administration, CVA, compulsory liquidation, voluntary liquidation — is a legal mechanism. A strategy is what you’re trying to achieve. Sequence them in that order. Decide the outcome you want, then choose the procedure producing it. The temptation under time pressure is doing this backwards: choosing a procedure because someone recommended it, then discovering after the fact it’s produced an outcome you didn’t intend.

Realistic strategic outcomes in week one of a winding-up petition include: paying the debt and preserving the company unchanged; negotiating time to pay while continuing to trade; restructuring through CVA while trading; rescuing the underlying business through administration with a sale to new entity; or accepting compulsory liquidation while minimising personal director exposure.

Each strategy is achievable through different procedural paths. Each has different fee implications for professionals involved. Each has different consequences for directors personally. Day 5 is when those trade-offs get made explicit — ideally with an adviser who has no financial stake in steering you anywhere specific.

Day 6: Execute, With Everything Documented
Day six — chosen strategy begins execution. If payment’s being made, make it. If time to pay agreement’s being negotiated, submit the formal application. If CVA or administration’s being pursued, sign engagement letters and initiate procedural steps. If dispute’s being raised with the petitioning creditor, draft and send formal correspondence.
The single most important discipline in execution? Documentation.
Every decision. Every conversation. Every piece of advice. Record it in writing. Not because you’re anticipating litigation (though documentation matters if that follows). Because events in the next several weeks move fast, and you won’t accurately remember in three months who told you what or when you decided what.
Directors who fare best in subsequent personal liability proceedings are almost always the ones who maintained contemporaneous records throughout distress. Directors who fare worst relied on memory.

Day 7: Communicate, But Carefully
Day seven — before Gazette advertisement likely appears — make deliberate decisions about communication.

Who needs to know what, when. Your key suppliers might be better informed by you directly than by the Gazette. Key customers might be better managed proactively than reactively. Your bank should be approached in a controlled manner rather than left to discover the situation through standard monitoring. Your employees, depending on chosen strategy, may need communicating with inside the first ten days regardless of legal obligation.
None of this should be improvised. Each conversation has legal and commercial implications. Each needs approaching with clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve. Communication strategy is often the difference between controlled situation and chaotic one.

What the First Week Doesn’t Do
Be clear about what those first seven days don’t accomplish.

They don’t resolve the underlying situation in most cases. Don’t save the company on their own. Don’t eliminate personal director exposure. Don’t, by themselves, produce the eventual outcome of proceedings.
What they do? Preserve optionality.

The first seven days are when the largest number of strategic options remain available. Every day passing after Gazette advertisement, after bank freeze, after supplier pullback — narrows the realistic menu. The work of week one is ensuring that menu is as wide as possible when harder decisions get taken in following weeks.

For a Manchester director holding a winding-up petition for the first time, that might be the single most important reframe. The petition isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of a window. And that window, properly used, is the most valuable resource you’ve still got.

For more substantive treatment of the structural dynamics behind UK insolvency proceedings — including fee structures, referral relationships, and personal liability landmines shaping how this unfolds — Haycox’s RIGGED: The Directors’ Survival Manual, available through Insolvency.World, is the longer reference. The 200+ pages don’t replace proper legal advice. They equip the director receiving it to ask better questions of the people providing it.

In the first seven days, that might be the difference that matters most.

Directors and business owners can also find more of Haycox’s wider business commentary, interviews and entrepreneurial resources on Matt Haycox’s official website.

Century of Science: M&I Materials Celebrates 100 Years of Apiezon Legacy

Manchester-based M&I Materials is celebrating a major milestone in 2026, as its globally recognised Apiezon reaches 100 years of supporting cutting-edge scientific research and industry innovation worldwide.

Manufactured in Manchester and exported worldwide, Apiezon (pronounced Ap-ee-ay-zon) has played a critical role in some of the world’s most significant scientific and technological breakthroughs since it was first developed in 1926 by British research engineer Cecil Reginald “Bill” Burch.

Burch, working at Metropolitan Vickers christened his new product “Apiezon” which is Greek for low pressure. Now produced by M&I Materials, the range supports advanced research and industrial applications across aerospace, cryogenics, semiconductor production and other industries.

Over the past century, Apiezon products have supported pioneering scientific research and advanced engineering applications around the world. The range has been used by organisations including NASA, Boeing, and Honeywell, as well as CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
In the 1930s, Apiezon products were used by John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton at the University of Cambridge in experiments that contributed to the first successful splitting of the atom. Cockcroft and Walton were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for this work.
Now exported worldwide through an established network of distributors, Apiezon continues to be manufactured in Manchester, maintaining its heritage while supporting cutting-edge innovation across the globe.
Dr. Neil McSporran, MD of Speciality Products at M&I Materials said: “Reaching 100 years is an extraordinary achievement for any product range. We are immensely proud that Apiezon, developed in Britain in 1926, is still trusted today in some of the most advanced scientific and industrial environments in the world.
“From early atomic research through to modern space exploration and high-energy physics, Apiezon has consistently supported groundbreaking work. That legacy speaks to the quality of the product and to the dedication of our team here in Manchester, who continue to manufacture and supply it to customers across the globe.”

“Celebrating Apiezon’s centenary is a proud moment. It also coincides with a wider milestone for M&I Materials, which has been manufacturing specialist materials for industry and science for 125 years,” said Giles Salt, CEO of M&I Materials.

“Our long heritage underpins our ability to support innovation across many industries, and Apiezon’s 100-year legacy is a perfect example of how our commitment to quality and performance has stood the test of time. We look forward to continuing this journey, helping customers achieve breakthroughs well into the future.”

As part of the centenary celebrations, M&I Materials is inviting customers, researchers and industry partners to share their experiences of working with Apiezon products over the decades. The company hopes to showcase stories of innovation, discovery and technical advancement made possible with the support of the product range.

SCEND awarded B Corp status in rare achievement for UK 3PL sector

eCommerce fulfilment provider SCEND has become one of the few UK third-party logistics (3PL) companies to receive B Corp Certification from B Lab.

The accreditation independently verifies businesses against rigorous standards covering social and environmental performance, governance, and accountability. Among the UK’s estimated 3,500 logistics and fulfilment operators, only a small proportion hold B Corp status. SCEND achieved a B Impact Assessment score of 93.7, well above the qualification threshold of 80.

The certification covers governance, employee practices, environmental impact, and community engagement, requiring demonstrable outcomes rather than stated policies, and is subject to ongoing reassessment as businesses grow. It sits alongside SCEND’s existing ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications adding another layer of external verification to an operational framework that was already being held to account.

“There’s a version of growth that looks good on a spreadsheet and not much else,” said Jack Crumpton, Co-Founder of SCEND.

“We didn’t set out in 2017 to become a B Corp – we just made decisions we could defend to ourselves. B Corp is the external audit of whether we actually did. The fact that fulfilment as a sector is so under-represented in the certification tells you something about how far it has to go, and we’d rather be part of changing that than waiting for it to change.”

One shift the certification process made tangible was how SCEND measures success. Revenue growth remained important, but it was no longer the only metric that mattered. Client satisfaction, employee wellbeing, and supplier due diligence became equally central – alongside the development of shared values that could be embedded across the business and felt at every level of it.

SCEND worked with B Corp specialists The Pollinators throughout the certification process. “Logistics has such an important role to play in shaping more responsible supply chains, and SCEND’s curiosity about the certification translated into practical changes with real impact across the business. Their commitment to doing business with greater transparency, accountability and care really aligned with our own values,” said a representative from the firm.

The sector isn’t typically associated with this kind of accountability. For SCEND, the certification reflects a longer-term commitment to how the business is run, not simply a milestone to mark. What began as a regional operation has grown into a business with international reach, and the same principles that shaped it then are now being held to an internationally recognised standard.
B Corp Certification represents a point of accountability for what comes next: growth that holds itself to something.

 

Harry Maguire's mum absolutely fuming as Man United defender left out of England squad

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The defender’s brother has slammed the decision

Harry Maguire’s mum has taken to social media to share her ‘disgust’ at him being left out of the England World Cup squad. Maguire, 33,has been left out of the 26-man squad for the tournament which will be officially announced by boss Thomas Tuchel tomorrow (Friday).

That is despite him enjoying an impressive second half of the season under Michael Carrick at Manchester United. Maguire confirmed his axe on social media amid outrage from fans who believe that he should’ve been called up.

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In a post on Instagram, the defender said: “I was confident I could of played a major part this summer for my country after the season I’ve had. I’ve been left shocked and gutted by the decision. I’ve loved nothing more than putting that shirt on and representing my country over the years. I wish the players, all the best this summer.”

His furious mum, Zoe, also had her say, the Mirror reports. On X, she wrote: “Absolutely disgusted.”

One of his brothers, Joe, also fumed: “This might possibly be the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life. No words.”

Tuchel will explain his decision regarding Maguire at a press conference on Friday. The centre-back isn’t the only big name to miss out. Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Luke Shaw and Morgan Gibbs-White are also among the high-profile omissions.

It was Maguire’s mum who ‘started crying’ when he was recalled to the England squad in March following an 18-month absence. Discussing his recall, the 33-year-old said: “It’s amazing. It’s something I’ve missed. When you don’t get picked, when you’ve been a regular for six or seven years, it’s tough. I spoke to the manager and he told me I was in.

“I phoned my family. My mum was on holiday and she was crying. I’m in a position now in my career where it is not so much about myself. I’m 33. If I play one minute at the World Cup or every game, I will do everything to make sure this country is successful.”

But now the only football Maguire that will be playing this summer will be during United’s pre-season. The Red Devils are due to travel Europe for a number of friendlies while England battle it out to end 66 years of hurt in North America.

Body found in search for missing 14-year-old schoolboy from Stoke-on-Trent

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A body has been found in the search for missing 14-year-old Tyler from Stoke-on-Trent, who was last seen on Sunday

Police have found a body during the search for a missing 14-year-old schoolboy.

Officers had been hunting for Tyler Townsend since Sunday, May 17.

The search came to a tragic end on Thursday evening when Tyler’s body was believed to have been discovered close to Burslem Cemetery.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We can sadly confirm that a body has been found in the search for missing 14-year-old Tyler, from Stoke-on-Trent.

“He was last seen in the area on Sunday (17 May). Officers have been carrying out extensive searches to try to find him since he was reported missing.

“Shortly after 7pm today (Thursday 21 May), a body was found in a wooded area near Burslem Cemetery.

“Formal identification will take place in due course, but we believe the body to be missing boy Tyler.

“Officers are supporting his family at this deeply distressing time. His death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for HM Coroner.”

StokeonTrentLive has contacted West Midlands Ambulance Service for a comment following the tragedy, reports Stoke on Trent Live.