420 THE number of miles per hour that a Welsh cab driver was accused of driving in a 30mph zone.

Tom Matthews was in Newport when he was caught by a speed camera.

When the fine and three penalty points arrived, the recorded speed was 420mph. "I drive an old Cavalier . . . not a jumbo jet, " he said, "but according to this, I've broken the land speed record. If they insist I was going that fast, I should be a Grand Prix driver . . . I'm wasted in taxis." Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership apologised and blamed "an employee processing error".

3 THE number of wild boar fought off by an 80-year-old British woman after they attacked her dog.

Rosemarie HamiltonMeikle lashed out after hearing Bosun the dachshund squeal as he wandered into bushes near Dartmoor. She found him lying on the ground in front of the boar. She swung her lead around her head and scared off the two females . . .

but the male boar stood his ground. "The lead has a heavy metal clip so I swung it and caught him on the nose. Then I picked up Bosun and walked away.

Fortunately the boar did not follow, " she said.

148,000 THE amount, in euro, of a bill that troubled singer Whitney Houston has allegedly failed to settle for the storage of her stage outfits. The star is now set to auction hundreds of gowns from Versace, Armani and Dolce &Gabanna, alongside furniture and musical instruments, to pay off US storage firm Speed of Sound.