Insider Media Limited

A dented car and ego

Jolly japes were in evidence at Birmingham property consultancy CB Richard Ellis on April Fool’s Day.

First to fall foul of a prank was surveyor Will Abbott.

After a few beers the night before, Will got an early morning wake-up call that he wasn’t expecting. He was late for a meeting and his boss, senior director and head of the team Richard Meering, was demanding, in no uncertain terms, to know why he wasn’t there.

Without thinking, Will dashed to get ready for the meeting, before the penny dropped and he realised that the joke was firmly on him, much to Richard’s amusement.

But was that the end of it? Oh no.

Upon arrival at CBRE HQ, Will headed straight for the office’s underground car park, where he knew Richard’s beloved Range Rover would be parked. After drafting in the security guard to play along with the prank, he arranged for an email to be sent to CBRE to ask if anyone owned a black Range Rover, registration BJ** ***, as someone had reversed into it, causing severe damage to the front right wing. The email was then forwarded to all staff within the office.

The plan worked perfectly and it wasn’t long before Richard had picked up the message and was storming out of his meeting, en route to the car park to assess the damage for himself.

But before he could reach his car he was greeted by the security guard, who handed him an envelope. You will have guessed by now that the envelope contained a piece of paper with the words “April Fool” written on it.

Who said there was nothing for property agents to do in this market?

Korma long

Those of you heading into Birmingham city centre this Saturday may be interested to know that a whole series of events are being put on to coincide with the Big Curry Lunch within the Council House which is being staged to raise money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.

Activities around Victoria, Chamberlain and Centenary squares will include the Land Rover Terrapod driving experience, army exhibitions and a full military band. There will also be performances from a number of local Bhangra and Bollywood groups.

Businesses which have given the event their backing include Matrix Creative Marketing, FIS, Itihaas, Land Rover, Cobra Beer, Wenlock Springs and Squire Sanders Hammonds.

Kitts off (to London)

Stephen Kitts, a corporate partner in the Birmingham office of law firm Eversheds, claims he is having a mid-life crisis.

“It started a few years ago but rather than buy a fancy red sportscar I foolishly ran my first marathon. It was an 'interesting' experience but at least I got round and proved to myself that I wasn't really that old! Since then I have run a few more marathons and (on occasions) managed to break the four-hour barrier which, in my world, has been a minor achievement,” he says.

All of which is a preamble to let you know that he is doing the London Marathon on April 17 and is running to raise money for SportsAid.

He has set up a fundraising page - http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/StephenKitts - if you would like to sponsor him.

Stephen is asking sponsors to guess his finishing time and is offering champagne as a prize to the person whose guess is the closest to being right (he is targeting sub four hours).