The Hackney Kestrels speedway stars skidded into controversy over apartheid after three of the members were said to be considering places on a tour of South Africa.

Simon Korder of the Hackney Anti-Apartheid Movement said the tour would be morally wrong.

“If they get on the UN blacklist they could be banned from riding in countries where speedway is most popular like Denmark and Sweden,” he added.

The father of one of the drivers said: “These campaigners will just be stopping black and white South Africans from seeing good class speedway.”

• Kids from Woodberry Down junior school got an extra two weeks summer holiday due to an asbestos leak at their school.

But their parents weren’t as happy about it as they presumably were.

“Chair of the parents’ association Elizabeth McCluskey said: “We weren’t given any warning and it caused a lot of difficulties for working parents. But most importantly we’re worried about or children’s education.”