BELL Farm - The Movie is back on. Or is it?

In 1999 the Evening Press reported plans to film scenes for a major motion picture on the York estate.

Not particularly glamorous scenes, admittedly. The movie, Addict, was to be based on the autobiography self-published by Stephen Smith, in which he describes his descent into drug addiction and alcoholism.

According to the book Stephen lived rough at a Bell Farm squat for several months.

When they heard that their homes could be used as a movie backdrop for such gritty scenes, some residents were concerned for the reputation of the much-improved Bell Farm.

But it emerged that York was far from the only location involved. Stories appeared in a number of other papers suggesting the movie was also to be filmed in Darlington, Newcastle, Manchester, Sunderland, Derby and Lincolnshire.

Then all went quiet.

Six years later, and apparently the project has been resurrected. We were called by Giles Davis on behalf of Stephen Smith, who lives in Germany. Giles told us that actor Andy Serkis, best known as the man behind Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings series, had agreed to make his directorial debut with Addict.

Andy is in New Zealand filming King Kong. When he is back in Britain, we were told, the movie will go into pre-production, with a scouting visit to York scheduled for September. Shooting would take place later in the autumn.

Andy's London agents Lou Coulson told us they could not confirm that he was about to sign up as director of the film. But they, unlike the Addict folk, know how to spell his surname (see the website www.addict.org/movie).

It turns out that Stephen was addicted to the railways as well as drugs during his down-and-out years - at least according to these interviews he has given in the last few days...

"I spent three or four months in Kirkton. I got on a train in London to sleep and I was thrown off the train for not having a ticket in Dundee." Dundee Evening Telegraph

"I ended up in Weymouth after staggering on to a train in London back in 1978. I stayed for a couple of months, begging on the streets and sleeping rough in a skip at Littlemoor." Dorset Echo

"I was about 35 when I got on a train from London and ended up in Newcastle. I went to the mission - I don't know how I found it - but I ended up there." Newcastle Evening Telegraph

"I was on the train as a down and out and I was caught without a ticket and kicked off at Coventry in about 1977." Coventry Evening Telegraph

"Eventually he got on a train to keep warm and dry and was thrown off in Bournemouth." Bournemouth Evening Echo

OOPS. The story we chuckled over on Monday turns out not to be a laughing matter.

A City of York Council spokeswoman contacted us to reveal that the incident, in which a parking attendant's van was hemmed in by two cars near CD Bramall at Malton Road, York "is currently the subject of a police investigation.

"It was a serious incident, which occurred as a City of York Council parking attendant responded to a call to the council's hotline from a member of the public. The parking attendant was extremely distressed by what occurred and felt very intimidated by the situation.

"Given the upset caused to the council employee and the fact that the incident is now the subject of a police investigation, the tone of the article seems entirely inappropriate.

"It is also worth pointing out that when parking attendants are going about their duties, they are legally entitled to leave their vehicles on yellow lines if they need to."

We'll be extra careful where we park the car in future.

Updated: 11:29 Wednesday, May 11, 2005