Smörgåsbord

A woman was left stranded at a bus stop in in Kungälv, near Gothenburg, after a taxi driver refused to take her to casualty with her one-year-old son, claiming he didn't have time to drive all the way.

Tuesday's Expressen reported that Monika Hallström's son had fallen off his three-wheeled bike and had a 3cm ceramic splinter in the back of his head. She called a taxi because she doesn't have a car.

Mrs. Hallström had her four-year-old daughter with her as well, and while her son Jesper was "crying and bleeding in her arms", the taxi driver announced that he was too short of time to take them to their destination.

The taxi driver, from Gothenburg Taxis - if ever you have a ceramic splinter in the back of your head and want to know who not to call - left them at a bus stop outside Marstrand. They managed to get to the local hospital, but Jesper's condition was so bad that the doctors transferred him directly to Östra Sjukhuset, where Jesper was operated on.

"It was all sorted out in the end, but you do not leave a mother with a sick and injured child at the side of the road", said Mrs. Hallström. She also said she didn't even know exactly where they were when they were dropped off outside Marstrand.

The driver faces an investigation and the family will receive a compensation for the trouble they had to go through.

"It is totally unacceptable, a thing like this should never happen, it is totally our fault", said Lennart Sjöberg of Gothenburg Taxis.


A 26-year-old woman in Trelleborg died last week after contracting Legionnaire's Disease from the water in her shower.

Tuesday's Aftonbladet reported that Anna Almroth, who was brought up in Tanzania, moved in to her flat at Malörtsvägen in Trelleborg about a year ago.

"She started feeling ill at the start of September last year. She coughed a lot. But she continued working. It got worse in November and I forced her to go to the doctor, who prescribed a course of antibiotics for her", says Anna's sister Maria Malongo.

Anna Almroth agreed to be interviewed during this time by members of the Housing Association to which the flat belonged, and they published a statement in the newsletter for their members.

"I am very scared. I do not know what will happen. It's a miracle that I am alive - I could as well be dead", said Anna at the time.

But the illness was not identified as Legionnaire's disease and Anna's condition worsened. A month later she died.


Five sailing boats and a jetty were damaged when a large steamship reversed into a marina in Smögen in Bohuslän on Monday.

The 43-metre turn-of-the-century steamship carrying 200 passengers was en route from Kungshamn to Gothenburg. While leaving dock the navigation and steering apparently malfunctioned.

The stern of the vessel crashed in to the smaller boats in the marina, many of which were said to be luxury yachts.

Nobody was injured but many people were said to be "shocked". The incident was reported to the Navigation Headquarters at 10.50. The police did not suspect intoxication, but said it was more a question of "inattention at sea" on behalf of the crew on the steamship.

Apparently the incident could have been a lot worse: "If there had been people standing on the jetty they would have fallen straight into the water", said Åsa Rönnerman of Gothenburg police.


Fuel prices rose by 10 öre on Tuesday. The new price is approaching the record and follows an increase in the world market price.

Industry observers also blamed a recent fire in a refinery in Norway.

"A large volume of oil was wasted and this had a direct effect on the market price", said Ulf Svahn, Information Officer at Statoil.


Low numbers of guests and low room prices are a threat to the hotel and catering business in Stockholm, according to Svenska Dagbladet. Plans to build at least eight hotels have been put on hold with only two of eight expected to be completed by the end of the year. The rest are still waiting for production teams and development companies.

The large building corporation Peab is only one of many companies that took over sites for development a few years ago.

"We're in discussion with a few international and Swedish hotel operators, but we haven't reached an agreement with any of them yet. If we cannot manage to get someone to lease the hotel or to run it there is obviously no point in building one," said Tomas Andersson, Divisional Manager at Peab Housing Association.

The largest project to date is planned for the old postal office site by Klarabergsviadukten in Stockholm. This development was meant to transform the site in to a large hotel and conference centre. But the financiers changed their mind following declining visitor levels to the city.

So far only the Clarion Hotel by Skanstull, and Rival in Mariatorget been completed and it appears that rather too much emphasis has been put on the upper end of the market.

"It's not necessarily only those who can afford to pay 2000 crowns per room per night that stay in hotels in Sweden", said Leif Blomquist, Project Leader at the Chartered Surveyors of Stockholm.