April fool, shrink-wrapped over 400 cars this morning

[Billcoke]

 

 

 

A caller has told a Melbourne radio show he and a group of friends were the April Fool's Day pranksters who shrink-wrapped over 400 cars this morning, saying they just wanted to "bring some fun back into Melbourne''.

 

The man, who identified himself only as Hansel, told Triple M's breakfast show he and his mates worked overnight and throughout the morning to pull the trick off.

 

"We just wanted to run a sort of a prank on Melbourne, it's April Fool's, everyone is miserable, we want to bring some fun back into Melbourne,'' he said.

 

"So what we did is get industrial-sized Glad Wrap and found random cars and wrapped them up from top to bottom, from back to front.

 

Residents in Clifton Hill, Richmond and East Melbourne received a rude shock this morning when they emerged from their homes to find their cars shrink-wrapped.

 

"We put a little sticker on the Glad Wrap with a pair of scissors - we didn't want to damage any property," Hansel said.

 

"We didn't want to ruin anyone's day and we just wanted everyone to laugh.''

 

Elsewhere this morning, many Melburnians were outraged to hear of new plans to dam the city's Yarra River.

 

But as they rushed to drop children at childcare or school, they may have been relieved to hear of a new Federal Government service where local MPs will now offer child-minding at their electorate offices.

 

April Fools' Day pranksters were out in force across Australia, carrying on a worldwide tradition that dates back centuries.

 

"Each MP's electorate office will today be accepting newborns for a free child minding service. This is another example of Labor's commitment to working families," it says.

 

The ad was taken out by GetUp!, an independent lobby group making a point about Labor's election promise to introduce paid parental leave.

 

A paid parental leave scheme, recommended by the Productivity Commission and being pushed by trade unions and business, is tipped to be a casualty of a tough May budget.

 

"Research shows that paid parental leave is good for babies, good for parents, and good for the economy," GetUp! says on a linked website, where it admits the advertisement is an April Fool's joke.

 

"The Rudd Government made paid parental leave an election commitment and the time to deliver that commitment is this year's federal budget."

 

On ABC radio, Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle announced a plan to dam the Yarra, which he admitted may flood Scotch College but would protect Melbourne's parks by maintaining fresh water levels in the river. Talkback callers responded furiously.

 

Age reader Phil McConnell, of Beaumaris, said he gravely informed his son during breakfast that Ferrari were quitting Formula One racing as a result of the global financial crisis.

 

Mr McConnell, who regularly partakes in April Fool's pranks, strengthened the joke by faking a print-out from the Ferrari website confirming the news.

 

"About 6.30 in the morning he was hurtling down to his computer to find out all about Ferrari,'' Mr McConnell said. ``Of course he couldn't find any.''

 

Mr McConnell said his 12-year-old son was absolutely mortified when he found out the news was a prank and immediately warned his father, "I will get you for this.''

 

Ryan Bigg and his boss in Graceville, Queensland, tried to fool colleagues into thinking their office had went bankrupt by moving all the desks to the backroom and hanging a ``for lease'' sign on the door.

 

The jokers then made their way to the local coffee shop to wait in hiding. The prank, however, was unsuccessful

 

"They didn't believe it,'' Mr Bigg said. "But we had a good laugh after that.''

 

Sydney social worker Dominic Mapstone also enjoyed some April Fool's cheer, when he sent out about 10,000 emails last night saying that the GST rate applied to schoolies accommodation would increase to 40 per cent.

 

To boost his credibility, Mr Mapstone posted the claim on the schoolies web forum this morning, and included quotes from himself indicating how outrageous the tax increase would be.

 

Sticking with tradition and pulling the prank at 12 pm, Mr Mapstone replied to the post with a joyful "Happy April Fools Day!''

 

The Student Youth Network radio station SYN FM announced on their website this morning that they were to rename their station ``Female Youth Network'', or FYN FM, in a hope to gain additional funding.

 

A NSW engineer tried his hand at an April Fools' Day prank by sending out a fake media release that said funeral directors will need to be careful handling the bodies of smokers because it could be carcinogenic to their health.

 

"Any employee who is transporting a deceased who was a tobacco smoker to any extent should be using respiratory protective equipment compliant to Australian Standard(s)," the release said.

 

The spokesman named on the release, Abril Chanza de Tonto, loosely translates from Spanish to April fool joke.

 

"Considering the quality of what goes on in the media, this can't be any worse than some of things that goes on here anyway," said the engineer-cum-prankster, Andrew Fleischer.

 

Among the most famous April Fools' Day hoaxes was the BBC's television report in 1957 of the bumper annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. Many people contacted the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees.

 

In 1998, a British radio presenter pretended to be the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then-South African president Nelson Mandela for a chat. They talked for some minutes before the presenter outed himself when he asked Mandela what he was doing for April Fool's Day.

 

Meanwhile, Victorian Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding was keen to show his sense of humour, issuing an early-morning press release stating that Melbourne would bid to host the Running of the Bulls through its iconic laneways.

 

Mr Holding said the event's regular host, the Spanish town of Pamplona, had monopolised the event for too long and it was time Melbourne ``grabbed the bull by the horns''.

 

The bull analogies continued as Mr Holding said discussions were underway with musical producers to rename the smash hit 'Bully Elliot' during the bull-running event.

 

But a warning - after noon, those playing April Fools' Day pranks become the fool.

 

with AAP

 

[Comfy]

these people too free.. [hur]

[Sony]

guess those people really enjoyed the day and laugh it off..

 

if it happen in s'pore, sure got plenty of people stomp and whines in all avenue..

[Turbine]

sigh... if only us are that open minded....

[Altivo]

nice harmless prank....

[Bigg]

harmless and bo liao. but will never happen in sinkapore

[Cutebeat]

  On 4/6/2009 at 3:01 PM, Bigg said:

harmless and bo liao. but will never happen in sinkapore

 

no way man, here ppl put hand rest on bonnet already kana stared like 'molest his wife' like that man.

trying to pull a prank like this here will definitely land you a big fight.

 

[Bigg]

yes, like i said...no way.

[Sky61]

it would be actually quite difficult to remove the shrink wrap under the chasis(if the guys actually wrap it up and under), and imagine if u start ur engine wif the wrap residual under ur vehicle...it will stick to the exhaust piping..hahaha

[Ghostrider]

This reminds me of a prank that we pull on one of our colleague...

 

Wrap his car up in black strink film and tie a ribbon to it !!