No sheet Sherlock: Cops eventually got through all the paperwork...

Read it and wipe: Cops finally run out of loo roll
December 18th 2006

Police in the Swedish town of Hagfors have finally run out of toilet paper – 20 years after 'somebody' bungled an order and ticked the box for pallets instead of packets.

One day in March 1986 a lorry rolled into town, full to the brim with washroom products. The station chief could only look on in despair as an endless supply of loo roll was dumped from the truck, reports English language Swedish paper, The Local.

"We asked the driver to stop, but he said it would cost a lot of money to return the goods and that he would need it in writing," says current chief, Björn Fredlund. "Nothing was signed and the unloading continued."

Over the years, police from neighbouring districts would drop in for a cup of tea and a roll. And this month, the last sheet met its inevitable end. "There were times when we weren't sure we'd make it," says Fredlund. "We filled 12 garages with it all, as well as all other available space."

So was the '86 roll up to scratch or bog standard by today's expectations? "Oh yes, there was nothing wrong with it. It was single sheet mind you, and double would have been nice. But overall it was fine," says Fredlund.

Soft, strong and long? One out of three's not bad...

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