Related article: As the story appeared on the News & Star website

There is always a sense of excitement when you are covering an election count, I mean I even got a photo of Sunderland MP Chris Mullins holding a clock showing the time 10.50pm to show he was the first Labour MP who was the first MP elected during Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide. For the record Sunderland always returned the first MP in a general election because they used bank staff who were used to counting cash quickly and bank notes are very similar to voting slips after all.

Having said that I did find Thursday’s police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) count in Whitehaven a tad frustrating but let’s go back to the beginning shall we?

I started my shift at 9am on Thursday because I wanted to get a couple of articles filed before attending the count. I put them into the system and then started preparing for the count.

I was reliably informed that the main count, which was organised by Cumberland Council, would declare the results of Thursday’s election of the PFCC between 1am and 2am on Friday morning so I optimistically headed down to the Whitehaven Sports Centre shortly after 9pm fully expecting an early finish.

It was bizarre that every time the returning officer moved I thought he was going to make an announcement but to no avail but we later learned that the count in Kendal was delayed for some unexplained reason.

Having said that it was good to catch up with fellow journalists who I had not seen in a while. And it was also good to meet the candidates and their supporters who I usually met during my day job as a local democracy reporter.

We were given strict instructions not to photograph any of the ballot slips in case it gave away the end result (yes after many years covering elections I have never understood how a single voting slip would give it away) and there was an area which was classed as “sterile” which we were not allowed to enter as that would also interfere with the integrity of the poll.

Having said that we were well looked after by Cumberland Council’s officers, who were coordinating the count, and there were some lovely biscuits.

As time ticked by I could see the rising frustration among my fellow reporters but there was nothing we could do about the continued delay.

When they started clearing up the counting area, as well as the repeated movement of the returning officer, I was convinced that the results were imminent but I was repeatedly disappointed as there was no announcement. But eventually the returning officer called all the candidates into a huddle and we were praying that there would be no call for a recount at around 4am yesterday (Friday, May 3).

It turned out that the Labour candidate, David Allen who was himself a former police officer who served at the highest level, was victorious and he praised the other candidates for what he described had been a “clean and fair fight”.

Having said that the Conservative candidate, Mike Johnson who was the previous PFCC’s deputy, did not hang about after he found out he had lost the contest and left the building just like Elvis. For the record I had offered him the opportunity to comment on the campaign and how it went but he was pressured into silence by his supporters. Reading between the lines I felt that he felt his succession was a given but the people felt otherwise.

Having said that I managed to get comments from Adrian Waite, the Lib Dem candidate who was gracious in defeat, as well as Mr Allen who thanked all who had supported him during the campaign.

I was able to leave the centre around 4.20am and arrived back in Carlisle after 5am. I managed to file a short piece announcing the result just before 6am and managed to get my head down for some much deserved kip around 6am after an unexpected 21 hour shift.

Having said that there was a rude awakening around 6.20am when I heard screaming outside my block of flats. Feeling disgruntled I looked out of the window to see some disorientated yoof with wobbly legs who was obviously under the influence of some substance and my guess is the drug known locally as Spice. But I am not sure what his problem was.

However I did manage to get a few hours sleep before I had a second rude awakening when a mate rang me just after 10am yesterday to see if I was okay. Having said that I felt okay to start work on a longer version of the results article.

For the record I know there is legislation covering the time between shifts but I wanted to get the report out there and I know it was a one off and not something I will be expected to repeat until maybe the General Election count which could be any time this year.

I had a late start but needless to say I had taken a load of photos and video footage during the assignment and it took an age to edit them but in comparison turning around the copy was relatively straightforward. Having said that I was able to file the package by around 4pm and enjoy a well deserved early finish. And I did crash out around 10pm last night.

And I was quite pleased today when the story made the front page splash of the News & Star.

Now I say to the younger generation, who may be used to a 9 to 5 mentality regarding the job, they may be surprised at that expectation of working above and beyond the expected hours, but sometimes you may be expected to go beyond the call of duty. But that is the nature of news because it does not happen during regular office hours. And sometimes you just have to go the extra mile to get the story.