The excitement of seeing the Olympic torch travel through Barnet was marred by the news in August that a young boy had been hit by a car as he went to watch the celebrations.

The nine-year-old was rushed to Barnet Hospital for treatment with a suspected broken leg and a gash to the head, but fortunately made a full recovery.

After months of rain, Whetstone High Street was brought to a standstill when a large underground water pipe burst, leaving engineers to dig a huge hole in the middle of the road to fix the problem.

Barnet Council announced plans to introduce charges for blue disabled parking badges, leading one charity director to claim the authority was treating people with disabilities “like second class citizens”.

Meanwhile, an Edgware couple described their “year of hell” when a neighbours' dispute over the positioning of their wheelie bin ended in a £21,000 court case.

Olympic fever peaked in Barnet when Finchley boxer Anthony Joshua sealed gold in the men’s super-heavyweight division.

And as the games drew to a close, so began the build up to the Paralympic Games, with a torch relay that passed through part of the borough in the early hours of the morning.