Oxdown was said to be in shock today after journalism training chiefs revealed the fictional town may be abolished in a shakeup of age-old news qualifications.

The town appeared in countless newswriting examinations as the scene of a succession of accidents and bizarre incidents, ranking it as almost as unlucky as the county of Midsomer.

For decades, budding hacks have had to piece together a 200-word, six paragraph story on a breaking story, information cribbed from a set of badly photocopied sheets, under examination conditions. But now Oxdown and its population of 130,000 looks set for the chop because senior figures at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) think it is “outdated”.

“I think most people agree that the days of the Oxdown ambulance chasers are long since gone,” said David Gledhill, chair of the NCTJ’s newspaper journalism board. “We need to show everyone, readers and editors alike, that we are professionals, trained to an exacting professional standard,” he added, to disbelieving stares.

So-called internet “blogger” Neil McIntosh added: “I remember sitting my NCTJ tests, battering out copy on a not-very-trusty Boots typewriter. It was 1993, and I couldn’t work out why we weren’t allowed to use word processors. The bloody tests seemed anachronistic, even then.”

But journalism lecturer Douglas Middleton added: “I’m marking you down for that f**king disgraceful intro”.

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « Wikis won’t work
• » Quote of the day

• BROWSE / IN Press & publishing
• « Paper rituals
• » Guardian names the day