Dani Bailey
BBC Local Live

I don't know about you but if my neighbour lost their snake - for three months - I'd be a bit on edge. Especially if it was found underneath my washing machine.

That's exactly what happened in Leighton Buzzard.

Image source, RSPCA

The RSPCA were called when a 3ft (0.9m) corn snake was found poking out from under a man's washing machine last week.

After a bit of wiggling around, officers managed to capture the snake and find out where the owner lived - just a few doors down.

The snake, Jemima, went missing at Easter and owner Colin Millar said he'd almost "given up on ever finding her".

Geoff Doyle
BBC Three Counties Radio sport

Local knowledge seems to be helping Woburn Golf Club pro Sam Whitehead.

He leads the Open Final Qualifying with -5 at his own course.

All closures on the A41 Aston Clinton bypass have now been lifted.

The road was closed in both directions following a van fire involving gas cylinders just before midnight.

Geoff Doyle
BBC Three Counties Radio sport

I'm at Woburn Golf Club for the Open Final Qualifying today.

Three qualifying places are available into the 145th Open at Royal Troon. 

Plenty of local players are in action on the Marquess' course and Woburn club pro Sam Whitehead currently leads on -5.

BBC Travel

The A41 Aston Clinton bypass is now open northbound but there are delays, police say.

The southbound carriageway remains closed from Tring Road roundabout and Pitstone - there is a diversion in place through Weston Turville.

A 95-year-old man has died after a collision in Chalfont St Peter yesterday evening.

Image source, Google

The elderly man was walking along Lower Road, near the junction with Grange Road, at about 17:00 when a black Vauxhall Astra collided with him.

The man died at the scene. The man, 38, driving the car was not injured.

Police are investigating and ask for any witnesses to come forward.

A man was left in the care of paramedics following the vehicle fire on the A41 Aston Clinton bypass late last night.

At 23:45, the fire service extinguished the van fire and erected a 200m cordon due to acetylene cylinders being involved.

The road remains closed, between Icknield Way and London Road, and is expected to be for the remainder of the day.

BBC Travel

The A41 Aston Clinton bypass closure between Icknield Way and London Road is causing congestion in Tring.

Nicola Haseler
BBC Three Counties

A woman who had a child with PC Simon Salway, who was jailed for having sex with vulnerable women he met through his work, said she was assured Hertfordshire Police would look into a complaint she made about him.

Lorraine Tate, 42, who has now waived her right to anonymity, met Salway in 2007 after she was a witness to a crime and was being threatened.  

They had a six-week relationship which she ended when she discovered he was married and before she knew she was pregnant.

She made a complaint to the force in 2008 as Salway had been seeing her on police time. She said she was assured they would look into it but had no further correspondence from them.

Salway continued having sex with women he met on duty until 2014.

Ms Tate says if Herts Police had stopped Salway in 2007, he might no longer have been a police officer.

Nicola Haseler
BBC Three Counties

PC Simon Salway was convicted in December of six charges of misconduct in a public office in relation to five women. He was acquitted of a seventh misconduct charge involving another woman.

He was jailed for three years in January.

Image source, SBNA

During his trial at Luton Crown Court, the jury heard Salway, who was based at Hatfield Police Station, had "wilfully abused" his position over a sustained period of time.

Some of the women he pursued were the victims of domestic violence at the hands of abusive partners, the court heard.

Nicola Haseler
BBC Three Counties

A former Hertfordshire police officer who was jailed for having sex with vulnerable women he met through his work could have been stopped years earlier, one of his victims has claimed. 

Image source, SBNA

PC Simon Salway, 39, who was based at Hatfield, targeted the women after they had contacted the police for help. 

The force is not commenting, but Lorraine Tate says she complained officially about him in 2008 before he went on to take advantage of other vulnerable women.

Kate Kinsella
BBC Look East weather

This morning will start off on a bright note, with early morning spells of sunshine across the county. However, cloud will build through the day, with outbreaks of rain by mid afternoon. 

Maximum temperature: 19C (66F)

BBC Travel

The A41 Aston Clinton bypass is closed in both directions due to an earlier van fire between the Crows Nest roundabout (Icknield Way) and the Woodlands roundabout (London Road).

Police say the road could be closed for the majority of the day, as it was a van carrying gas cylinders that caught fire and the cylinders may need to be left to cool down.

HS2 has welcomed the report by the National Audit Office "and its confirmation that, whilst many challenges remain, the project is on track to deliver its strategic scope and to do so on budget".

"This report [challenges us] and we accept that challenge. It also, however, recognises the real progress we have made in taking the concept of HS2 and moving it nearer reality," said the chief executive of HS2, Simon Kirby.

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill said: "HS2 is on track and the National Audit Office agrees. We have strong cross party support and are on schedule to gain the powers needed to start building HS2, which the NAO acknowledges is a significant achievement."

"HS2 is a large, complex and ambitious programme which is facing cost and time pressures," said Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office.

"The unrealistic timetable set for HS2 Ltd by the Department [for Transport] means they are not as ready to deliver as they hoped to be at this point.

"The department now needs to get the project working to a timescale that is achievable."

Image source, Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The National Audit Office said phase one of HS2 was currently forecast to cost £27.4bn, exceeding available funding by £204m. The second phase was also over budget.

The high-speed rail link HS2, that is due to be opened in Buckinghamshire by 2026, may be delayed unless it can make savings of £9bn.

Rebecca Shearan, from the National Audit Office, said that "work done by the department HS2 Ltd, and led by a cabinet office review" has identified potential savings of £9bn.

"HS2 Ltd have been asked to incorporate these potential savings into it's next cost estimate so we need to see how they work through the savings potentials that they've identified," Ms Shearan said.

Richard Westcott
Transport correspondent

The NAO report was written before the Brexit vote, so it doesn't speculate on what effect, if any, it could have on HS2.

Still, this behemoth of a project involving £56bn of public money would appear to be safe, for now.

The Department for Transport's very keen to send out a "business as usual" message, promising that planned investment in our roads and railways won't suffer.

MPs are due to vote on phase one of HS2 later this year. If they approve the bill, that's effectively the green light to start building the line from London to Birmingham. And MPs approved the project overwhelmingly the last time they had a vote.

The company building the line, HS2 Limited, is also about to hand out £11bn worth of contracts in the next couple of months. The winning companies can't begin building work until the HS2 bill has royal assent, due by the end of the year, but they will be looking to recruit, hire vehicles, get plans in place.

Having said all of that, who'd be brave enough to predict anything right now?

Simon Oxley
BBC Three Counties Radio

Spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has said that the proposed new £56b high-speed rail link, HS2, is under financial strain and may have to be delayed. 

The first phase through Buckinghamshire is due to open in 2026. 

Image source, Other

HS2 Limited, and the government insist the line will open on time and on budget.  

The project cleared its final Commons stage in March and is now being considered by the House of Lords.  

Dani Bailey
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome to today's live page for the three counties.

We'll be bringing you the latest on the closure of the A41 Aston Clinton bypass.

There will also be news about the financial strain and possible delay of HS2 in Buckinghamshire.