A Bloxwich man, hailed a hero for stopping an out-of-control bus when the driver suffered a cardiac arrest, has been describing how he chased the vehicle he thought had been stolen, down Darlaston Road in Wednesbury.

"He hit me, then just ploughed into two vans and still carried on", Gary Walsh said, "so I shot down the road and got in front of him to try and stop him."

"At the time didn't know what was going on, we thought someone had pinched the actual bus and was going on a bit of a rampage

"We got out to have a go at him, but then we saw he was slumped against the window, so we knew something must have happened to him."

Walsh and his colleague managed to prise the doors off the bus, and release the driver from his cab, before police officers arrived and started giving CPR.

The driver is believed to be still in a critical condition in hospital.

Security is being stepped up at the Civic and Wulfrun Halls in Wolverhampton when the venues reopen later today, following a summer of refurbishment.

Measures being introduced include road closures around the halls on show nights and additional security cordons.

The council has taken the decision as a result of the threat level for terrorism in the UK being currently at severe.

The expansion of Worcester's Carrington Bridge is "fantastic news" for the area, the leader of Worcestershire County Council has said.

Simon Geraghty said the road, which will be expanded to four lanes, has been a "really congested route".

Image source, Worcestershire County Council

The government agreed yesterday to put £54m towards the £70m road-widening project, which is due to be complete by 2021.

Alcester Food Festival, which was due to take place in the Warwickshire town tomorrow, has been cancelled.

Image source, Google

Organisers say they took the decision on safety grounds, with a yellow warning for wind issued.

Gusts of 40-50mph are expected as the effects of Storm Brian are felt.

Worcester News

Three of the headlines in the Worcester News today:

• Teenager stopped for stealing 90p energy bar was carrying knife, external

• Vicar buries rough sleeper, external
• German-style beer festival visits Worcester, external

Waitrose has abandoned plans for a supermarket in Shrewsbury, blaming "challenging market conditions".

It received planning permission to build the store on Oteley Road four years ago, on land created by the redevelopment of the Percy Thrower's garden centre, but had held back while it waited to see if a rival Lidl store got planning permission on land owned by Shrewsbury Town football club.

Image source, Getty Images

Waitrose said at the time that the area couldn't support both stores and in making the announcement this morning, it said "we would not wish to develop a store which was not sustainable and would put at risk the jobs of those local people we had hoped to employ in the future".

Wolverhampton has the worst rate of obesity in young children in the country, according to new figures.

Data published by Public Health England, external shows 13.5% of reception age children in Wolverhampton were classed as obese in 2016-17, compared with 4.8% in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Image source, Getty Images

Walsall and Sandwell were also not far behind with 12.6% and 12.1% respectively.

Solihull, Stratford and Shropshire had among the lowest figures in the region.

The Birmingham City manager Steve Cotterill says although he's pleased with how receptive the players are being to him so far, it will take a long time yet before he puts his stamp fully on the club.

Image source, Getty Images

Cotterill led Blues to victory over Cardiff in his first game in charge last week, and now looks ahead to a visit to Millwall tomorrow.

He says although progress is being made, it takes time for a manager to fully get his message across at a new club.

A Worcester brewer, who has been selling his beer to pubs across the city for the past three years, has opened his own pub.

As well as allowing Robin Wintrip to serve Three Shires beers direct to the public, The Old Basin Brew House on Copenhagen street will be accepting suggestions for future brews.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Wintrip admitted he didn't know what the reaction would be, but says he's been pleased with the early response from customers.

An event to remember Reagan, who died after being stabbed in the neck, is to be held on Saturday.

Almost 4,000 staff and community support officers working for West Midlands police are to receive the same pay rise as officers received from the government last month.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has assured staff they'll get an extra 1% on top of the planned 1% increase.

The rise will come out of existing budgets and to pay for it he plans to increase council tax contribution next year by £5.

Severn Valley Railway, external has just days to raise the £500,000 to meet the cost of revamping its Bridnorth station.

Last November it launched a £2.5m appeal by offering people the chance to buy £1 shares.

Today it announced the £2m mark had been reached, with the 31 October deadline looming.

Image source, Severn Valley Railway

The money will be used to pay for alterations to the station house, which include a new bar and toilet block.

Work on the project started at the end of last year.

Stephanie Barnard
BBC News

More than 40 firefighters have been tackling a blaze at a derelict factory in Erdington.

The blaze at a single-storey building on Edgemond Avenue started at about 20:30 on Thursday.

Local residents were advised to keep windows closed.

At its height, eight pumps attended the blaze.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

A spokeswoman for the fire service tells me there were no injuries and a crew remains at the scene damping down.

Investigations are now under way into how the blaze started but it's not believed to be suspicious.

A councillor in Solihull has called for an urgent update on two of his colleagues who've been suspended over controversial "anti-Muslim" reposts on social media.

Image source, Solihull Council

At a meeting last week the council passed a motion condemning any form of discrimination.

Liberal Democrat councillor Ade Adeyemo says Conservative councillors Jeff Potts and Margaret Bassett should be disciplined as soon as possible.

Solihull Council says an investigation into their conduct is ongoing.

Telford and Wrekin council has condemned the hike in hospital car park charges as a "tax on visiting the sick".

Councillors are calling on the increases to be withdrawn immediately.

From next month, charges to park at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals will increase.

A 24-hour ticket will rise from £3.50 to £8.

The trust says its car park charges are still among the lowest in the country and those on benefits or receiving long-term treatment will be able to park at a reduced rate or recoup the cost of parking.

The scope of inquests into the 21 deaths people in 1974 bombings could be widened, according to a law firm.

A temporary flood barrier is to be installed in Stratford-upon-Avon next month as the Environment Agency runs a major flood defence exercise., external

Image source, Environment Agency

Waterside in the town will be closed to traffic on Tuesday 7 November and pedestrians will be unable to walk along the areas immediately in front of and behind the barrier between the Encore Pub and the junction of Waterside and Chapel Lane.

BBC Newsbeat

A 12-year-old boy from Wednesbury has been chosen as one of BBC Radio 1's teen heroes.

Harrison Wright was told by school nurses he was obese - he turned his life around through diet and exercise, documenting his journey on social media.

He now inspires other children, working with caterers at his school to make sure others are eating healthily.

Roads in and around Coventry and Birmingham are to be used to test the next generation of self-driving cars.

Image source, University of Warwick

A £25m government grant will be used to install the equipment needed to monitor a new generation of robot cars as they navigate ordinary streets in the Midlands.

About 50 miles (80km) of urban roads are to be used in the scheme led by Warwick Manufacturing Group, which is based at the University of Warwick.

More than 12,000 vehicles have been seized by West Midlands Police in the last 12 months as part of a crackdown on uninsured and unlicensed drivers.

The figures have been released as the force steps up its campaign.

The region is a hotspot for uninsured drivers with 12 of its postcodes ranked in the top 20 areas in the UK.

Drivers caught driving without insurance face prosecution and their vehicle being scrapped or sold off.