Controversial plans to extend the Premiership season are "dead in the water" according to players' union chief Damian Hopley.

A partnership involving a Coventry firm has won a £3.2m grant to develop driverless buses.

Aurrigo says its 10-15 seater vehicles should be carrying passengers from 2020 and it plans to carry out trials in Cambridgeshire in April 2019.

The money has come from the government's Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and six prototype vehicles will be built initially.

Aurrigo says it has already started recruiting for the project, with up to ten jobs being created to manage the project in Cambridge and on its production line in Coventry.

Read more about Coventry's drive to remain the UK's motor city.

The Evesham-based farming retailer employs more than 700 staff and says it has an uncertain future.

Hereford Times

These are three of the stories in the Hereford Times today:

• First view of Hereford's planned GP 'super surgery', external
• Head teacher confident Aylestone School can improve, external
• County fruit farmer granted Freedom Of the City Of London, external

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Work's started to clear hundreds of tonnes of waste from a site in Stoke-on-Trent, more than a year after an arson attack resulted in a major fire.

Image source, Anna Thomas

The Environment Agency says the landowner of the former Hanbury Plastics site, in Redhills Lane, Milton, is paying for it be cleared.

The agency says there were 1,500 tonnes of waste on site when fire broke out last February.

They say they and the city council are still looking to take action against the people who dumped the waste at the site.

Image source, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Countrywide Farmers has gone into administration with KPMG saying it is looking for a buyer for all or part of the business.

The Evesham-based retailer employs 735 people and has 48 retail stores supplying a range of farming, equestrian, harvesting and agricultural goods.

Image source, Google

KPMG said no "initial redundancies" had been made.

The administrators said the company had also identified a purchaser for the retail business, but the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) referred the process to an in-depth investigation.

David Wagstaff was on a hands-free call when his lorry hit a minibus, killing eight people.

BBC Midlands Today

There are still parts of Herefordshire and Shropshire where last week's snow is being cleared.

And many roads are developing new potholes, caused by the rapid thaw.

The Met Office has now issued another yellow warning of snow and ice, external, which is likely to affect large parts of the West Midlands overnight.

Former Home Office and justice minister Sir Mike Penning has called on the government to allow a six-year-old boy to be given cannabis to treat his rare form of epilepsy.

He said he thought it should be possible to find a way to allow patients to get relief from the drug "legally and safely" while restricting its recreational use.

Image source, Maggie Deacon/PA Wire

The parents of Alfie Dingley, from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, want the government to let him use cannabis oil, a banned substance in the UK, to help with his symptoms.

An investigation between the police and the Health and Safety Executive has been launched, after a man died following a fall at a retail park in South Gloucestershire.

The 78-year-old man, from Birmingham, who was working on the refurbishment of a retail unit at Centaurus Business Park in Patchway, fell 15ft from scaffolding on Monday morning (March 5).

He was taken to Southmead Hospital but sadly died from his injuries.

Detective Inspector Dave Lewis said: “This is a tragic incident in which a man fell from scaffolding while fitting a large glass window. His family have been informed and are being supported at this very difficult time."

A woman in her 40s been attacked in a Redditch alleyway by a man smelling of alcohol, West Mercia Police has said.

She said she was grabbed by the back of the neck as she walked behind buildings at the junction of Birchfield Road and Mason Road, but managed to push him away and run off.

Image source, Google

The police are calling the attack, which took place yesterday, between 19:45 and 20:13, a "traumatic ordeal for the victim".

Stuart Lymer and a teenage girl were taken to hospital following the incident in Perth.

The HuffPost website is looking to recruit a journalist to work in Birmingham, saying it wants to report "beyond the London media bubble".

It went on to say this would not be a "local reporter" but a "national reporter based outside the capital".

The news site went on to say "we will be doubling down on our efforts to become a truly national news organisation, starting with this appointment in Birmingham."

BBC Business News

Households in the West Midlands are going to get the biggest slice of £50m from the government, in the form of Cold Weather Payments.

The total is the largest weekly sum for five years and means about two million UK households will receive £25 each, following last week's cold snap.

Image source, Getty Images

Residents in this region will get £8m out of the total, followed by £7m for homes in Yorkshire and Humberside.

To qualify, householders have to be claiming one of five benefits.

The temperature in your postcode area also needs to have remained at, or below zero, for seven days running.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A man from Staffordshire's appeared in court in Scotland after he and a 17-year-old girl were left seriously injured during an incident inside a police vehicle.

Image source, Google

Stuart Lymer, from Uttoxeter, and the teenager were arrested and taken to hospital after the incident on Monday in Perth.

The 45-year-old was charged with possessing a blade or object with a point in a public place when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court today.

He didn't enter a plea and was remanded in custody. The 17-year-old is still thought to be in hospital.

The Environment Agency came to the aid of an old mill near the River Frome, in Herefordshire last night, to protect it from flooding.

It said it used sandbags and pumps to keep the water away from the building, which is near the confluence with the River Lugg.

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

Dave Throup, from the Environment Agency, said levels on the Frome were high yesterday after recent rain and snow and in places only just below the levels seen in the 2007 floods.

He went on to say that while it caused some disruption to travel, no other properties were affected and two flood warnings for the area had since been withdrawn.

University Hospital Coventry "remains safe", the NHS Trust running it has said this afternoon.

Firefighters are working to discover the cause of a fire near the maternity unit this morning, but the hospital said its "robust fire safety procedures" had "proved to be effective".

Image source, Google

West Midlands Fire Service says the fire appears to have started in a flue leading from a boiler and a number or wards had to be evacuated.

The fire service said it was initially alerted at 08:22 by a fire alarm.

The widow of a minibus driver killed along with seven of his passengers has spoken of her grief.

Sarbjit Kaur was found dead at her home in Wolverhampton last month.

Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City's assistant manager Stuart Taylor says striker Peter Crouch can help them get the goals to stay in the Premier League.

He was brought on after Mame Diouf picked up a shoulder injury against Southampton on Saturday and could now be given the responsibility to head Stoke's attack for the foreseeable future.

Image source, Getty Images

With nine games left this season, Stoke are in 19th place, but just one point away from safety,