Summary

  • Live updates from Monday 6 August to Sunday 12 August

  • Click on related stories for updates from your area

  1. Drivers suffer only minor injures in M6 car firepublished at 15:25 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    A car fire on the M6 northbound in Staffordshire has been extinguished, said Highways England.

    Car fireImage source, Highways England
    Car fireImage source, Highways England

    Traffic is still being held after emergency services were called to the scene between J15 and J16 at about 14:15.

    Three vehicles were involved, said the ambulance service, with only minor injuries reported.

  2. Man jailed for life for wife's murderpublished at 15:10 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    A man who admitted the murder of his wife, who was found stabbed to death, has been jailed for life.

    Arthur StonehouseImage source, West Midlands Police

    Tracy Stonehouse, 51, died at an address in Coralin Close, Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, on 6 April.

    A post-mortem examination revealed she had suffered multiple stab wounds and other injuries to her head and neck.

    Arthur Stonehouse, 73, of Coralin Close, pleaded guilty to her murder and at Birmingham Crown Court today was told he would serve a minimum of 13 years and four months in jail.

  3. Your photos: Farmers harvestingpublished at 15:02 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    BBC Weather Watchers

    Farmers are harvesting in Staffordshire and Shropshire, looking at the photos taken by our BBC Weather Watchers.

    These two are from users Monomark in Edgmond and Sue Snaps in Codsall:

    Edgmond, ShropshireImage source, Monomark
    CodsallImage source, Sue Snaps
  4. Villa re-sign United's Tuanzebe on loanpublished at 14:57 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Aston Villa sign Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe on a season-long loan deal.

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  5. Demand for diesel vehicles plummets 24%published at 14:51 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Alec Blackman
    BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

    Demand for diesel-fuelled cars fell by 24%, while demand for hybrids and plug-ins rose by 20%, new figures show.

    Land RoverImage source, Getty Images

    Car sales figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show a steady month for the major manufacturers in the West Midlands.

    Coventry-based Jaguar sold 2,960 cars last month - exactly the same as they did in June last year.

    Just over 6,000 Land Rovers were registered in June this year - down on 6,200 for the same month in 2017.

    Gaydon-based Aston Martin sold 118 cars - up slightly on the same time last year.

  6. Worcestershire secure Ferguson returnpublished at 14:50 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Worcestershire secure the return of record-breaking Australia batsman Callum Ferguson as their overseas player for the 2019 season.

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  7. Cancer services to return to hospitalspublished at 14:40 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    George Makin

    Plans to reinstate cancer treatments at Sandwell and City hospitals have been welcomed by the local council.

    Sandwell CouncilImage source, Google

    An announcement by NHS England, external that it is to commission solid tumour and chemotherapy at the two sites will see a return to locally delivered treatment for nearly 2,000 patients next year.

    In October 2017, a temporary change to services meant patients would receive care from oncologists at the Queen Elizabeth or New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

    More than 1,900 patients had to travel miles for their potentially life-saving procedures and the NHS paid out £50,000 to transport cancer sufferers to their new treatment centres.

    Tipton councillor Bob Lloyd, welcoming the decision, said: “It appears that the options looking forward will roughly mirror what we had before on the two sites."

  8. Vehicle fire closes part of M6published at 14:29 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    BBC News Travel

    Traffic is being held on the M6 northbound in Staffordshire for emergency services to deal with a vehicle on fire.

    The incident happened between junctions 15 and 16.

    Drivers are also being warned of smoke billowing across the road to the southbound carriageway, where one lane has been closed.

  9. Fans applaud historic safe-standing movepublished at 14:00 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Nick Southall
    Journalist, BBC Shropshire

    Fans of Shrewsbury Town have given the thumbs-up to the club's new safe-standing zone, which made its debut on Saturday.

    Fans using the safe-seating area

    It became the first club in England to introduce the rail seats which were installed in the south stand over the summer.

    Supporters told BBC Shropshire after the match that they feel the safe-standing added to a "great atmosphere" and that others will follow the trail blazed by the club., external

  10. Report favours upgrading railway stationpublished at 13:49 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    David Irwin

    Moving Solihull Railway Station to a new location would be “problematic and expensive”, likely to cost at least twice the amount of revamping the current site, a report concludes.

    Solihull Station

    The report, due to be considered by borough councillors, external later this week, recommends ruling out the option of building a new station at Monkspath Hall Road.

    The document predicts that developing the brand new stop would cost more than £40m, double the £20m that is thought to be needed to upgrade the ageing facilities at the existing site.

    The challenges of acquiring land, question marks about flooding risk and concerns that the new location would be less accessible for the majority of commuters also weigh against the more radical proposal, according to officers.

  11. Tributes grow for midwife Samantha Eastwoodpublished at 13:39 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Sarah Robertson
    Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

    More tributes at the hospital

    Floral tributes are continuing to be left outside the Royal Stoke University Hospital this morning, following the death of 28-year-old midwife Samantha Eastwood.

    One message thanks her for her "service to the NHS" and that people are thinking of her family at "this heartbreaking time".

    Tributes to Samantha Eastwood outside The Royal Stoke Hospital

    Her body was found near Caverswall, Staffordshire, on Saturday, eight days after she was reported missing.

    Michael Stirling, 32, of Gratton Road, Bucknall, appeared in court this morning charged with her murder.

  12. Gas pipe replacement to take seven monthspublished at 13:16 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Major gas works starting today in Wolverhampton will mean almost seven months of disruption in the city.

    Gas pipesImage source, Cadent

    Gas company Cadent is set to replace 1.5km of pipes in Worcester Street, as part of the wider £65m project across the West Midlands.

    The seven phases of work will mean road closures, temporary traffic lights and diversions for about 30 weeks, said the company.

    Quote Message

    We appreciate that this is a busy route. We've planned the project so that the work starts during the summer school holidays when there is less traffic on the roads. However, we would still advise motorists to leave extra time for their journeys, particularly at morning and evening peak times."

    Steve Murray, Cadent

  13. Woman dies in horse-drawn carriage crashpublished at 13:10 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    The 60-year-old victim was airlifted to hospital but could not be saved.

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  14. New mascot is man dressed as boilerpublished at 13:09 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    A football club's sponsorship deal has created the "absolute belter" of a mascot.

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  15. Tribute to boy who died after sea rescuepublished at 13:00 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Sixteen-year-old Blake Ward was a "wonderful young man" his head teacher said.

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  16. Safety fears over multi-storey car parkpublished at 12:56 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    A multi-storey car park's been closed due to safety concerns , externalover how "structurally sound" it is.

    Cannock multi-storey car parkImage source, Google

    Cannock Chase Council says developer St. Modwen, which runs the town centre site, is shutting it so engineers can carry out more investigations.

    It says the car park needs extensive repairs before it can be reopened.

  17. New providers found for final Carillion contractspublished at 12:45 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    The last contracts provided by collapsed construction giant Carillion have now been signed over to new organisations, the Official Receiver says., external

    Carillion workerImage source, PA

    The Wolverhampton-based company was liquidated with debts of £1.5bn in January and, at that time, the firm had about 420 UK public sector contracts.

    Today, the Official Receiver says with the contracts transferred, they'll now be working on providing services for some Carillion suppliers and trying to make sure payments are made to suppliers who provided goods and services during the liquidation.

    Their figures show 13,945 jobs have been saved since the bankruptcy, 76% of the workforce before the collapse, with 2,787 redundancies while 1,272 have left the business.

  18. Shrewsbury pair set for Championship movepublished at 12:36 British Summer Time 6 August 2018

    James Bond
    Sports Producer, BBC Shropshire

    Shrewsbury Town's Jon Nolan (pictured) and Toto Nsiala are at Ipswich, discussing personal terms with the Championship club and having medicals.

    Jon NolanImage source, Getty Images

    They're expected to sign within the next 24 hours for a fee thought to be around £2m for both of them.

    The pair handed in transfer requests to Shrewsbury last week after the League One club rejected a joint-bid for the pair.