Jessica Labhart
BBC News

I arrived at the Wolverhampton site just before 05:30 as a shift change started.

Most of the workers I’ve spoken to didn’t want to give their names, with several saying they’d been told nothing official yet about company job losses. Thousands are expected to be announced later.

One employee, cycling into work, said: “The atmosphere is fine, things are picking up and there’s a sense it will get better.”

A woman who works in the canteen said she had only heard about job losses on the news this morning.

A robot programmer, a subcontractor on site, told me: “We did hear about possible job losses.

“I mean, it may be that the subcontracted companies themselves lose their contracts with JLR over this, but… it won't necessarily matter to me because they'll just send me somewhere else to work."

Investigators from the police and fire service say they expect to remain at the scene of a fatal house fire in Stoke-on-Trent for the rest of the day.

One man died and three people were taken to hospital after the blaze which was confined to one room in a three-storey house converted into flats.

Another seven were treated at the scene on London Road for the effects of breathing in smoke.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said its investigators would work with occupants and try to reassure neighbours.

It's expected the UK will bear the brunt of Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) multi billion-pound cost-cutting plan, as it has recently been increasing headcount elsewhere in the world.

The car manufacturing giant is expected today to announce a cut of 5,000 jobs from its 40,000-strong UK workforce as part of a scheme designed to save £2.5bn.

Here's a quick overview of its domestic and international operations:

In China it has hired 4,000 workers since 2014.

Recently, JLR announced it would move all production of the Land Rover Discovery to a new plant in Slovakia, with plans to hire up to 3,000 workers.

Unions are keen to examine whether JLR's international plants will continue to see additional investment at the expense of the UK, BBC Business reports.

Amid Brexit uncertainty, it says unions are also concerned the company is permanently reducing its UK production capacity in the face of what could prove to be short-term headwinds.

Crews have been scaled down at the scene of a factory fire in Wolverhampton.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

At its height, 50 firefighters were tackling the blaze at a factory on Lanesfield Drive, said the fire service.

Nearby Spring Road remains closed in both directions between A4123 Birmingham New Road and Lanesfield Drive.

About 30 dead pigeons, pheasants and ducks have been dumped on public land in Stoke-on-Trent.

The RSPCA said they were discovered on Janson Street on Monday; some with their heads and other body parts removed.

An investigation is under way.

Peter Wilson
BBC Midlands Today Special Correspondent

An inquest has opened into the death of a 31-year-old man shot by an armed officer at a house in Coventry last Friday.

Image source, Other

Police executed a warrant during an "intelligence-led" operation at an address in Burnaby Road, Coventry; shooting Sean Fitzgerald.

The Inquest was opened by the senior coroner for Coventry and Warwickshire, Sean McGovern.

A group of more than a dozen of Mr Fitzgerald's friends and family attended the five-minute hearing.

The Coroner gave his condolences to the family and said that the inquest was closed until the investigation into the decisions made by a firearms officer - and the intelligence preceding the police raid - was concluded.

The Inquest is set to reopen in six months' time.

A new all-year-round family pool is being planned in Kenilworth, a council says.

A man has died after a house fire in Stoke-on-Trent, with ten other people checked over by paramedics.

Crews were called to London Road at about 23:00 on Wednesday. An ambulance service spokesperson said: "Sadly it quickly became apparent that nothing could be done to save one occupant."

Two women and a man suffered minor injuries which required further treatment at Royal Stoke University Hospital.

The other seven were discharged at the scene.

None of the 27 suspected migrants found in the back of a lorry on the M6 near Stoke-on-Trent yesterday required hospital treatment, said the ambulance service.

Paramedics, an emergency doctor and two ambulance crews were called to assist police on the northbound carriageway between junctions 15 and 16 at about 17:45.

The ambulance service said those found in the wagon were in a stable condition and discharged at the scene and left in the care of the police.

A 42-year-old man continues to be questioned after being arrested on suspicion of "facilitating the illegal entry" of people into the UK.

Councillors have voted to close a town's outdoor pool despite "overwhelming" public support for the 123-year-old fixture.

Image source, Warwick District Council

At a meeting on Wednesday, members of Warwick District Council agreed that Kenilworth's lido - at Abbey Fields leisure centre - would be replaced by a new training pool beside the site's existing inside pool.

Michael Coker, in charge of leisure facilities at the council, said the "difficult decision" was taken for the "whole community", and that the new centre would allow swimming lessons to be carried out.

More than 50 firefighters have been dealing with a large blaze at an industrial unit in Wolverhampton overnight.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

West Midlands Fire Service says the blaze on Lanesfield Drive was so severe that two hydraulic platforms had to be used.

Residents in the area were advised to keep their windows closed due to smoke.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

The incident is still ongoing, but crews are being scaled down.

Plans are in place to allow businesses to open, the fire service says.

The 5,000 job losses expected to be announced by Jaguar Land Rover later, come on top of cuts made last year.

At Halewood in Merseyside, 180 agency staff were cut; and in Castle Bromwich, 1,000 employees were put on a three-day week for the last three months of 2018. In Solihull, 1,000 agency workers were laid off in 2017.

Image source, Getty Images

In terms of where in the business JLR will cut jobs, Professor David Bailey at Aston Business School said: "I hope we don't see any further job cuts in terms of production. We have already seen those and that could affect future capacity if they go down that line."

However, he points out that while JLR wants to cut costs by £2.5bn, it is also continuing to invest, including some £4bn in 2018.

According to BBC Business, management, marketing and administrative roles are expected to be hardest hit, but some production staff may also be affected.

A lorry driver continues to be questioned after police stopped a vehicle on the M6 near Stoke-on-Trent yesterday and found 27 suspected migrants in the back.

Staffordshire Police arrested the man, 42, on suspicion of "facilitating the illegal entry" of people into the UK.

Officers acted after receiving reports expressing concerns for the welfare of those in the wagon, the force said.

Part of the motorway was closed from about 16:00 - causing lengthy tailbacks - as police searched vehicles near Keele services.

BBC News Travel

There's four miles of queuing traffic on the M6 northbound in Warwickshire after a crash at J2.

Jaguar Land Rover, which employs around 44,000 people in the UK, is expected to make a job cuts announcement this afternoon.

About 5,000 jobs are set to be lost.

Image source, Getty Images

According to Professor David Bailey at the Aston Business School in Birmingham, the reason the company, which has sites around the Midlands, is slashing costs is because it has had "three big shocks over the last year and a half".

"Firstly, Brexit has slowed the UK market down," he told BBC Radio 4 Today's programme. "Secondly, a huge shift away from diesel is taking place across Europe which has impacted on them. On top of that, the biggest shock has been the downturn to the Chinese car market, that's down 6% last year.

"In their case, towards the latter part of last year, sales were down as much as 50% for Jaguar Land Rover. That's important because they generated so much profit in China previously."

Burton Albion fans have been reliving the misery of being stuck in traffic en route to one of the biggest games in the club's history.

Hundreds of Brewers fans were stuck for hours on the M6 on the way to the Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

Image source, PA

Alistair Greenbank, who was driving from Lichfield to meet his wife at City's Etihad Stadium, said he reached the ground at about 22:10. Kick-off was 19:45.

"I was getting these pictures of the empty seats next to her", he said. "You just had to sit [in traffic], there was nothing more you could do."

Andrew Heartshorn, also travelling from Lichfield, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Basically we crawled and crawled before coming to a standstill.

"You were just looking at the sat-nav predicting what time you were going to arrive, and I could see it all slipping away."

All in all it wasn't a great night to be a Burton fan, as the team suffered a 9-0 defeat.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

After a cold start, with spells of sunshine, it will be a mostly cloudy day with rain at times and highs of 6C (43F).

Vanessa Pearce
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Thursday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

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