Dracula fans, takeaway lovers and thwarted drinkers are all counting the cost of flouting the rules.

BBC Midlands Today

A critical care nurse who qualified a few months before the coronavirus pandemic began said the past year has been "absolutely exhausting".

Holly Minshall, 26, from Market Drayton, graduated from Keele University and went on to work at the Royal Stoke University Hospital throughout the pandemic.

"I never ever thought that six months later after qualifying we would be thrown into a global pandemic with a virus that we knew nothing about and just expected to crack on and deal with it," she said.

The garden has been created in a walkway for people to visit and leave tributes.

Thousands of disabled leaseholders warn they are financially and physically trapped by the crisis.

In a new BBC three-part programme, Football's Darkest Secret, survivors of child sexual abuse in football talk about the impact on their lives and about speaking out.

West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph agrees a deal to play for Worcestershire in their first seven County Championship matches.

More than £11m is to be spent on developing and manufacturing energy-saving technology for cars and vans at a site in Warwickshire.

Shield Manufacturing Technologies, in Southam, will combine "lightweight energy recovery technology from motorsport with a new motor and inverter for cars and vans" to cut energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

The money is part of three "green" projects around the UK costing £54m which will see hydrogen fuel cells for buses and lightweight structures for electric heavy goods vehicles, the government said.

Image source, APC

Motorway police said they pulled this van over on the M6 earlier as it looked a "bit low" at the back.

Weighing it revealed just how overweight the vehicle was, leading to the driver being served with a court summons.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories on the Shropshire Star website today:

• £100 Telford vaccination centre parking fines cancelled as 'gesture of goodwill', external
• New gardens at Shropshire hospitals will honour Captain Sir Tom Moore, external
• Police raid sophisticated Telford drugs farm, external

Simon Wilkins, 28, who did not know his victim, is jailed for more than 17 years.

Rob Lamb, a 58-year-old Scotsman, was greeted back home by applause and bagpipes.

The post office owner says he feels "not so alone" after the community helped to raise money.

A 15-year-old cyclist was taken to hospital after a collision with a White Skoda in Telford.

West Mercia Police said it happened on First Avenue, Ketley Bank, just before 21:30 GMT on Thursday.

Image source, Google

PC Matthew Jones said the boy was in a stable condition.

Anyone with information or dashcam footage has been asked to contact the force.

Rob Lamb suffered a spinal cord injury in October, leaving him paralysed from the chest down.

BBC local radio will continue to broadcast ball-by-ball county cricket commentary for the next four seasons.

A mobile unit offering rapid testing for Covid-19 has been set up in Wolverhampton.

Anyone without symptoms is invited to get tested at the site, at Rocket Pool Strengthening Families Hub, in Bradley.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio Stoke

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning after a man was found in cardiac arrest.

Staffordshire Police officers were called by the ambulance service to a property in Rowhurst Crescent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, at 16:45 GMT on Sunday.

The man in his 30s was taken to hospital where he was in a critical condition, the force said.

A 43-year-old woman from Newcastle-under-Lyme was arrested and remains in police custody.

The force said she was arrested on suspicion of "section 23 offences", or maliciously administering poison, as to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm., external

Emma Lou, 10, won a national competition to design the mascot for the 2022 games.

BBC Weather

It will be a dry day with occasional bright spells and highs of 13°C (50 to 55°F)

The latest news and updates from across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.