Police make three arrests over a platform thought to have served hundreds of thousands of customers.

A motorcyclist has been airlifted to hospital after a collision with a car.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called to the island of the A460 and A519 in Cannock, Staffordshire, at about 09:45.

On arrival, it said, crews found the female patient with serious injuries.

She received specialist trauma care at the scene before being taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital by the Midlands Air Ambulance.

Birmingham's traditional market was called off in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lifesaving equipment put by the riverside in Worcester after the death of student Tom Jones has been repaired.

The emergency rescue pole had become damaged but following intervention by the local authority it is back on the Severn's banks at Bromwich Parade.

The device has a buoyancy aid and hook at the end to help pull people to shore if they get in difficulties in the water.

It was installed after the death of Mr Jones, aged 18, who disappeared nine days before his body was recovered from the Severn in 2019.

Image source, Worcester City Council

Birmingham's annual Frankfurt Christmas market is set to return for its 21st year.

The event will run from 4 November to 23 December, from 10:00 to 21:00 each day, in an area between Victoria Square and New Street.

There was no market last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With planned works around Victoria Square, Birmingham City Council said the market would have fewer stalls this year; a move also taking into account the potential of change or cancellation, should Covid restrictions come back into effect during the winter.

The big wheel and ice rink is also due to return to Centenary Square and run from 4 November until 9 January.

Image source, Birmingham City Council

A man has been disqualified from driving after hitting a car which was carrying a mother and her two children.

Staffordshire Police said Lee Sorsby, 44, was stopped by officers after colliding with a stationary car on Stafford Road, Cannock, on 23 August.

He had been driving a Volkswagen Transporter when he struck the back of a Vauxhall Grandland, which inside had the woman and children who suffered superficial injuries in the crash.

The force said, upon arrival, officers found three empty bottles of vodka on Sorsby’s passenger seat and during a roadside breath test he blew a reading three times the legal limit.

Image source, Google

Sorsby pleaded guilty to drink-driving at Cannock Magistrates Court on 15 September.

As well as a 40-month disqualification, Sorsby, of Glovers Way, Telford was given a community order and told to pay a £1,600 fine.

Staffordshire Police said he had only just completed a recent disqualification for drink-driving prior to the incident.

Cleon Smith is sentenced to 32 years over separate bursts of violence against the same woman.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the headlines from the Shropshire Star website this morning:

• Shropshire Council under fire over spending on traffic calming measures, external
• Burglars leave empty-handed after being challenged by 98-year-old woman, external
• 'Wholesale failure' by council as mother pleaded for violent daughter to be taken into care, external

The new chief constable of West Mercia Police starts work today.

Pippa Mills has come to the West Midlands from Essex Police.

Image source, Essex Police

She started her career at the Metropolitan Police in London, before becoming deputy chief constable of Essex in 2017.

Ch Const Mills is the first woman to lead the West Mercia force.

She replaces Anthony Bangham, who retired earlier this week after 30 years of service with West Mercia.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

There is a band of rain slowly making its way towards us that's due to start falling just in time for the weekend.

In the meantime, a misty start this morning will clear and we'll see a few sunny spells into the afternoon.

Temperatures are set to reach about 21C (70F).

The Digbeth street culture festival is back - with a dream to see artwork across Birmingham.

Catch and release rules are being introduced by the Environment Agency to protect salmon stocks.

John Bathers is described as a "kind and caring man" in a family tribute.

Rebecca Currie says her son's breathing difficulties have been made worse by landfill emissions.

Parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire are experiencing some of the highest rates of Covid-19 in England, according to the latest official figures.

Tamworth has seen its rate increase from 418 cases per 100,000 people to 467 in the seven days up to 12 September.

Only seven other areas in England have a worse rate.

Nuneaton and Bedworth, Staffordshire Moorlands and Cannock Chase are close behind Tamworth, while Telford and Rugby also have rates in excess of 400 cases per 100,000 people.

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, the number of cases has been fairly level over the period, with many areas seeing modest falls, including Bromsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton.

Care home providers in the West Midlands face losing more than 5,000 staff due to the government's policy of requiring all workers to be fully vaccinated, a care firm boss has said.

From October, anyone working in a Care Quality Commission-registered care home in England must have two vaccine doses unless they have a medical exemption.

Geoff Butcher, who owns the Field House care home in Stourbridge, as well as five other homes around the West Midlands, said he had six staff out of a total of 260 who were refusing the jab.

The six, including four highly skilled workers, "will have to leave our employment on 11 November," he said.

"Across the West Midlands the figures are that there's about 5,600 staff who will not be vaccinated and will therefore have to leave work - and that's quite a high proportion of the workforce."

He said it was a "good thing" to have a high proportion of staff vaccinated, "but the way it's been done - I don't agree with".

"Staffing in the care sector is incredibly difficult at the moment, there's probably 20 to 25% vacancies, and people are leaving the sector faster than they're being rehired - putting this on top of that is a major problem."

A second man admits manslaughter after Craig Robins was stabbed in 2006 and died in 2019.

Pawanveer Singh, aged 23 months, and 10-year-old Sanjay died at the scene of the collision.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka will be asked to explain why he failed to provide details for a speeding offence.

A married pair were returning from a caravan break to celebrate their retirement when they were killed.