Summary

  • Calls for M5 'rethink' after long delays

  • Help to find work for employees after food firm goes under

  • Free shuttle bus ends after low take-up

  • Rapids prepare for Durham T20 clash tonight

  • Updates on Friday 11 August 2017

Live Reporting

Stephanie Barnard

  1. High insurance excesses mean police pay for new cars

    High insurance excesses meant the police in West Mercia and Warwickshire had to pay the bill for the 14 cars written off last year.

    The forces both had policies with excesses of £10,000 on their vehicles last year, meaning West Mercia Police had to pay out £100,173.62 and Warwickshire £34,924.45.

    Police carGetty Images

    The forces have decided to increase that excess for each vehicle to £100,000 for this year, but point out the policies cover not just damage to the vehicles, but to the equipment they contain.

  2. 'Are IVF patients in Worcestershire less deserving than those in London?'

    Health bosses in Worcestershire are being criticised for cutting the number of cycles of IVF for couples struggling to conceive.

    Official guidelines issued 13 years ago recommend three rounds of treatment on the NHS - but clinical commisioning groups in the county recently decided to cut it from two to just one.

    Other areas of the UK have taken similar action, with IVF treatment restricted or halted in 13 areas since January.

    Eight other parts of England are consulting on taking similar steps, charity Fertility Network UK says.

    IVFScience Photo Library

    Is a couple in Worcestershire less deserving of treatment than one in London, or in Scotland or in Wales? In Wales, where commissioning is centralised by their government, everyone in Wales gets two cycles."

    Sarah Norcross, Fertility Fairness

  3. Police forces write off cars worth more than £130k

    Last year, cars worth more than £130,000 had to be written off by the West Mercia and Warwickshire police forces, because of damage they'd sustained.

    In the West Mercia area, 11 vehicles were damaged beyond repair in 2016-17, the most expensive being an Audi A4. Warwickshire lost three vehicles, with a BMW being the most valuable.

    Police car

    The two forces said some vehicles which they'd treated as write-offs might have been repairable, but that it was easier for them to get new vehicles than repair the damaged ones.

  4. Road reopens after cyclist death

    BBC News Travel

    Doles Road in Bewdley has reopened to traffic after a cyclist earlier collapsed and died.

    Emergency services were sent to the scene at about 10:00, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

  5. Bewdley cyclist died after 'collapsing'

    West Midlands Ambulance Service says the man who died while cycling in Bewdley this morning had collapsed.

    Streetview image of the areaGoogle

    An ambulance, a rapid response vehicle, a paramedic officer and the Midlands Air Ambulance were sent to the Dowles Road at around 10:00 where they found three members of the public carrying out CPR on the middle-aged man.

    Ambulance staff were unable to save the man and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

  7. Amputee toddler 'strongest boy in world'

    Finley Amos, from Hereford, contracted meningitis and septicaemia in June, which resulted in him having his fingers, thumbs and both feet amputated.

    Read More

  8. Hospital Trust apologises to cancer patient

    69-year-old Vicky Evans, from Stourport, is terminally ill with liver cancer.

    She first went to her GP in January - but had to wait 16 weeks after her referral before receiving treatment.

    Clearly [this is] not something we would want any of our patients to experience, and all I can say is we are very sorry as an organisation that this is a current experience. All we can do is really just put our efforts into making sure that we reduce these waiting times as soon as possible and provide much better service for our patients."

    Inese Robotham, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust

    Vicky is one of more than 170 patients who had been waiting more than the target of 62 days for treatment at the end of June.

    She believes that without the delays, her cancer may have been treatable.

    Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust says it's now been handed extra money to clear the backlog, and has also taken the step of offering patients waiting for endoscopies the option of travelling to a hospital in South Wales.

  9. On Midlands Today from 13:30: HS2 gets a 'green corridor'

    BBC Midlands Today

    On Midlands Today this lunchtime, you'll see how a new "green corridor" is being built for wildlife along part of the route of the new high-speed rail project HS2.

    Work on the 'green corridor'

    And we'll also have all the action from the weekend's football as the action got under way from the Championship to League Two.

    Those stories and more from 13:30 on BBC One.

  11. Police appeal for witnesses to fatal crash in Bewdley

    West Mercia Police are investigating an incident in which a man died after falling off his bike in Bewdley this morning.

    Streetview image of the areaGoogle

    The ambulance service attended the crash on Dowles Road near the junction of Woodthorpe Drive, but the cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Both carriageways are closed, and police are asking people to avoid the area if possible and use alternative routes.

    The force is asking for anyone who saw the accident to come forwards.

  12. Harriet Baldwin questions M5 lane closures

    The MP for West Worcestershire Harriet Baldwin has written to Highways England to ask for a review of lane closures on the M5.

    Ms Baldwin says she's concerned the closures will cause major delays to commuters travelling between the M42 junction and Worcester.

    Picture of Harriet BaldwinHarriet Baldwin

    We've got a great new smart motorway which is there to improve traffic flow so it seems entirely counter-productive to be putting out cones and closing lanes just to hold up traffic in Worcestershire."

    Harriet Baldwin

    The lane closure is being implemented to slow down traffic heading into the major roadworks at the Oldbury Viaduct in Birmingham.

    Ms Baldwin has asked Highways England's Chief Executive Jim O'Sullivan to consider using the overhead signs better and using temporary speed limits instead to help improve traffic flow instead.

  13. Hereford marks WWII Japan bombings

    Justyn Surrall
    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    Members of Hereford Peace Council are today commemorating the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    Hiroshima was bombed on 6 August 1945, followed by Nagasaki three days later.

    Hereford Peace Council logoHPC

    At 12:00 today the Mayor of Leominster will join the Deputy Mayor of Hereford at the city's crematorium to remember those killed.

    There will be readings and prayers and the council says all are welcome to attend.

  15. Local producers praised in national awards

    Thirty seven foods and drinks produced in Herefordshire and Worcestershire have been recognised in the national Great Taste Awards.

    Guild of Fine Food logoGFF

    The Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, acknowledges producers and retailers who provide quality, locally produced products.

    Pips Cider in Dorstone and Macneil's Smokehouse in Rushock are among the producers whose products were presented with the full three stars in the awards.

  16. Police close road in Bewdley

    Dowles Road in Bewdley has been closed as police respond to an incident.

    Officers are advising motorists to use other routes.

    We'll bring you more details as we get them.

  18. Tuesday's non-league football

    Listen to BBC local radio commentary from Tuesday's National League and National League North action.

    Read More

  19. Child injured in apparent hit-and-run

    A 12-year-old boy has suffered serious head injuries after being knocked off his bike while cycling in Rubery.

    It happened on Ormond Road yesterday lunchtime.

    Image of ambulance from WMAS storyWMAS

    There was no car present at the scene when paramedics arrived.

    The boy, who was not fully conscious, was anaesthetised before being taken to the paediatric major trauma centre at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

  20. Cancer patient given just weeks to live after cancer scan delay

    Vicky Evans, 69, from Stourport, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014 and had a tumour surgically removed.

    However, in January 2017 she started to feel unwell again and went to her GP. Ms Evans said despite previously suffering cancer, the local NHS were too slow to respond.

    Vicky Evans

    That [wait for scans] took 16 weeks in all and now I've been diagnosed with liver and stomach and bowel cancer again, which I do believe might have been affected by that wait."

    She has now been given eight weeks to live. Despite that, she has praised the care and compassion shown by medical staff since her diagnosis.