Summary

  • All the latest headlines, travel and weather from Sussex, Kent and Surrey

  1. Ex-home secretary's first PMQs as backbencherpublished at 14:48 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Amber Rudd asks about the work of counter terrorist and emergency services in keeping the UK safe from terrorists.

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  2. Firearms seized at the Port of Doverpublished at 14:43 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Lizzie Massey
    BBC Live reporter

    Firearms seized at the port of DoverImage source, NCA

    Nine firearms, including two machine guns, have been seized at the Port of Dover.The weapons were discovered on Friday 27 April when officers stopped a Polish-registered lorry arriving at Dover’s Eastern Docks.

    The joint operation by Border Force and the National Crime Agency also uncovered several hundred rounds of ammunition.

    A Polish national was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the importation of a firearm and released under investigation while inquiries continue.

    The guns have been sent for forensic analysis.

  3. CCTV image released in indecent investigationpublished at 13:58 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Detectives in Tonbridge have released this CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to about an alleged indecent act in a clothing store.

    CCTV image of a man police want to speak toImage source, Kent Police

    Officers say the incident is reported to have taken place in the changing rooms at Peacocks in the High Street.

    It is said to have happened at about 13:20 GMT on Thursday 15 February.

    CCTV image of a man police want to speak toImage source, Kent Police
  4. Petition to reopen fire-ravaged youth centrepublished at 13:32 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Rebecca Curley
    Local Democracy Reporter

    Fire at Lakers Youth Centre on 2 JanuaryImage source, Woking Fire Station

    A decision on the future of a youth centre in Surrey gutted in a massive fire earlier this year is expected to be made next week.

    More than 200 people have signed a petition calling for Lakers Youth Centre, in Goldsworth Park, in Woking, to be rebuilt.

    The blaze at the building on 2 January caused substantial damage and forced the youth centre to close.

    Supporters say they are desperate to see it reopen, with the online petition attracting more than 200 signatories.

    One person wrote: "It lets me escape from troubles at home", while another said it was "like a second home".

    The petition will be presented to Surrey County Council next Tuesday.

    Councillors Clare Curran and Tim Oliver will respond to it at the meeting.

  5. Police in hunt for wanted Hastings manpublished at 13:29 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Xavier MontagImage source, Sussex Police

    Xavier Montag from Wellington Road, Hastings, is being sought by police for failing to appear in court on suspected drug and traffic offences.

    Officers are asking anyone who sees the 27-year-old to get in touch.

  6. Warning over proposed cuts to youth worker hours in Surreypublished at 13:29 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Rebecca Curley
    Local Democracy Reporter

    Cutting back on youth workers will have a knock-on effect to Surrey's children later on in life, a councillor has warned.

    Surrey County Council is planning to cut youth worker hours in a bid to save more than £2m of the £9.7m savings needed in the council's Early Help provision.

    Councillor Clare Curran, cabinet member for children, revealed at a cabinet meeting last week that the numbers of hours of youth service provision each week in boroughs and districts across Surrey are planned to be reduced.

    Responding to a question submitted by councillor Jonathan Essex, she said a restructure would reduce delivery from 794 hours across Surrey each week to 618, and that £2.46m had been saved from freezing vacancies and integrating functions.

    Mr Essex said cuts to early years help would have a long-lasting effect on children growing up in Surrey today and voiced concern that fewer youth services now would have a knock-on effect later on in life.

    SCC said it has to make £200m savings over the next three years. A consultation on the changes to Early Help is thought to be happening in the summer.

  7. Brathwaite joins Kent for T20 Blastpublished at 12:39 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite will join Kent for their first four matches of the T20 Blast.

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  8. Two charged over Shoreham ram-raidpublished at 11:28 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    A teenage boy and a man from Surrey have been charged in connection with a ram-raid in Shoreham, West Sussex.

    It's after a 4x4 was reported to have been used to smash into the Co-Op in High Street at about 01:30 BST yesterday.

    Two vehicles were subsequently stopped on the M25 near Leatherhead after a police pursuit.

    A 17-year-old boy from Woking and a 26-year-old man from Epsom are due to appear at Crawley Magistrates Court today charged with a series of offences, including conspiracy to commit burglary.

  9. School strike over cuts and job lossespublished at 10:54 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Teachers at a West Sussex school have voted to go on strike over funding cuts and job losses.

    Members of the National Education Union (NEU), at Thomas Bennett Community College in Tilgate, Crawley voted by 99% in favour of walking out.

    At a recent public meeting, 150 staff, parents and pupils opposed plans by the academy trust.

    Alex Ramiz, an English teacher at the school, said: “Through this ballot result our members are sending a clear message to The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT) that they do not accept their outrageous proposals for running our school into the ground.

    "They will take strike action unless TKAT come up with a more workable solution.”

  10. 'Dramatic' rise in force against detaineespublished at 10:19 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    The number of times G4S staff at Brook House used force against detainees has doubled in a year.

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  11. Partner of missing Sussex woman organises 'Walk for Gill' to track her downpublished at 09:50 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    A woman from Brighton has organised a walk to try and raise awareness of her partner's disappearance eight months ago.

  12. What the local papers say this morningpublished at 09:21 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    NewspaperImage source, Getty Images

    Kent Online, external: Witness appeal after motorbike and police car collide in Maidstone

    The Argus, external: Life as a Brighton and Hove toilet attendant revealed

    Eastbourne Herald, external: Struggling ambulance service to take on extra GP duties

    Get Surrey, external: Reigate 'Facebark' group told it can no longer meet at Castle Grounds after 'complaints'

    Worthing Herald, external: Headteacher quits over pressures and funding

    Hastings Observer, external: Concern over missing St Leonards man

    Chichester Observer, external: Four arrested after cannabis plants seized in Chichester

    Crawley and Horley Observer, external: Police are appealing for witnesses after armed robbers entered a Crawley home.

    West Sussex County Times, external: Ofsted praise for 'friendly' school

  13. Join me on BBC Sussex and BBC Surreypublished at 08:41 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Danny Pike
    Presenter, BBC Sussex and Surrey

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  14. Appeal after crash between police car and motorbikepublished at 08:10 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    A police car on an emergency call was involved in a crash with a motorbike in Maidstone.

    The 27-year-old motorcyclist was taken to hospital with injuries to his left knee and back following the incident, which happened at 17:30 BST yesterday.

    The police car was responding to an emergency call when it was involved in the crash with the man’s grey Honda bike on the A229 Fairmeadow.

    Witnesses or anyone who has dashcam footage is asked to call Kent Police on 01622 798538 or email sciu.td@kent.pnn.police.uk, external.

  15. Ambulance crews to carry out home visitspublished at 07:31 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Ambulances

    A new service where paramedics carry out home visits on behalf of GPs will be trialled in Sussex by the South East Coast Ambulance Service.

    It previously ran the scheme in Sheppey in Kent last year.

    Paramedics helped surgeries by going to see patients to give out prescriptions and dress wounds.

    It's being brought in next month in Mid Sussex and Crawley.

  16. UK's most polluted towns and cities revealedpublished at 07:05 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Some 30 areas have air pollution levels above World Health Organization limits, its report says.

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  17. More time for Hastings Pier campaignerspublished at 06:47 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Hastings PierImage source, Getty Images

    Campaigners in Hastings are renewing their fight to buy the pier after being given more time by the administrators who are selling it.

    Friends of Hastings Pier were given a deadline to generate £1m in pledges to prove they could afford to run it for at least two years.

    They're now looking to generate £500,000 through a new crowdfunding page.

    The pier was put up for sale in February after a charity ran out of money to maintain it.

  18. 'My vote won't be in secret'published at 06:22 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Tony Costa-Snedden, 21, is blind and says the voting system excludes partially sighted people.

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  19. What's in store today weather-wise?published at 06:15 British Summer Time 2 May 2018

    Kate Kinsella
    BBC Weather

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  20. Terror arrest of man entering UK on coachpublished at 22:38 British Summer Time 1 May 2018

    The 42-year-old was stopped in Folkestone as part of an investigation by the Met Police.

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