A driver had a lucky escape after the van he was driving caught fire outside a fire station.

A crew from the Kirkbymoorside station helped deal with the fire. 

Oli Constable
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

More now on the report on police forces by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary .

South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings says the watchdog was right in saying some forces require improvement.

It says most of the 43 forces are providing a good service, but a third- including South Yorkshire - require improvement.

A man has been bailed as part of an investigation into the death of Aseel Al-Essaie in Sheffield.

The 32-year-old was arrested in connection with Mr Al-Essaie's death, after he was shot on Saturday 18 February in Daniel Hill, Walkley.

Eight people are on bail as part of the investigation.

BBC Travel

We're now hearing that the A19 is expected to be closed in both directions just north of Easingwold until this afternoon.

The air ambulance is currently in attendance following a serious accident close to Thormanby .

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

The actor Ricky Tomlinson is accusing the late Yorkshire TV presenter, Richard Whiteley, of being a member of the intelligence services.

Tomlinson, who starred alongside Caroline Aherne in the sitcom The Royle Family, believes Whiteley was an undercover agent for MI5.

He claims he helped put him and other striking workers behind bars in the 70s. 

Kathryn Apanowicz was Richard's partner and says it's "absolute nonsense":

Police in Barnsley are asking for help to find those responsible for some graffiti across the town.

There's a selection of it below, and further examples on their Facebook page, external , thought to have been sprayed in recent months.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

A man has been arrested after a short police pursuit in Doncaster in the early hours of this morning.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

The Peugoet was followed from Balby Road to Balby Carr Bank after failing to stop for police.

A man was arrested for drugs offences and for dangerous driving. 

The car has been seized.

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

It's World Book Day and Yorkshire is being named as the place to visit in England for holidays with a link to books.

Visit England says Bronte Country around Haworth is the region's number-one destination, with Whitby Abbey and James Herriot country not far behind it.

We'd love to know what your favourite book is and why.

Simply click here to tell us.

Oli Constable
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

A busker from Rotherham has been on the Ellen DeGeneres show after a video of him singing in the town centre racked up millions of views online.

Teenager Alfie Sheard appeared on the stateside talk show, and was given a guitar by Ed Sheeran!

Not jealous at all, Alfie:

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

A dinner lady from West Yorkshire is hoping to be crowned School Chef of the Year

Tracy Healy (pictured) from Ravensthorpe Junior School, near Dewsbury, is up against nine other chefs from across the country today. 

Image source, bbc

Tracy says she will use the same menu which got her through the regional heats.

Have a listen to what she's serving up - very different to when I used to sit in the school canteen in fear and trepidation!

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

If you're driving or cycling on York's Layerthorpe you might need to take a little extra care. 

Yorkshire Post

Their rivalry was public and occasionally bitter, but their friendship ran deeper. 

The death yesterday at 76 of John Hampshire, external sent Geoffrey Boycott’s mind racing back to a lost world of cricket in the old West Riding, of scoring runs with Michael Parkinson, and cadging petrol from passing drivers on the way home.

Image source, Yorkshire post

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

A village in Barnsley is part of a radical new energy trial to see if batteries can store and use local solar power for longer.

If it takes off it could lead to thousands more homes fitting solar panels.

Kate Linderholm has been to Oxspring to meet some of the people storing their spare sun:

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

People campaigning to save a 150 year old oak tree earmarked for felling are meeting with councillors in Sheffield today. 

The 150-year-old tree on Vernon Road, Dore, is called "Vernon" by supporters, 

They say the council's own independent panel advised the tree could live for another century. 

The felling is part of city-wide maintenance project  Streets Ahead, external  to upgrade roads, pavements and bridges. 

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

People can today learn more about plans to tackle so-called gull muggings in Scarborough and Whitby. 

A company employed by Scarborough Borough Council to remove gull nests and eggs are in the two towns to explain what they'll be doing. 

They'll also have some birds of prey with them, which'll be used to scare away the gulls. 

But Godfrey Allanson, who chaired a council task force looking at the problem, says hundreds of people in the area have been attacked by gulls and there's no quick fix:

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

Two police forces in our area have been told they must improve. 

Inspectors say both the Humberside and South Yorkshire forces are "routinely failing" in the way they deal with vulnerable victims of crime. 

Image source, iStock

Forces in Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire were rated as good. 

Humberside Police says improvements have already been made.

The organisation that oversees policing standards says the service in England and Wales is in a "potentially perilous" state, with  victims being let down, criminal cases shelved and suspects left untracked. 

BBC Weather

A cold frosty start with some outbreaks of rain in the south at first, but soon becoming mainly dry and breezy for the rest of the day, with some sunny spells. 

Feeling chilly at times in the wind.

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

The mother of a girl, who died after suffering severe brain damage during an operation in Leeds, has received £430,000 in compensation. 

Carrie Wright's surgery took place in 2003 at the LGI when she was 9 - she died 11 years later. 

Her surgeon, Nihal Weerasena, was struck off last month after being found guilty of misconduct in a series of other operations. 

Carrie's mum Dawn says no amount of money can compensate for the loss of her daughter:

Nathan Turvey
BBC Radio York News

A man from North Yorkshire is now looking to the future after becoming only the fourth person in the world to survive a pioneering multiple organ transplant.

Adam Alderson, from Preston-under-Scar, near Leyburn, was diagnosed with a rare cancer that starts in the appendix and was given just two years to live. 

But after finding out about the pioneering surgery on the internet, he went under the knife for 17 hours and had a tumour weighing more than 20lb removed.

His fiance Laura Blanchard says the family are feeling very lucky:

Andrew Barton
BBC Local Live, Yorkshire

Here are some of the stories making the news across the county so far this morning:   

• A man from North Yorkshire has become only the fourth person in the world to survive a pioneering multiple organ transplant
• The mother of a girl who died after suffering severe brain damage during an operation in Leeds, has received £430,000 in compensation
• A village in Barnsley is part of a radical new energy trial to see if batteries can store and use local solar power for longer