Nic Rigby
BBC News

The Spanish company, which owns a chilled potato truck in which 15 people including a baby were found at a Norfolk factory, has criticised the way the immigration crisis is hitting hauliers.

It is understood the lorry had come from Spain to the Albert Bartlett factory in Worstead and was delivering sweet potatoes. 

The East of England Ambulance Service said all 15 people were treated, including one man for a hand injury.

Today a spokesman for Transportes Valiente SC said in a statement: "We give our drivers a specific training and mandatory procedure to follow when travelling to the United Kingdom, in order to avoid the problem of influx of immigrants into trucks.

"Despite all these preventative procedures, the problem of immigrants is such that as carriers we feel helpless and unprotected by the authorities."

He said it was costing "carriers and insurance companies... many millions of euros".

Nic Rigby
BBC News

We've been reporting the news that following flooding which hit the Norfolk coast and the communities at Hemsby and Wells-next-the-Sea, MPs are calling for an overhaul of flood risk organisation.

John Crook (pictured), who's shop Standard House Chandlery, in Wellls-next-the-Sea, was hit by the floods, said the Environment Agency did what it could with limited funds.

"The whole approach is so piecemeal. The first thing is the electrics went, then the mobile signal went. We are completely at the mercy of the sea," he said.

"Then afterwards everybody looks at each other and asks who is to blame.

"It does require people to elect a local person to do the job properly. We haven't even got a trailer to put the sandbags in."

Andrew Turner
BBC Radio Norfolk

I've been told by Happisburgh Coast Watch, external that the skipper of the stricken yacht at Cart Gap has said his boat cannot be saved.

The mast is going to be dismantled so it does not collapse and hurt anybody. I understand the waves have pounded the vessel, causing the hull to break up.

We like to have a little dig through the archives now and then... and rolling the clock back 80 years this month it was time for St Catherines Church in Norwich to get a new wooden sculpture.

The craftsman was captured carving this beautifully detailed version of Queen Mary's coat of arms for the church.

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the delays on the A11 near Larling caused by a horse on the road.

Drivers are being warned to expect slow traffic in the area.

Nanette Aldous
BBC Radio Norfolk

Police are appealing for witnesses, external after an 11-year-old boy was grabbed by a man in Norwich. 

It happened on Monday between 07:20 and 08:00 as he was walking along Churchill Road between Sprowston Road and Silver Road in the north of the city.

The man grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him into an alleyway, but the boy escaped after a passer-by shouted at the man. 

The suspect ran off down the alleyway towards Knowsley Road. 

He's described as skinny, mixed race and around 5ft 7in (1.7m) tall was wearing a black baseball cap, white hoody, black jeans and black trainers.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

The region's coastal communities have been told they need greater protection from the risk of flooding.

MPs are demanding a complete overhaul of the current system of flood defences which, they say, won't protect people in the years to come. 

At present the Environment Agency is responsible for managing the country's flood risk. The government says it sees no need for organisational change. 

But a report commissioned by the Commons environment and rural affairs committee sees MPs critical of the agency for what they see as its over-reliance on traditional "hard" flood defences. 

It's calling for a UK floods supremo, new flooding and coastal boards and a rivers and coastal authority. 

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

A New York exhibition is to feature a take-away cup from a Norwich coffee shop.  

Image source, Gosling and Guzman

Gosling and Guzman, near St Benedicts Street in the city, has only been open four months.

Its cup was shared on the social media site Instagram , externaland the exhibition in New York, external will highlight the world's most exceptional take-away cups.  

Barista Hayley Gosling says: "It was an honour when our cup was first shared with his thousands of followers on Instagram and then to be asked to provide an actual cup for the exhibition has made my year. 

"It was a big risk getting the cups made and an expensive gamble. They have now been seen from all sides of the globe. It’s a nice feeling."

The number of people in Norfolk being fined for claiming free prescriptions they're not entitled to has more than doubled in the past year.

Image source, Corbis

The BBC has found that the figures have been on the rise month-on-month since September 2015. 

By example, a comparison for the month of June this year revealed 1,140 penalty notices being issued, compared to 430 in the same month last year. This resulted in a loss of £15,615 for that month in 2016, and £6,346 for June 2015.

Ian Small, deputy head of medicines management for Norfolk, says the system needs overhauling but says it's very hard for pharmacists faced with sick people to ask for evidence of exemption.

But Brendan Brown, of the NHS Business Services Authority, which took on the checking of prescription exemptions two years ago, says pharmacists are paid to ask these questions. 

"Those prescriptions the pharmacist indicates as 'evidence not seen' are then put through the exemption checking regime," said Mr Brown, adding the majority confirm eligibility to free medicines.

The Justice Secretary and Norfolk MP Liz Truss will hold urgent talks later with the Prisons Officers' Association. 

The union is concerned about safety and the rising levels of violence and suicides in jails.

It has called off plans to stage an unofficial walkout outside prisons this morning, following the government's agreement to hold talks. 

A man has been charged in connection with an armed robbery at a jewellers in Beccles and a burglary at a car dealership. 

Kerron Turner, 25, of York Road, Great Yarmouth, was arrested by police yesterday. 

He's been charged with carrying out an armed robbery at the shop in New Market in September.

Mr Turner has also been charged with burglary following the theft of three Range Rovers from a car dealership in Halesworth, again in September.

He is due to appear before Norwich Magistrates’ Court later this morning.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

A campaigner says she hopes any transfer of ownership of Hickling Broad will see the current level of public access to the waterways maintained.

Image source, Helen Renton/Geograph

Hickling Broad is jointly owned by the Mill family and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. 

The Trust has today launched a £1m appeal to buy it outright and preserve its conservation heritage. 

Sue Hines, who has been campaigning for public access to Hoveton Great Broad, said she hoped that any purchaser "would maintain the current level of public access and navigation to Hickling Broad, which is enjoyed by so many local people and visitors".

Public money is being used to regenerate the flaura and fauna of the privately-owned Hoveton Great Broad, but the lake will not have any public navigational rights. 

Andrew Turner
BBC Radio Norfolk

Residents living in the Dickens Court area of Great Yarmouth say they feel unsafe after violence broke out there yesterday. 

A woman is being treated at the James Paget Hospital after being stabbed in the neck in a flat at Dickens Court. Three men have been arrested in connection with the incident. 

A year ago a man was killed in the same block of flats. Those involved have been prosecuted and jailed after the body of Andrew McGowan, 33, of Great Yarmouth, was found, having bled to death from stab wounds.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

Norman Lamb, the MP for North Norfolk, says the people found in a lorry near North Walsham must have been "pretty desperate".

Mr Lamb was responding to the news that 15 people, including two children and a baby, were found yesterday afternoon in a lorry at a potato processing factory at Worstead.

He said people must be "pretty desperate to make the journey in a chilled lorry" and is calling for an international effort to disrupt the people trafficking networks. 

The Liberal Democrat MP said "successive governments have failed" to tackle the problem of illegal immigration to the UK, and said more needed to be done to resolve the conflicts in the countries where many of these people come from.

"Concerted efforts are needed to help these countries get back on their feet so people don't feel so desperate to make those journeys," he said.

Phil Daley
BBC Radio Norfolk sport

Wroxham remain bottom of the Ryman North after a 3-0 defeat to Brentwood Town last night.

The Yachtsmen could have moved off the bottom of the table for the first time this season with a victory.

Results for the Thurlow Nunn League Cup:

Mildenhall Town 6-0 Thetford Town

Ely City 0-3 Downham Town 

Stowmarket Town 0-3 Diss Town

In the First Division Knock Out Cup, King's Lynn Town reserves beat March Town United 4-0.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust says Hickling Broad "holds a significant percentage of the UK population of common crane as well as important breeding numbers of bittern, marsh harrier, bearded tit and Cetti's warbler".

Image source, Nick Goodrum

The RSPB said there were 80 breeding pairs of bittern, external in the UK, with other hotspots being its Minsmere reserve in Suffolk and Leighton Moss in Lancashire.

Image source, Mike Page Aerial Photography

Andrew Woodger
BBC News

The current owner of Hickling Broad, Hallam Mills, said: "The family is delighted that, out of many expressions of interest, the broad is going to Norfolk Wildlife Trust, who in many ways were the broad's natural owner.

"The wildlife and conservation interest of the reserve will be very safe in their hands."

Image source, David Rounce

Norfolk Wildlife Trust has agreed to buy the remainder of the reserve for £2.3m.

It has already raised £1.3m, so the public appeal is to make up the shortfall.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

A wildlife charity has launched a £1m pound appeal to buy Norfolk's largest broad from its owners.  

Half of Hickling Broad, the largest in the Norfolk and Suffolk network, is already owned by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, external. 

The other half of the 1,430 acre (580 hectare) estate belongs to the Mills family, which has owned it for the past 200 years.

Image source, Chris Heaton/Geograph

Hickling is world famous for its wildlife including breeding bitterns and swallowtail butterflies with habitats including reedbed, fen, grazing marsh, open water and woodland.

Brendan Joyce, chief executive of the wildlife trust, said: "The Trust will now work with all the local interests who live and work around Hickling to ensure its conservation, cultural, social and economic interests are maintained into the future.

"Securing the future of this Broad will leave a great legacy for our 90th anniversary."