BBC Travel

 A signalling problem, external between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley is causing delays of up to 30 minutes and cancellations, the National Rail website reports.

Buses are being used to help with the overcrowding and the disruption is expected to continue until 09:00.

Lucy Martin
BBC Weather

After a very cold and frosty start it will be a largely sunny day. However, any freezing fog patches that formed overnight will be slow to clear through the morning, and despite the sunshine it will remain cold with highs of 5C (41F).  

Tim Wedgwood
BBC Local Live

Morning everyone, we're up and running for the day and there'll be news, sport, weather, travel and more updates through today.

If you've got pictures of Staffordshire or Cheshire you want me to consider featuring today, send them in on email or Instagram (with the tag #bbcstoke if you agree to share)., external

A man who says he was abused by football coach Barry Bennell speaks of his ordeal.

We'll be back with our usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening and into the morning. 

Mary Rhodes
Presenter, BBC Midlands Today

This evening we're talking congestion on BBC Midlands Today and getting the picture of how serious an issue it is in the region. 

We'll also be looking at what the future of transport might look like here in the West Midlands. 

Join us from 18:30 on BBC One for more on what faces thousands of us on the daily commute.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Bosses at Crewe's Leighton Hospital are apologising for waits in A&E and asking people to only attend with serious and life-threatening, external conditions. 

The trust which runs the hospital, says it has seen nearly 3,000 more patients between April and October compared to the same period last year. 

It says people with less serious conditions can get help from local healthcare services in the community or on the high street.

Chris King
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

People in Kidsgrove are being asked for donations towards the town's Christmas lights.  

Go Kidsgrove, which aims to promote the town centre, is asking for donations of £8 to pay for metre-long strings of lights. 

The organisation's chair, Josephine Locke (featured in video) says they'll then be hung up outside shops in the town.

The move follows complaints about the quality of last year's display, she added.  

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

Stoke City midfielder, Charlie Adam, has praised their squad players after Sunday's 1-0 win at Watford in the Premier League.

Image source, Alex Morton/Getty Images

The Potters made five changes for the game and Adam felt that those who came into the side made their case to be picked again.  

Stoke, who are now 11th in the table, host Burnley on Saturday, 3 December.  

BBC Radio Stoke

Two caravans have been stolen from a business after thieves forced their way in through gates and cut, external through fencing. 

Image source, Google

Staffordshire Police say the pair of vehicles, a white Lunar Clubman Si and a white Elddis Super Sirocco, were taken from the site on Bridgnorth Road, Shipley, over the weekend. 

The force says the thieves pushed CCTV cameras around to avoid being captured - one caravan has now been recovered.

Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter

You'll need your winter warmers tonight, it's going to be a cold one - lows of -1C (30F).

To find out how cold and what's in store tomorrow, here's my full weather forecast. 

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Staffordshire and Cheshire have been told how much they'll get to fix potholes next year, external.  

The government has been expanding on the announcement made in the chancellor's autumn statement that an extra £3bn would be spent on transport.  

Staffordshire County Council gets the most, with £1.5m to spend on potholes in the next financial year.

Cheshire East gets £776,000, while Stoke-on-Trent City Council is getting £195,000.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A tale of two canals here in Staffordshire - this first one in Lower Penn and taken by Robin Silvester.

Image source, Robin Silvester

While Paul Guest photographed this autumnal, frosty morning at the Caldon Canal in Stoke-on-Trent.

If you're got a picture of Staffordshire or Cheshire to share - it doesn't have to be of a canal - send it in on email or put on Instagram (with the tag #bbcstoke if you agree to share)., external

Image source, Paul Guest

Lucy King
News Editor, BBC Radio Stoke

The family of Joshua Smith, who was reported missing in Stone for almost a month, has announced they are having a private woodland burial for him this weekend.  

The body of the 27-year-old was found by a canal near the town earlier this month. 

In a post on Facebook, his family say, external the place they have chosen "is a beautiful natural woodland with native plants and wonderful views". 

They add that friends and family have also been invited to a memorial service which will be held at another time. 

Burton Mail

Councillors who opposed plans to turn the Bargates land in Burton into a care home with shops and a restaurant have spoken out for the first time, external – calling it a missed opportunity.

Image source, Burton Mail

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Our last look at the day's headlines and they include:

- Ex-Crewe youth football coach Barry Bennell, who is at the centre of a sex abuse scandal, has been taken to hospital after being found unconscious  

- A planned closure of 63 beds at Bradwell Community Hospital in Newcastle-under-Lyme has been delayed again, until the end of March next year

- Bosses at Crewe's Leighton Hospital are apologising for waits in A&E and asking people to only attend with serious and life-threatening, external conditions  

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

The government's going to spend £2m drawing up a business case for widening the remaining single carriageway section of the A500 west of the M6 near Crewe.

Image source, Google

Currently the road is a dual-carriageway between Stoke-on-Trent and junction 16 of the motorway but then narrows to a single carriageway from there up to the Shavington Bypass. 

Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, today outlined a series of transport plans following last week's Autumn Statement which include looking at making that stretch of the A500 wider.

Lee Blakeman
BBC Radio Stoke Sport

The draw for the first round of this year's PDC World Championship has taken place this afternoon.

Image source, Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

Stoke-on-Trent's 16-time world champion, Phil Taylor (pictured), will play either John Bowles or David Platt, while fellow city star Ian White will taken on either Kevin Simm or Gilbert Ulang.

Newcastle-under-Lyme's Adrian Lewis is up against Magnus Caris.

BBC Travel

There's been a crash on the A520 Main Road in Wetley Rocks at the A522 Cheadle Road junction.

James Bovill
Staffordshire Political Reporter, BBC News

A planned closure of 63 beds at Bradwell Community Hospital in Newcastle-under-Lyme has been delayed again, until the end of March next year. 

The beds were first meant to close at the end of October, then this was delayed until 18 December, with the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) which pay for them wanting to care for people at home instead, external. 

Image source, Google

But pressure on bed space at the Royal Stoke University Hospital means health bosses have "reluctantly" decided to keep the beds open until the end of March. 

The CCGs say most patients in community beds are waiting for a social care package at home and the extra time gives councils the chance to find alternatives for those people. 

The long term future of Bradwell will be subject to a consultation next year.