Drivers who ignore smart motorway lane restrictions could face a £100 fine from next March.

Image source, PA

South Western Railway warns its services are likely to be "exceptionally busy" on New Year's Eve due to strike action.

Those travelling home from celebrations in London may also face long queues and crowded stations, it warns.

The company says the industrial action by RMT union will force it to reduce the number of available services.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a pedestrian was hit by a car in Chatham.

It happened at around 22:35 GMT yesterday on the A2 Chatham Hill.

A man in his 30s was hit by a grey Skoda Fabia. The man was taken to a London hospital with a serious head injury.

Lizzie Massey
BBC Live reporter

Image source, Kent Police

A woman in her 70s was reportedly pushed by a man before he took her handbag.

Officers investigating the robbery in Gravesend have issued a CCTV image of a man and a woman who may be able to help with their inquiries.

It is reported to have happened in an underpass between Prospect Grove and Raphael Road at around 16:50 GMT on Tuesday 5 December.The victim had her cash and bank cards taken, and one was used at an ATM in London Road at 17:16 GMT the same day.

Lizzie Massey
BBC Live reporter

Kent Police was called to a report of a robbery at a shop in Esparto Way, South Darenth.

Four people, believed to be male, were reported to have entered the shop at 20:20 GMT on Thursday, and threatened a staff member with a knife.

The gang then made off with a quantity of cash from the till.

No injuries were reported and enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing.

Two people have been arrested after an anti-drugs operation.

A 53-year-old man and a woman of the same age were arrested after a quantity of white powder was seized at a bungalow in Boundstone Close, Lancing yesterday.

They were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply a Class A drug and were released under investigation.

A small amount of amphetamine was seized from a flat in the same road but no arrests were made.

A search was then carried out at a property in Hove but no arrests were made.

Fine saves from Brighton's Mat Ryan help to earn his side a point after a goalless draw with Newcastle at St James' Park.

Police are looking for witnesses after a group of men and women were attacked in Brighton.

It happened near the Burger King in North Street on Friday 15 December between 00:30 and 01.10 GMT.

Police say the victims, who were aged 18 to 35, were attacked by a group of young women.

A 21-year-old woman from Hove was arrested on suspicion of assault and later released under investigation.

A 28-year-old man of no fixed address who was arrested on suspicion of assault and possessing cannabis was released but then re-arrested as being wanted on recall to prison.

Image source, Antarctic Gurkha

A soldier based in Folkestone is believed to be the youngest person ever to reach the South Pole on their own.

Scott Sears is a lieutenant in the First Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles, and also happens to be the brother-in-law of the tennis star, Andy Murray.

The 27-year-old, who was born in Lewes, East Sussex, completed the 702-mile trek in 38 days, arriving at the South Pole on Christmas Day - more than 12 days sooner than he had anticipated.

The Guinness Book of Records has yet to confirm whether his feat will make it into the record books.

Lt Sears raised more than £33,500 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust to help rebuild schools in Gorkha, Nepal, which was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake.

Read more here

Image source, Google

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of going out to steal fuel in Tunbridge Wells.

Just before midnight on Wednesday, a car police said was linked to eight reports of fuel theft was spotted in the St John’s Road area.

The previous thefts were reported in Sevenoaks, Gravesend, West Malling, Rochester, Offham and Strood between 19 and 23 December.

A 17-year-old boy from East Malling is being held on suspicion of going equipped for theft and driving with no insurance.

An 18-year-old man from East Malling is also in custody on suspicion of going equipped for theft.

Firefighters were called to a blaze in Gillingham in the early hours.

The call was at about 01:00 GMT at a property in Christmas Street.

Two residents escaped unhurt.

The blaze is believed to have been caused by ‘smoking materials’.

The fire service said the blaze destroyed the bedroom and caused smoke damage to the first-floor of the house.

Image source, Google

A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft and drug dealing in Dover.

Police were called to a property in Crabble Hill just after 21:30 GMT on Wednesday after a report that clothes and money had been stolen.

Following a search of the area, an 18-year-old man from London was arrested on suspicion of theft and possession with intent to supply heroin.

Cash and a bag containing more than 100 wraps of a substance believed to be Class A drugs was seized by police.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of robbing a cash transit van in Sittingbourne.

The theft was reported in the Grove Park area at 08:30 GMT on Thursday.

A 55-year-old man and 21-year-old man, both from Belvedere, are being held on suspicion of robbery, Kent Police said.

Image source, Sussex Police

Police are searching for a 'vulnerable' 15-year-old girl who has gone missing from her West Sussex home.

Jessica Menezes has been missing from Southwater since Wednesday.

Sussex Police said they and her family were concerned "due to her vulnerability".

She is described as about 5’3” and of medium build, with very long, straight, brown hair.

She was last seen wearing a black jacket, black Adidas trousers and trainers.

The incident happened in the early hours of 3 December on Undercliffe in St Leonards.

Stuart Maisner
BBC Live reporter

Watch the moment a youth is caught on camera slashing a big hole in the roof of a car.

Paul Clifton
Transport correspondent, BBC South Today

South Western Railway will run 75% of its trains during New Year's Eve RMT strikes

During the previous strike it managed 60%, so this will be an increase.

It will include services from Salisbury to Exeter, which did not run last time.

There will be no trains between Southampton and Salisbury, nor on the line through Camberley, or on the Isle of Wight.

Continuing Network Rail engineering work means there were already no trains between Southampton Central and Eastleigh or between Southampton Central and Fareham.

Shuttle services will run between Southampton and Poole, with buses replacing trains from Poole to Weymouth.

A man has been arrested after another man was attacked in Dover on Christmas Day.

The assault happened just after 14:00 GMT on Monday in an area near Oswald Road, Kent Police said.

Officers discovered a man with a serious stab-like wound to his abdomen.

He was taken to a London hospital for treatment where he remains in a stable condition.

A 45-year-old man, of no fixed address, remains in custody.