A THREE-car crash on the A127 caused traffic chaos among drivers heading for Southend seafront. The accident took place on the Southend-bound carriageway just before Rayleigh Weir about 1.50pm today. According to firefighters, the pile-up
A campaigner has accused a car company of “creeping” on to the green belt. Essex Ford won permission to build its new showroom on green belt at Rayleigh Weir in 2006, on the condition it contributed £300,000 to the building of a new fire station
A 28ft cruiser had to be towed to shore after breaking down in the estuary. RNLI Lifeboats from Southend and Sheerness stations helped tow the boat, which had two passengers onboard, to safety. The Colvic cruiser was about a mile off-shore from the
A CAMPAIGN to raise thousands of pounds to replace a Scout hut is gathering pace. The 1st Hullbridge Scout Group meets at its hall next to St Thomas’s Church, Hullbridge, but it has no running water or toilets and needs rewiring. The ageing hut is built
MEMBERS of a private bar are campaigning to have court restrictions lifted. Last August, Rochford District Council gave the Smugglers Den, in Hullbridge, permission to allow customers to drink in its private garden, on the banks of the River
A MINIBUS has been touring Castle Point to help tackle problems with underage drinking. The Canvey Island Youth Project has been using the bus to visit hotspots where crowds of teenagers gather to drink alcohol at night. These are usually parks and
AN MP has praised more than 1,000 people who took part in a charity walk in Billericay. Generous-spirited fundraisers defied the recession for the annual fun walk, which took place at Barleylands Farm, in Barleylands Road, last weekend.
CHILDREN’S swings have been destroyed after being set alight by yobs. Firefighters from Southend station were called about 6.30pm yesterday to Eastwood Park off Rayleigh Road. They spent 20 minutes extinguishing the blaze, which is being
THREE sheds went up in flames in neighbouring back gardens. Two crews from Grays fire station were called to Lenmore Avenue, Grays, about 5.30am this morning. Some nearby fern trees were also affected by the fire, which was extinguish by 6.15am.
A CAR has been left a wreck after being torched. Emergency services were called when a blue Ford Escort saloon was discovered alight about 5.30am this morning off Thames Road, Canvey. A crew from Canvey fire station spent about 25 minutes
A YOUNG woman has been found guilty of lying about being raped. Sarah-Jane Hilliard, 20, claimed she was attacked by Grant Bowers, in the toilets at Basildon railway station. A week later, Hilliard even applied to the Criminal Injuries
A HOMELESS charity in Westcliff is celebrating a £2,000 grant from a health trust. Harp, the Homeless Action Resource Project, beat four other shortlisted groups to win mental health trust South Essex Partnership Trust’s Pitch Your Project
THIEVES struck at a cafe after two workers went to the help of a screaming 11-year-old child who fell out of a tree. The pair were cleaning up at the Southchurch Park cafe when they saw the injured boy and rushed to his aid, without thinking
THE demolition countdown is ticking faster and faster for one of Southend’s most prominent landmarks. Not the rickety arm of the world’s longest pier stretching out into the Thames Estuary, or the scaffold-covered Palace Hotel, looking down
IMPROVED safety measures have been introduced and counselling offered at a Canvey swimming pool where a seven-year-old girl nearly drowned. Natea Dackombe’s hair was sucked into a 7mm underwater vent at Waterside Farm Leisure Centre, off Somnes
