A three-vehicle crash this evening blocked one lane of the M40 in north Oxfordshire. The collision on the southbound carriageway happened between junction 11 at Banbury and junction 10 at the Cherwell Valley Services. One lane was closed and the matrix
A round up of cases recently heard at Oxford Magistrates' Court Lynn Skegg, 56, of Heath Drive, Binfield Heath, near Henley, admitted four counts of theft of DVDs, clothes consumer electronics and a test postal packet from Royal Mail in Henley-on-Thames
Police are appealing for information after a 16-year-old boy was assaulted in Bicester. At approximately 7.50pm on Friday, the 16-year-old victim was using the cash machine at Tesco in Holm Square, when a man walked up to him and punched him
THE city is officially back in the fashion spotlight, as the third annual Oxford Fashion Week gets under way today. Over the next month, fashionistas can enjoy events featuring more than 100 designers and speakers along with five runway shows. It begins
BUG hotels and bird feeders were the order of the day as children got creative at the Oxford Botanic Garden. Children were invited to build creepy crawly homes from natural materials as part of National Nest Box Week on Thursday. Enjoying
PENSIONERS are becoming increasingly worried council cuts could lead to the permanent closure of day centres. Cheap transport to and from the centres has already been withdrawn for new users, and there are fears it will phased out altogether next year
Millions of Vodafone customers in southern England lost services when burglars smashed their way into a building and stole vital network equipment. The raiders entered the building in Basingstoke, Hampshire, early on Monday morning and took
House prices in Oxfordshire are falling at their fastest rate for almost two years. Latest figures from the Government’s Land Registry show the average price of a property in the county in January was £236,148, a drop of 0.9 per cent on the previous
Police today released CCTV images of a man wanted in connection with the theft of two purses in Banbury. The man shown here was captured on CCTV in an Argos store in Stratford-upon-Avon using a bank card stolen along with a purse in Calder Close,
A 1929 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Phantom II Weymann Sports Saloon is one of the highlights of the Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia sale at Bonhams Oxford on March 5. The car is estimated to sell for £180,000 – 200,000. The Phantom II was reputedly
AEA Technology 4.9 BMW 5041 Electrocomponents 276.6 Nationwide Accident Repair 99 Oxford Biomedica 6.7 Oxford Catalysts 88 Oxford Instruments 617.5 Reed Elsevier 549.75 RM 155.5 RPS Group 199.9 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
Police are appealing for information after a masked man forced his way into a man’s house and stabbed him. The incident happened between 7.15pm and 7.30pm on Thursday, at an address in Plowden Way, Shiplake Cross, near Henley. A 39-year-old man
CHARITY champion Ray Collins is plotting his next extreme challenge after walking 80 miles in 24 hours last summer and raising more than £6,000. The 41-year-old from Wantage has completed six end-urance tests in the past six years and raised
VODAFONE bosses have said mobile telephone calls on the network are now working, following this morning's blackout. Thieves broke into a technical facility in Basingstoke, Hampshire, overnight, stealing specialist hardware that controls the
CHILTERN Railways has postponed bringing in its new speeded-up timetable for May, just days after unveiling it. The train operator said it had taken the decision to reduce the risk of disruption for passengers after reviewing progress on its Evergreen3
A third car may have been involved in a crash on the M40 this morning where a woman was taken to hospital. At 10.10am a green Volkswagen Beetle and a white Vauxhall Astra collided as they were travelling south between junctions 10 for Brackley and nine
CAMERAS are ready to roll for the filming of a new romantic comedy set in Oxford. The team behind the rugby-based movie, called No Balls, say it will star British sporting personalities and high level international actors. And Oxford folk are needed
Police are appealing for witnesses following a collision on the M40 today. At 10.10am, a green Volkswagen Beetle and a white Vauxhall Astra were involved in a collision as they were travelling south on the M40 between junctions 10 and 9. The driver
ALL smartly dressed and ready to roll. This was the scene as members of the pub trade prepared to leave by coach for Edinburgh. We are not certain where the picture was taken, but we assume it was in Oxford because most, if not all, were members of
Police today warned of fake £20 notes being used in Oxford. The Old Mans Premier shop, in Courtland Road, Rose Hill, unwittingly accepted fake notes on February 6, 21 and 24. In each transaction, a forged £20 note was passed to the shopkeeper
SPECTATORS who stood watching a huge fire at Abingdon didn’t realise they could have been in danger themselves. The fire broke out at May’s Stores in West St Helen Street in October 1961. Staff at Pearce’s decorating shop across the road in Lombard
WHEATLEY Village Produce Association – which has just celebrated its 70th anniversary – owes its existence to the Dig for Victory campaign. At the start of the Second World War, with food scarce and rationing in force, the Government encouraged families
WORK has started on a new £140,000 playground in Cumnor that will draw inspiration from the village’s history. The area in The Glebe will have full disabled access for children as well as exercise stations for older residents. It will be officially
Missing Oxford Brookes University student Andrew Stout has been found safe and well. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said today that when Andrew became aware that he had been declared missing he made contact with police by telephone.
A POT of cash has been made available for major community projects in South Oxfordshire. South Oxfordshire District Council is taking bids from charities, voluntary and non-profit organisations wanting a share of the £500,000 pot The money must be used
A crash involving up to six vehicles today closed the southbound M40 in north Oxfordshire. The collision happened between junction 10 at the Cherwell Valley Services and junction 9 at Wendlebury. Police said up to six vehicles were involved, one of
THE M40 is blocked southbound between junctions 10 and 9 this morning after up to six vehicles crashed. There are huge tailbacks following the accident near Baynard's Green that has left one of the vehicles on its roof. You can see the
LEAD worth more than £25,000 was stripped from the roofs of North Oxford businesses and homes last year. Officers dealt with 46 reports of lead and copper thefts in the suburbs of Summertown, Wolvercote and Cutteslowe, with five recorded in
Reigning Formula Renault UK champion entrant Manor Competition will enjoy continuity for the 2011 season having retained the same quartet the team fielded in last November’s winter series – 2010 Formula Renault BARC champion Alice Powell, of Chipping
MOBILE phone network Vodafone is not working across Oxfordshire and parts of the south of England this morning following a break-in at one of its centres. A Vodafone spokesman said: "We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which
AEA Technology 4.9 BMW 4969 Electrocomponents 272.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 99 Oxford Biomedica 6.7 Oxford Catalysts 88.5 Oxford Instruments 622 Reed Elsevier 546.75 RM 155.5 RPS Group 199.7 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
I'M a motorist and a cyclist and I can’t understand why people keep asking for cyclists to pay road tax. If cyclists were included in the road fund system, then, based on their emissions, they would be exempt from paying anything just like many cars
REGULARLY dipping into your newspaper over recent months, I have found myself submerged in the debate over how to keep Oxfordshire’s finances buoyant. I wonder, as Oxfordshire faces £119m in cuts, why is £26m being spent on a new swimming pool? Where
I WRITE regarding the plans for a major new redevelopment of Botley. It seems that with plans to sell land, the Vale of White Horse District Council sees the library closure as a foregone conclusion, which I hope it is not. However, I may have a suggestion
HOW appropriate that the Prime Minister should have relaunched his Big Society initiative on the same day that the county council voted to destroy so much of the hard-won infrastructure on which this initiative, if genuinely meant, should depend. The
SO entertained was I by Green group leader David Williams’ description of his group’s budget proposal for Oxford City Council as a “credible alternative” (letters, February 24), I nearly fell off my chair. Among the proposals in the budget was income
TWO things: one bad, one good. The bad being the ridiculous decision by Oxfordshire County Council – which has forbidden the wearing of goggles in school swimming lessons – to not additionally ban water (in case you get wet and die of exposure), towels
We were interested to read that one of our brethren, Larry, a four year old tabby, has been recruited to deal with the rats at No 10. As part of the Big Society initiative, and for a few choice cuts, we would be prepared to donate our services to tackle
Kidlington’s Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division title hopes suffered a severe blow when they were thrashed 6-0 by third-placed Slimbridge on Saturday. Gordon Geary’s makeshift side would have gone top of the table if they had avoided
A COUNCIL boss has signalled a U-turn over a “nonsense” health and safety ban on goggles in school swimming lessons. Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell said he was “mortified” to learn of the edict after reading Friday’s Oxford Mail and
HIS face beaming with delight and an Oxford United scarf around his neck, Afghanistan bomb victim Jack Cummings returned to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday to a hero’s welcome. The 22-year-old Didcot sapper was the guest of honour for United’s Military
Banbury United were overpowered as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat away to promotion-chasing Leamington in Saturday’s Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division clash. Leamington’s physical approach found the visitors wanting. Banbury’s
Felipe Barcelos scored one goal and set up another as City moved further way from the Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division drop zone with a battling 2-1 victory at play-off chasers Chippenham on Saturday. But the gloss was taken off the victory
WE return today to our scrutiny of the appalling betrayal of our primary school children in Oxford to reveal how Tower Hamlets schools are outperforming this city’s. The London borough is one of the most deprived areas in the country, yet its
OXFORDSHIRE’S most disadvantaged primary school pupils are consistently outperformed by youngsters from similar backgrounds across England. Analysis by the Oxford Mail shows that if your child is Asian, is poor, or speaks English as a second
Forty firefighters battled a blaze in a disused social club in the early hours of this morning. At 2.24am, fire crews were called to the Dean Court Social Club in Dean Court, Botley. Six fire engines and various support vehicles attended the incident
OXFORD United boss Chris Wilder insists Saturday’s defeat was just one of those games you have to forget. The U’s suffered a setback to their play-off hopes when they lost 2-0 at home to 17th-placed Hereford. They dominated possession, but were stung
A famous face is set to return to Abingdon after the landlord of the Broad Face pub, in Bridge Street, tracked down its old sign. Dushan Salwathura acquired the sign from a former barman who found it in his garage. Its whereabouts had been unknown for
A BUS service that Rose Hill residents spent eight years campaigning for is avoiding part of the route because of badly parked vehicles. Transport firm Stagecoach said it cannot get its number 20 bus down Rivermead Road on its way to Templars Square
CAMPAIGNERS against the High Speed 2 railway will tonight light beacons to signal their opposition on the day public consultation is set to start. And they will take their message to Prime Minister David Cameron’s Witney constituency, with a beacon between
