Update 31/01/12: The victim has been named by the Express & Star as former Moreton Community School pupil Chris Bains.

An 18 year-old male passenger has died and three others have been injured in a car crash on Mill Lane, Wednesfield.

Police first reported the incident around 2pm today (Sunday), further eye-witness reports were then posted on our Facebook page throughout the afternoon.

Later around 6pm, West Midlands Police confirmed that a male passenger in the car had died at hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance service later released the following statement:

One man has died and three people have been injured in a road traffic collision in the Black Country.

West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to Mill Lane, Wednesfield, shortly after 1.25pm today.

Four ambulance crews, an incident support officer and a rapid response vehicle attended along with the Midlands Air Ambulance crew who attended by car.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “Crews arrived to find a car that had come to rest against a tree.

“There were four people in the car one of whom, a man who was a passenger in the car, was confirmed dead after arriving at New Cross Hospital.

“The other three, two men and a woman all in their twenties had spinal, rib and arm injuries and were all taken to the same hospital. The driver was one of the men. All three were in a stable condition on arrival at hospital.”

WV11 would like to pass on our deepest condolences to the everyone involved.

The 59 bus service will pick up and drop off from stand ‘G’ at Wolverhampton’s bus station as of today and will no longer call at stand ‘E’.

Stand ‘G’ is in the middle tier of the station and means that users of the 59 service won’t have to walk/run as far to catch their bus, bonus!

Over 100 residents packed into Essington Community Centre on a cold January evening last week to vent their anger about Arriva’s number 68 bus service.

Council officers listened to resident’s complaints and promised to address all of their concerns.

South Staffordshire Council and Essington Parish Council, Councillor David Clifft, said after the meeting: “I’ve heard it all before, empty promises. Arriva are paid to deliver a public service which they are not doing. Like their buses they didn’t even turn-up at the meeting to field questions.”

Councillor Clifft added: “I felt the public meeting was a complete waste of time, no one really listened to the residents. I will continue to fight for a better service for the residents of Essington.”

The section of road from Amos Lane junction to near High Street, including the traffic island is going to be resurfaced. Some roads will be closed while the work is carried out, and there will be restricted access into and out of side roads. This should only be for a limited period with clearly marked local diversions  in place.

The working times and dates will be as follows:

Sunday 29th January 8am onwards
Sunday 5th February 9am onwards
Monday 6th to Friday 10th February 6.30pm to Midnight

Some work will include using noisy machinery to take out the existing road surface. The highways agency have apologised in advance for any inconvenience. and ensure residents every effort will be made to keep noise to a minimum and to complete work as early as possible.

Access to frontages will be maintained as far as possible. However at certain times, when work is taking place directly in front of the entrance to your properties  access may be temporarily restricted. Pedestrian access to premises will be maintained. Site staff will be on hand to assist with any difficulties.

For further information please contact Mick Wolverson on 01902 555679 or Khalid Akhtar on 01902 551841.

The gritting of roads is one of the most important tasks that Wolverhampton City Council’s Highways department is responsible for during the winter months.

In this behind the scenes video we find out about the team behind the gritters that go out in all conditions to keep the city’s road safe.

Video: Wolverhampton Today @ YouTube

Last year as it got colder some of our readers over on our Facebook page shared their best tips on beating the cold weather with us. One particularly helpful contributor Rob left us some great winter motoring advice, so this year we’ve asked him to put some of his best ideas together and here they are:

Winter Motoring Tips by Rob Williams

• Do not leave your car with keys in the ignition! Drivers tend to do this whilst the heater on is defrosting windows! They are in the house having a coffee etc. Come back outside… No car!
• In cold icy weather the battery takes a belting! Give it a charge up and put some Vaseline round the terminals – this helps prevent corrosion!
• Do not use hot water to melt your frozen windscreen it could crack the glass. Use De-Icer, or better still cover your windscreen the night before with a plastic sheet! P.S Remove Before Driving Away! ;-)
• Check water/Antifreeze levels, Screen bottle topped up with water and appropriate measure of SCREEN ANTIFREEZE, not Car Antifreeze as this will damage your car’s paintwork!
• Make sure your car’s tyres inc. the spare are in good condition, with correct tyre pressure! – important for handling on icy roads.
• Check all your cars levels oil, fuel etc. Try and keep a sensible amount in your cars tank in case of unexpected delays! I personally do not like keeping a can in the boot! Fumes etc. Ugh!
• Check all lights and wiper blades, I’ve just purchased a pair of Aero Flat ones the bendy type, they’re  brilliant used to be expensive! Now £6.50 a pair from Ebay and free postage! They’re much better than normal ones!

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Thanks Rob!

For more cold weather motoring tips see the AA website or if you have any tips you could add to this list, leave us a comment!

]]> http://www.wv11.co.uk/2011/12/12/winter-motoring-tips-by-rob-williams/feed/ 0 http://www.wv11.co.uk/2011/09/08/free-evening-parking-in-city-centre/ http://www.wv11.co.uk/2011/09/08/free-evening-parking-in-city-centre/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:29:00 +0000 James http://www.wv11.co.uk/?p=4333

Members of the City Council’s Cabinet last night approved proposals to scrap evening charges at Fold Street, School Street, Market, Peel Street and Church Lane car parks in Wolverhampton city centre.

Motorists will be able to park for free from 5:30pm onwards at five council-run car parks in Wolverhampton city centre from next week. (Evening charges are currently £2 per visit).

According to a Which? survey, parking in Wolverhampton is already among the cheapest of the 20 major UK cities with a total of 1,354 free parking spaces available to motorists visiting the city at night.

Councillor Roger Lawrence, Leader of Wolverhampton City Council, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer evening visitors to Wolverhampton free parking at five of our main car parks in the city centre.

“We know that people are finding the current economic climate very difficult and Members agreed that we should be doing anything we can to support businesses in the city centre and help their customers to enjoy a great value night out in Wolverhampton.

“Meanwhile, we hope that allowing free parking at Fold Street on Saturdays December 10, 17, 24 and 31 will help both shoppers and traders over the Christmas period, which is clearly a very expensive time of year.”

Source: Wolverhampton City Council
Image: J Mark Dodds used under Creative Commons license.

Further changes have been made to the 25 and 25A bus services in Wolverhampton after over 2,000 bus users and local councillors voiced their concerns over the re-routing of services following the opening of Wolverhampton’s new £22.5 million bus station in July.

In response to requests from local bus users Network West Midlands have vowed to improve the links to Wednesfield from the Scotlands and Wood End areas.

As of Sunday 4th September, hourly Monday – Saturday daytime service 25 journeys have been renumbered as service 25A and run from Wolverhampton to Third Avenue along the current service 25 route and then run via Park Lane, Cannock Road, Blackhalve Lane, Long Knowle Lane, Amos Lane, Bellamy Lane, Wood End Road and Lichfield Road to Wednesfield High Street before continuing via the current service 25 route to Bilston.

Information on new Bus routes and timetables will be available from a Centro stall at Wednesfield Market this Saturday (10th September) between 9:30am – 3pm, staff will also be on hand to discuss any queries about the new bus services.

Over 2,000 bus users have now signed a petition to voice their anger at recent changes to bus routes.

Users are unhappy at a number of changes that were made when Wolverhampton’s new bus station opened on Sunday 24th July and have called on local councillors to help their cause.

The petition which has been backed by local Councillors Steve Evans, Rita Potter,  Kyle Jackson, Val Evans and Bhupinder Gakhal calls for operator Centro /Network West Midlands to reconsider route changes to the former 525 and 528 services which have now been renumbered as the 25 and 28.

Residents are unhappy that the 25 no longer stops on Primrose Lane, Blackhalve Lane or Longknowle Lane in Fallings Park or on Wednesfield High Street.

Bus users in Ashmore Park are angry that the 28 no longer goes to Bilston and stops in Willenhall.

Centro have said that they will review all of the changes after 3 months, but this is clearly not soon enough for many bus users.

Have you been affected by these route changes?

Wolverhampton’s new state-of-the-art £22.5 million bus station opens today.

The modern passenger facility has 19 bus stands laid out in a saw tooth arrangement. This makes it much easier for buses to access stops when adjacent stands are occupied, which should mean less dleays for passengers.

There is improved access for passengers who will be able to get safely to all of the bus stands without having to cross any of the bus lanes. Passengers will now access their bus stand via covered pedestrian walkways equipped with glass doors that automatically open when buses arrives, as well as providing shelter in bad weather.

The bus station has three large, glass enclosed passenger waiting areas, with a light and spacious concourse at the entrance.

It also includes a Travel Information Centre, public toilets, and offices. The complex will also include a newsagent and WH Smiths store

As part of the Network Review undertaken by operator Centro a number of service changes have taken place affecting buses that pass through Wednesfield.

Some routes now have new numbers and others will call at different stops – read our previous article to find out about route changes and visit the National Express website for new timetables.