Oxfordshire County, England News Archives

ONLY three Oxfordshire primary schools managed to get all their pupils up to the minimum standard expected this year.

FOR FIVE YEARS the residents of Hambleden, near Henley-on-Thames, tried in vain to get broadband connections in their pretty village.

OXFORDSHIRE sparkled at the weekend as Christmas lights were switched on across the county.

Burglars broke into three homes in Carterton in the early hours of yesterday. A property in Carr Avenue, Carterton was broken into and the keys to a Skoda Octavia and the car itself were stolen.

A woman died following a crash on a West Oxfordshire road last night. At about 5.43pm there was a collision between a red VW Golf and a black Vauxhall Astra on the B4022, Fawler Road, between Charlbury and Finstock.

A WOMAN from Oxfordshire has become a padre in the British Army - " only the fifth woman to do so.

A 1m revamp - threatens town identity' 7:10pm Friday 27th November 2009 Comments Have your say CONCERNS have been raised over proposals to give Bicester's Market Square A 1m makeover.

NEIGHBOURS tonight described their shock when a pensioner died after he was found trapped under what was believed to be his own car in Chipping Norton.

A FORMER manager of the Woolworths store in Witney has decided to become a plumber.

THEY were dancing in the streets tonight as about 200 Oxford schoolchildren with lanterns led the way to switch on the city's Christmas lights.

SHOPPERS will be driven out of Oxford city centre by any increases to car parking charges, traders have claimed.

KPMG said 391 stores would close with the loss of 2,140 jobs, although it remained hopeful that some of the outlets would be sold as going concerns before the closure process was completed.

A private hire driver has been warned he faces jail after admitting causing the death of one of his passengers through dangerous driving.

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a wind farm just outside Bicester will be decided at a public inquiry.

Environment Agency flood watch warnings were tonight in place on the River Thame and Chalgrove Brook.

VILLAGERS are hoping they have the recipe to create a top new play area for their community.

TWO thieves stole a box of tuck shop goodies that would have helped pay for games at a youth club.

DETAILS of a A 10m project to expand Oxforda s railway station are unveiled today.

BOYS at one of Oxfordshire's top schools are set to answer to a woman headteacher for the first time in its 750-year history.

AN alcoholic has been banned from a series of roads after threatening and intimidating people.

LANGUAGE schools and colleges across Oxford could be forced to close if proposed clampdowns on student visas go ahead.

WALLINGFORD'S former Waitrose store is finally up for sale - but the district council has abandoned its attempt to redevelop the site.

PLANS are being drawn up to close Wantage Civic Hall during the mornings to try to stem losses of A 215,000 a year.

TROUBLED Pete Doherty has revealed that his heart "stopped" and he was on a life support machine after being rushed to Swindon's Great Western Hospital .

Headteacher Len Spiers has praised his pupils after their school bus was in a horrific collison with a tractor on Monday afternoon.

AN Amazonian tribal chief travelled to Oxford to help raise the issues of deforestation and climate change.

TRIAL closures of two notorious rat runs in Oxford will not now go ahead because of fears they could cost lives.

A MAN who was punched to the ground and kicked in the head in a late-night attack has told a court of the injuries he suffered.

A man has confessed to chopping down a tree which landed on power cables and caused traffic chaos across west Oxfordshire.

IN his 22 years of policing traffic PC Glenn Powell, 49, has seen it all. From pulling motorists over for driving while playing the trumpet, women putting the finishing touches to their make-up and men shaving, the experienced cop is still amazed at what people get up to when driving.

PROPOSED A 240m cuts to healthcare spending in Oxfordshire could mean job and service losses, health bosses warned last night.

A FORMER soldier and his wife are drawing on their military experience to transform one of Oxford's best known pubs.

CHILDREN in Oxfordshire are set to benefit from a A 2m investment in nurseries and pre-schools. Oxfordshire County Council has agreed to hand over the money for building projects at 17 centres.

Global drinks giant PepsiCo is eyeing up an audacious move to Reading's striking skyscraper The Blade, getreading can reveal.

A PUB and a shop were caught selling alcohol to underage teenagers in a police operation.

TWO letting agents's offices and two homes were raided yesterday in a probe into complaints about missing rent and deposit payments.

Drivers faced delays of more than an hour this afternoon after the A40 Witney Bypass was closed in both diections.

Oxford Brookes University is ready to redraw its plans for a new Headington campus in a final bid to rescue the controversial A 150m scheme.

REGULARS at a pub will not need to spend much time getting to know their new landlord - " he's been drinking with them for more than 30 years.

OXFORD'S parks and pavements are under siege from dog mess - " but only two owners have been fined in five years.

TWICE as many officers patrol Oxford city centre at weekends to tackle drunken and loutish behaviour compared to four years ago.

PEOPLE from all corners of the county are gearing up to perform stunts in aid of Children in Need on Friday.

DRIVERS have suffered delays on Oxforda s A34 Western bypass this morning after a cow got onto the dual carriageway.

TEENAGERS were given a harsh lesson in road safety as part of a police drive to cut the number of young people killed on Oxfordshire's roads.

AN operation to crack down on burglaries in West Oxfordshire has resulted in a 30 per cent crime reduction, police say.

OXFORDSHIRE County Council admitted today it was now facing cuts of more than A 100m, with up to 500 jobs going.

People living in Swindon will soon be getting their hands on free internet access thanks to a new council-run scheme.

OXFORD City Council leaders bowed to public pressure last night and pledged to save four public toilets earmarked for closure.

A FAMILY'S dreams of travelling around Europe have been shattered after their camper van was stolen.

Three secondary school pupils were injured after their double-decker school bus was in collision with a tractor at Lydiard Millicent near Swindon this afternoon.

TWO members of an international drug smuggling ring have been jailed for more than 18 years after police found cocaine worth millions of pounds in a car boot.

A list of people convicted of offences at magistrates courts around the county recently: Vitalij Lazarev, 25, of Milton Road, Shipton-under-Wychwood, admitted driving while disqualified and driving without insurance in Southam Road, Banbury, on September 10.

David Cameron has said he is a Christian who believes in God and goes to church, although "not as regularly as I should". The Conservative leader said Sunday School was one of his earliest memories, but said he does not "drop to my knees" and ask for help in a crisis.

A CORONER is calling for tougher controls on the sale of alcohol after an inquest on a father of two killed who rode his motorbike while over the drink-drive limit.

AN OUTRAGED vicar has branded the theft of a Poppy Appeal collection tin as "disrespectful" to the armed forces.

SWINDON'S flood-prone residents spent the night with crossed fingers after 20 to 40mm of rain was predicted in the lead up to today.

TWO people appeared before Oxford magistrates today accused of stealing from three charities, including the Royal British Legiona s Poppy Appeal.

A TEENAGE motorcyclist has had to have the lower part of his leg amputated following a horrific crash.

IF YOU fancy a pint of real ale, then drop into six pubs in Oxford competing to be named the city's pub of the year.

UP in the way cash is distributed to compensate councils for the number of free bus journeys made by pensioners could see Oxford City Council benefit by more than A 2m.

A TRADE union has raised fears 500 jobs could be outsourced at one of Bicester's biggest employers.

AN ELECTRIC cable was the reason why it took half a day to remove an overturned lorry which brought Oxford to a standstill.

OWNERS of a country pub are furious after highways inspectors demanded they take down a sign publicising their struggling venue.

HAND car dealers in Oxfordshire claim the Government's scrappage scheme is ruining their trade.

YOUNGSTERS are climbing, swinging and jumping all over their new village play equipment.

SIX British soldiers killed in Afghanistan are due to be repatriated to Oxford tomorrow.

The director of the Oxford Preservation Trust failed to get a driving ban overturned.

DRIVERS on the A34 and Oxforda s ring road were gridlocked for hours today after a lorry overturned at a roundabout.

A cheating husband left his pet dog to 'cook to death' in a boiling hot car while he visited his mistress, a court was told.

A SMOKER has been fined A 80 - " for dropping a matchstick. Demetrios Samouris was hit with the fine by an Oxford City Council street warden while he was shopping with his girlfriend in Cornmarket Street.

FOURTEEN men from Oxfordshire have appeared in court accused of being involved in a pub fight.

VISITORS to Witney's new A 50m shopping centre have raised concerns about a shortage of parking in the town.

PEOPLE across Oxfordshire will pay their respects to Britain's war dead at services across the county this weekend.

A a oePROFESSIONAL thiefa who stole A 24,000 of blank CDs from a parked lorry on the A34 claimed he did so after hearing his girlfriend had turned to prostitution to stave off debts.

A CHARITY for youngsters with mental and physical learning difficulties has been handed the largest donation in its 81-year history.

A PRIMARY school in west Oxfordshire has been rated - outstanding'. Under Ofsted's new, tougher inspection framework, Enstone Primary School, near Chipping Norton, was given the highest rating.

THIEVES are netting hundreds of pounds by climbing underneath vans and stealing the spare wheels.

A SENIOR policewoman has vowed to conquer her severe car sickness by setting off on a 3,000 mile rally tomorrow.

The A4074 between Wallingford and Oxford has been reopened following a serious accident today.

A SELECTION of superheroes yesterday staged two protests in Oxfordshire in a bid to gain more rights for fathers.

Brad Kershaw was found slumped on a sofa in Winterbourne Close in Bicester on May 24, after a night with friends in which he also smoked crack cocaine and drank heavily.

Killer nurse Benjamin Geen, who caused two patients' deaths and seriously injured 15 others in a perverted attempt at "self-aggrandisement", was rightly found guilty, a top judge has ruled.

Police today warned people to be on their guard after three distraction burglaries in Oxfordshire yesterday, where the offenders claimed to be from the water board.

The body of Didcot-based Staff Sgt Olaf Schmid has been repatriated to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

TRADING standards bosses last night said they were appalled after 50 per cent of stores in an Oxford Mail test sold cigarettes to a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

TWO men who robbed a stranger in a drunken and unprovoked late-night attack have been jailed.

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PICKETING postal workers admitted disruption could rumble on for the "foreseeable future" as they continue their fight over modernisation at Royal Mail.

Two men are being questioned today after a robbery at a Didcot bookmakers. At about 7pm yesterday, a man walked into Stan James Bookmakers, in Wantage Road, and threatened a member of staff, demanding that they hand over cash.

A PUBLIC inquiry will decide whether 1.55m tonnes of sand and gravel can be extracted from an Oxfordshire farm.

Campaigners have vowed to continue to fight to save Oxforda TMs public toilets a ' despite a radical closure programme being finally ratified last night.

YOUNGSTERS can learn to camp, cook and help other people after Oxford got its first new Cub Scout group for 20 years.

A CRACKDOWN on taxis across the Vale discovered several cars with defects. Fire extinguishers and first-aid kits were missing and in one vehicle a meter had been unsealed, meaning it could be tampered with.

A POPPY organiser and his team are celebrating a decade of fundraising success at a motorway service station.

The night skies around Oxfordshire were sparked into life over the weekend with a series of firework displays.

An Oxfordshire hospital nurse convicted of murdering two patients is launching an appeal in a bid to clear his name.

CLAD robber held a gun to the head of a terrified Burger King manager before making off with A 2,000 in cash.