BUS and rail group Go-Ahead's South Central franchise was the driving force behind a 56 per cent surge in underlying half-year profits. The addition of the London commuter service 15 months ago helped turnover rise 24 per cent to £537.7m and profits reach
EXTREME right wing groups such as the British National Party (BNP) must not be allowed to play the race card in the North-East, say protestors. The BNP is fielding a record number of candidates in the region's local elections this year, with more than
A NORTH-EAST charity has benefited from coins and notes handed in by holidaymakers after their visits abroad. The former Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Councillor Mary Carr, set up the scheme last year, urging people to donate old coins and notes before the
A SENIOR manager at a London arts and entertainment centre is to return to the North-East to take over the running of the National Glass Centre. Vicky Nicholls, brought up on Teesside, is head of marketing and development for the company managing the
Q I keep hearing about Pensioner Credit. What is it and who is it for? A It is a new benefit starting in October for people of 65 and over who are on modest incomes. Those to benefit will be single people with weekly incomes under £139 and couples getting
Chris Gardner is dressed in a blue frock coat and matching finery, wears spectacles perched perilously half way down his nose and bears a creditable (if not necessarily intentional) resemblance to Johann Sebastian Bach. Another chap looks like he might
DOCTORS in the region are predicting that a radical reforms package may help to solve the chronic shortage of GPs. But a patient watchdog has expressed fears that the proposed GP contract will fail to boost the North-East's medical workforce. The region
PLANS to develop a disused football ground should begin in earnest this year. The former Ferryhill Athletic FC ground has stood empty since the club went bust about nine years ago. The lease on the ground was initially claimed by the Vaux Brewery, but
A FAMILY is distraught after one of their pets died of internal injuries a day after it was stolen. A pair of ferrets belonging to 13-year-old David Neal were stolen from the back yard of the family home in Trimdon Grange, County Durham on Wednesday night
NEWSPAPER bosses have rejected complaints made by Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson against the editor of his local paper. Johnston Press, publisher of the Hartlepool Mail, confirmed yesterday that editor Harry Blackwood was "away from the office on sick
A MAN who torched the home he shared with his partner because they had a row was jailed for a year yesterday. Stephen Lincoln, 20, set fire to the curtains of the flat in Coquet Avenue, South Shields, after an argument with Helen Bell on July 13, causing
FAMILIES with loved ones serving in the Gulf have been invited to a cathedral service tomorrow. A silent procession will make its way from the Parish Eucharist at Ripon Cathedral, from 9.30am, to a new shrine of Justice and Peace, in the Chapel of God
Transport police are deploying extra officers to combat a deadly craze among children in the North-East. Julia Breen joined them on patrol. A ROW of children stand on the rail tracks as a high-speed express train hurtles towards them. Unflinching, the
A police spotter plane was called to locate a man suffering from depression, who ran into woodland on Thursday morning. A woman staying in the Little Stainton area, near Darlington, called the police after her 34-year-old husband was seen running across
Durham City manager Billy Cruddas says that this afternoon's home game against title challengers Bedlington is "crucial" City go into the game nine points behind leaders Billingham Synthonia with three games in hand, and six behind Bedlington and Brandon
After months of sickening sweetness as the wife of Coronation Street's dastardly villain Richard Hillman, Gail finally discovers this week why her fans have been shunning her. How will the soap's most tragic character cipe with beign married to a serial
ALAN SHEARER believes Newcastle United's future is at its brightest since he joined the club more than six years ago - with his Champions League stand-in Shola Ameobi a jewel in the St James' Park crown. Shearer, 32, returns to action today at Elland
SIR BOBBY ROBSON last night leapt to the defence of Peter Ridsdale three weeks after taking advantage of Leeds United's financial crisis by snapping up Jonathan Woodgate. Ridsdale is being villified by Leeds fans for dismantling a team that reached the
BLINKERED boss Howard Wilkinson is refusing to accept that Sunderland are in the midst of a relegation scrap. The Black Cats go into today's clash with North-East rivals Middlesbrough with many fans already resigned to life in the Nationwide League. But
A schoolboy who admitted giving a savage beating to a friend, who will never make a full recovery, can only be given a maximum six months behind bars after a test case ruling. The 18-year-old, from Durham, attacked his friend after drinking six or seven
A WARDEN at a home for retired clergy who swindled residents of their life savings has been ordered to pay back £197,000. Richard Devereux raided residents' funds to finance a luxury lifestyle including a home in Devon, regular Caribbean holidays and
DOLLS' houses, teddy bears and dolls will be on sale at the biggest fair of its kind in the North-East today. Exhibitors from all over the country will be meeting at Newcastle Racecourse at High Gosforth Park, between 10.30pm and 4.30pm. First established
A PUB opens its doors tomorrow night to anyone alarmed or disgruntled over tax bills expected to start dropping through letterboxes later this year. Cath Thompson, the landlady at the Bay Horse, Catterick, North Yorkshire, has been so incensed in the
