A ban on smoking in cars carrying children and young people up to the age of 18 which came into force on Thursday 1 October, 2015 is the England-wide ban following the introduction of similar legislation in Wales, and both the driver and the smoker can be fined £50 if found flouting the law. Experts say second-hand smoke is particularly harmful to children and young people as they breathe more rapidly and have less developed airways.

It was fantastic to see so many local organisations and people from across the Black Country come together as one, to support the latest event celebrating Dudley’s unity. The Dudley ‘CommUNITY’ day of celebrations followed on the back of the hugely popular and national award-winning Funday Sunday event held earlier in the year.

New fire safety measures will help save the lives of tenants and ensure all rented property is equipped with a smoke alarm, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said today. From  the 1st October, landlords are required by law to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, under new Government measures coming into force. It is estimated this could help prevent more than 25 deaths and nearly 700 injuries a year. 

Today, local school children from Southwark and neighbouring boroughs will be setting up shop, trading their home grown fruit and veg in Borough Market. These very select young traders will join the ranks of London's renowned fruit and vegetable market to sell their seasonal fruit and vegetables, grown and nurtured from seed.

A sniffer dog helped trading standards officers in Sandwell to find more than 5,000 illegal cigarettes and a quantity of counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco on raids on two shops. Yoyo the spaniel helped to find the illegal merchandise in the raids on the shops in West Bromwich and Tipton. The tobacco products were sniffed out by Yoyo from various hiding places including some behind a false panel within a shop's tobacco display.

Wolverhampton residents have been warned about suspicious calls from phone scammers who are targeting the city. City of Wolverhampton Council’s Trading Standards team have issued an alert after receiving a number of complaints. The tricksters have been ringing households, some of whom have been elderly, pretending to be from the council.