Improved rainfall, cooler temperatures, and reduced demand have all contributed to the boost, reaching 86.4 per cent, compared to just 66 per cent at the same point in 2025.

Average water usage in May was also down by 80 million litres per day compared to last year.

Andy Shaw, head of water quality and production at Yorkshire Water, said: “We’re in a much better position with our water resources in 2026, with reservoir levels at 86.4 per cent, much higher than the 66 per cent they were at this time last year.

“Groundwater and river levels are also healthy in the region, which we rely on for water supplies for parts of the north and east of our region.”

However, with warmer weather expected over the Bank Holiday weekend, the company is reminding customers to use water wisely.

Mr Shaw added: “We’re expecting warmer temperatures in the coming days and would advise all customers to use water wisely, as we urge them to do all year round.

“This includes small measures like using a watering can rather than a hose to water gardens, and if watering is required, to do it in the mornings or evenings to reduce evaporation during higher temperatures in the day.”

Officers have issued a statement after a child was taken to hospital after being hit by a car on Huddersfield Road in Oldham.

Greater Manchester Police said: “At around 12.35pm today (Saturday May 23, 2026), officers responded to reports of an RTC between a car and a child.

“The child has been taken to hospital. The driver of the car remained at the the scene to assist officers.

“No arrests have been made at this stage and investigations are ongoing.”

A Range Rover was left badly damaged and a toddler soaking wet after the vehicle he was in was taken through a car wash. The terrified 18-month-old has since developed a fear of travelling in cars after the ordeal.

The incident happened as Andrew Fenn and his partner Cara Burke were on a day out with their son, Otis. Before departing, the couple took their Range Rover Evoque to the car wash.

Midway through, chaos ensued. Cara, a nurse, said: “During the wash cycle, the machine caused the rear passenger door to open – it appears the rotating rubber brush caught the rear door handle.

“Water was sprayed into the car and onto our toddler, who was sat in the back seat. Andrew was able to twist from the drivers seat to shut the door. Then it happened again – the door was opened and more water was sprayed in.

“We were shocked because you don’t expect a car wash to be capable of doing that, especially with a child sat in the back at the time.

“Next thing, we heard a massive bang. As the machine was behind us, we decided to get out quickly, leaving the wash to continue its cycle. It was pretty scary.”

Outside, the Wrexham couple discovered the SUV’s roof spoiler had been ripped clean off, leaving a gaping hole and exposing the vehicle’s electrics beneath, reports North Wales Live. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

The resulting repair bill came to a staggering £1,800. Tesco stated that follow-up investigations revealed the car wash was functioning properly and a warning notice cautioned against its use by Range Rovers.

Jaguar Land Rover noted it was “common practice” for car manufacturers to recommend customers avoid using commercially operated automatic car washes.

Following the incident at Tesco Wrexham, Andrew, 31, who operates a window film business, requested to speak to the store manager. During the 40-minute wait, his mother turned up to collect Otis.

“He was very distressed,” said Cara, who is eight months pregnant. “It was terrible trying to persuade him to go into her car. It’s been horrendous. He’s slowly getting better but he’s still very upset by the experience.”

A manager indicated he would fill out an incident report and Tesco would make contact. Having heard nothing from the store, Cara said she went back the following day and was given assurances she’d receive a call.

When nothing materialised, she returned a second time and was once more told to expect a phone call.

“Soon after I was rung by a store manager saying the incident hadn’t been recorded properly and could we do it now,” she said. “This was quite concerning considering how serious the damage was.”

Cara, 27, was directed to head office, who informed her the claim had been forwarded to Tesco’s insurers. This week, the couple discovered that Tesco’s claims handlers had declined their claim, asserting the car wash was “fully operational” and that no faults were identified.

The vehicle spent a fortnight in a garage undergoing repairs, and when it was collected this week, the bill amounted to £1,800.

The couple have yet to receive the engineer’s car wash report. Cara said: “With these automatic washes you might expect a few scratches at worst. What you don’t expect is the doors to be opened and part of the roof taken off.”

Tesco apologised for the family’s experience at its Wrexham car wash, as well as their dissatisfaction with the subsequent investigation.

The supermarket giant stated that all claims were assessed individually and that, where deemed necessary, it would arrange both repairs and a hire vehicle. Tesco also put forward independent legal advice as an alternative course of action.

The retailer noted that disclaimer signage advised customers to “consult owner’s manual before using wash”. Furthermore, a notice on in-store payment machines warned Land Rover and Range Rover owners against using the car wash facility.

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This revelation came as a considerable shock to Andrew and Cara, who had been completely unaware that Range Rovers were particularly susceptible to damage in automatic, brush-based car washes.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was contacted for its response to Tesco’s Range Rover disclaimer. A spokesperson for JLR UK said: “We welcome the opportunity to investigate this incident and are awaiting the appropriate client information and permissions to do so.

“More broadly, and in line with what is standard across the automotive industry, our manufacturer documentation advises that commercially operated automatic car washes are not recommended.

“This guidance is common practice because this type of equipment can cause damage to exterior components. We therefore advise owners to follow the cleaning procedures specified for their model and vehicle specifications.”

Tesco’s car washes are owned and run by Wilcomatic. These facilities are remotely overseen and regularly inspected to confirm they’re functioning properly, the supermarket stated.

Tesco employees also conduct routine inspections, including a trial wash before opening each morning. Should a customer encounter difficulties, Wilcomatic is contacted to perform an assessment.

Cara remains resolute in pursuing the matter, having spoken out to alert other motorists to the possible dangers. She said: “I’m always a bit wary of using these car washes but we’ve never had an issue before. Being pregnant, constantly chasing Tesco for answers was the last thing I needed.

“One thing is for sure – we won’t be using automatic car washes any more. From now on, it’ll all be done by hand!”

Five-year-old Theo Chatham has been an inpatient between two hospitals since he was diagnosed with a rare condition shortly after his birth.

A five-year-old Celtic fan who has spent almost his entire life in hospital was visited by his Hoops heroes days after the team won the Scottish Premiership. Little Theo Chatham was visited by players at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children on Tuesday in what his dad Gary and mum Sarah called an “unforgettable” moment.

Theo has been an inpatient between the hospital and Forth Valley Royal Hospital since he was diagnosed with a rare condition shortly after his birth. At three weeks old, Theo contracted Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) – a serious condition that mainly affects babies that are born premature – where tissue in the bowel becomes inflamed.

Since then, he has undergone more than 200 operations, including 48 life-saving procedures. But the condition led to brain damage, cerebral visual impairment and focal epilepsy.

However, Gary and Sarah now undertaking training via the NHS to learn to attend to Theo’s needs and are finally hoping to get him home to Denny within weeks. Speaking to Glasgow Live, Sarah said: “We’re nearly at the end of our training so hopefully in the next three weeks or so Theo could be discharged and home for the first time in his life.”

Gary added: “It would be lifechanging. We’d be able to start living again and give Theo a bit of freedom.”

Tuesday’s visit by football heroes Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Liam Scales, Daizen Maeda and James Forrest was a “day to remember” for die-hard Celtic fan Gary – especially as they took along the league trophy. Gary said: “These types of visits are so special.

“It brightens up the kids’ day and it brings the parents on the ward together. As soon as the lads came in the energy shifted, Theo was so hyper and a buzz was in the air.

“It was a reminder of what football is really all about. There’s no rivalry when it comes to sick children.”

He also said it was “cool” team captain McGregor remembered Theo and the family from previous visits to the hospital. Kirsten Watson, CEO of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Celtic for their continued support and for bringing the Scottish Premiership trophy to the children’s hospital yesterday.

“Seeing the players with the trophy gave the children and their families a much-needed boost, and helped to brighten their time in hospital. It was especially meaningful to welcome the players yesterday, as last year’s traditional Christmas visit couldn’t go ahead due to the winter flu restrictions.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda.”

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and crutch.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.

After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the Justice Department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the Jan. 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.”

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”

Among the releases removed from the site were those concerning seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, far-right extremist groups. The Justice Department, in an unopposed motion last month, asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department on Friday moved to dismiss the cases against the group members.

A ‘substantial find’

A gun and drugs have been found by detectives after a suspect was shot by armed police in Whitefield. Officers tried to stop a car on Bury New Road at around 3pm on Friday (May 23).

The driver ‘failed to stop and drove directly at officers to get away’, Greater Manchester Police previously said.

A shot was fired by a GMP firearms officer. The driver of the car was taken to hospital for an injury to his arm, where he remained on Saturday The was injury described as ‘neither life-threatening nor life-changing’.

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The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said the suspect suffered a suspected broken elbow. The 20- year-old ‘white British man ‘was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs at the scene.

In an update, GMP said its investigation continues.

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The force said officers searched an address in Radcliffe overnight and found a firearm and a ‘significant’ quantity of both Class A and Class B drugs. No further arrests have been made. Enquiries are ongoing.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, from GMP’s Serious Crime Division said: “Our officers were met with an extremely dangerous situation on Bury New Road yesterday.

“Thankfully no members of the wider public, or officers were harmed in the incident. Despite this, our team has acted swiftly and professionally, and our investigation has progressed at pace.

“Overnight searches have led to the recovery of a firearm and a significant quantity of Class A and B drugs. This is a substantial find and it in turn prevents a potentially dangerous weapon and a significant amount of drugs from reaching our streets.

“Our investigation will progress, and we will continue to target those involved in serious and organised crime to keep our communities safe for all those who live and work across the whole of Greater Manchester.”

In a statement issued this morning, the IOPC said: “We are independently investigating following a non-fatal police shooting in Bury.

“We were made aware by Greater Manchester Police, who advised that a man was shot in the arm after a vehicle failed to stop for officers. He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken elbow.

“While firearms incidents like this are, thankfully, rare, it is important for there to be independent scrutiny to fully understand what has happened. IOPC investigators attended the scene and to the police post-incident procedures to begin gathering evidence.”

French police have suspended new EU border checks following long delays at the Port of Dover as drivers queued in sweltering heat.

More than 18,000 travellers were expected to arrive at the port through Friday and Saturday for the bank holiday getaway.

Authorities warned of delays of several hours, with queues reported for all ferry operators and at the check-in plaza for tourist traffic at the Kent port.

While processing times are down to 50 minutes at the port’s buffer zone as of midday Saturday, congestion on surrounding roads means drivers face a two-hour queue to access the port, equating to a total wait of nearly three hours.

However, passengers and motorists will be spared the additional checks after Police Aux Frontieres suspended the EU’s entry and exit system (EES) in a bid to cut wait times at the border.

In a post on X, the port said: ‘We are pleased that Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) have responded positively by invoking the Article 9 clause of the EES regulations.

‘While conventional border checks will still be undertaken, this will now enable PAF to significantly reduce the border processing time.’

The decision means travellers will be processed normally and will not have to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics.

At both the Port of Dover and the Le Shuttle terminal in Folkestone passengers and drivers pass through juxtaposed controls, allowing them to notionally clear the French border before they cross the Channel.

Under the new Entry and Exit system, third-country nationals are now required to register their passport at their first point of arrival into the Schengen area.

However, unlike at dozens of Schengen airports, EES self-registration machines are not yet operational in the UK.

Travel expert Simon Calder told Sky News that Police Aux Frontieres had attempted to register passengers manually using 11 checkpoints.

But they have now reverted to traditional ‘wet-stamping’ of passports in a bid to ease queues, which were building yesterday and this morning.

The tropical heatwave is adding to the travellers’ misery as motorists waited to board ferries to the continent, with temperatures hovering at just under 30°C in Dover.

It comes as around 3.4 million journeys are expected to be undertaken on Sunday, with a further 3.1 million trips on bank holiday Monday.

According to the RAC, six in ten drivers were not planning a leisure trip over the weekend, with just five per cent citing rising fuel costs as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s oil chokepoint.

It added the worst affected roads for congestion were likely to be the M1, M25, M5, M6, with anticlockwise journeys on the London orbital motorway expected to take twice as long as on an average weekend.

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Southampton were expelled from the play-offs on Tuesday and their appeal against the decision was rejected the following day – just 72 hours before kick-off in Saturday’s showpiece event.

Saints also admitted to spying on two other rivals’ training sessions, including Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town last month.

The Football Association has since opened an investigation of its own into Southampton over the Spygate scandal.

The club accepted what happened was “wrong” and apologised to the other clubs involved, as well as Southampton’s supporters.

After their appeal was rejected, the club said in a statement: “While we fully acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the scrutiny that has followed, the club has consistently believed the original sporting sanction was disproportionate, a view that has been widely shared by many in the football community.”

But Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg said his trust in “doing the right thing” was restored after Saints’ expulsion.

“It’s a feeling of relief, happiness, a little bit of trust in doing the right thing and humanity,” he told BBC Radio Tees.

“The right way to do it is working hard, not doing something else when everyone will see with the evidence and everything we know.

“It is quite clear what has been done and that should never be allowed in football.”

Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic previously said the Tigers were “collateral damage” because they had to wait to find out which opponent they would actually be facing in the final.

“We can say everything is unfair in this last two weeks. You don’t know what’s going on,” he told BBC Radio Humberside.

“If you look from a Middlesbrough point of view they knew if they were successful they would play against us so I can turn the situation around but I will not do that. We will try to beat them on the pitch.”

The air ambulance landed at HMP Deerbolt, near Barnard Castle, at about 4.55pm on Friday (May 22).

A man was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital by road.

It is not known at this time whether the man is a prisoner or a staff member. His condition is also not known. The MOJ has been contacted for updates.

A North East NEAS spokesperson said, “We received a call at 4.52pm on Friday to reports of a medical incident at HMP Deerbolt. 

“We sent two ambulance crews and the air ambulance and took one male patient to Darlington Memorial Hospital for further treatment.”

The Great North Air Ambulance Service confirmed that, while they attended, they weren’t required and returned to base.

The family of three sisters who drowned in the sea off Brighton beach have said they ‘don’t have the answers’ about what they were doing there or how they entered the water.

The ‘inseparable’ siblings – Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32 and Rebecca Walters, 31, all from the Uxbridge area of London – died 70 miles from home early on the morning of May 13.

Their father Joseph paid tribute to his three daughters, saying: ‘No words can truly describe the pain of losing three daughters in the prime of their lives.’

It was revealed this week that their mother, Janice Adetoro, also drowned in a heartbreakingly similar tragedy in 2010.

Janice, who had split with their father and suffered with mental health issues, walked into a park lake close to her home at the time in the West Midlands.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, their aunt Ajike Johnson said the tragedy ‘traumatised the girls’, adding: ‘They never recovered.’

Both the family and the police will be examining whether the sisters could have walked into the water as their mother had done – but stepmum Genevieve Barnaby-Adetoro dismisses the possibility.

Ajike – or Aunt Jik as her nieces called her – hopes it was a terrible accident.

‘I pray that they’ve been being mischievous, and that one of them lost their footing and the others dived in to save them,’ she said.

Genevieve told the paper the family has been retraumatised by abusive comments left by conspiracy theorists drawing their own conclusions on social media.

She said: ‘People are heartless. Some are saying, “We MUST know. We must have answers”. Hold on a minute. We are their family, and we don’t have answers.’

Holding back tears, Ajike added: ‘Don’t think we aren’t asking the questions ourselves. “Girls, why were you in Brighton? Did you just decide to go?”

‘I’ve gone over and over it.’

She said the girls ‘loved David Attenborough’ and could have decided to ‘go for a paddle’ after attending an event in Brighton for the natural historian’s 100th birthday the night before.

‘Did one fall in and the others go to help? Because they would have done – where one of them went, you always found the other two,’ she said.

Genevieve said ‘there is no comfort’ in the thought the girls died together, just how they had lived.

‘No,’ she said, adding: ‘They didn’t come into this world together. Why would they leave it together?’

A GoFundMe appeal to give the sisters ‘the loving and dignified farewell they deserve’ has attaracted nearly £40,000 in donations in its first 24 hours.

Fundraiser organiser Adesoji Adetoro wrote that it was set up on behalf of his brother Joseph and the family, adding that they are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

‘No parent should ever have to bury their child, let alone all three,’ he said.

‘While trying to process this unimaginable tragedy, my brother is now also faced with the heartbreaking task of arranging three funerals.

‘As a family, we simply want to give the girls the loving and dignified farewell they deserve.’

Sussex Police have said there is no evidence to suggest criminality or that anyone else was involved, but specialist detectives are working to gather the full facts and circumstances around their deaths.

Hundreds of hours of CCTV footage have been reviewed and inquiries made to businesses and properties around the beach area to try to track the women’s last movements, the force said.

Anyone with information is asked to come forward, particularly anyone who saw the sisters around the Madeira Drive area between 10pm on May 12 and 5.30am May 13.

Chief Superintendent Adam Hays has said the force ‘will leave no stone unturned’ in the investigation to understand what led to the ‘tragic events of that Wednesday morning’.

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