Summer holidays come with an awful lot of expectations. They’re expensive, precious and often represent the one chance to spend uninterrupted time together.

We imagine we’ll reconnect, have meaningful conversations, enjoy great sex and come home feeling closer than ever.

But holidays can also be surprisingly stressful for couples. I often hear from clients who are filled with dread at the prospect of a holiday. Not because they’re worried about flying or packing, but because they don’t want to spend that amount of time with their partner.

If you’re already feeling turned off by them, irritated by them, or simply desperate for space, the thought of being together for ten days or two weeks can feel unbearable.

When you know deep down that your relationship isn’t working, a holiday can make that impossible to ignore. In fact, I see a lot of separations happen either in the weeks leading up to a holiday or immediately afterwards.

That’s because for much of the year, work, routines, children, separate social lives and everyday distractions mask what’s really going on between you. Then suddenly you’re together round the clock. The forced intimacy can leave people re-evaluating their marriage.

And yes, sometimes when couples feel stuck, they might need professional help, but the role of therapy is not to trap people in relationships that aren’t working. If clients really feel averse to spending any time with their partner, they sometimes come to therapy for permission to walk away, and that’s OK.

But if you’re not ready to call time on your relationship – and don’t want to ditch your two weeks in the sun – here are some of the biggest holiday flashpoints I see in the therapy room – and how you can avoid them…

Natasha says spending a little time apart on holiday can be healthy and help couples fulfil their own needs

One wants to trek… one fly and flop

This is one of the most common holiday arguments I encounter.

I see couples place a lot of weight on having the perfect break, but the difficulty is that ‘perfect’ can mean something very different to each partner.

One of you wants adventure, activity and novelty. The other wants a sun lounger, a book and absolutely no obligations.

The mistake couples make is thinking they’re arguing about the destination. What they’re really talking about is how their needs can be met in the relationship.

I see more burnout than ever before. Many clients spend their lives giving, working and coping. The thought of a hike up to a hilltop village feels like yet another task. Others spend all year behind a desk and desperately need stimulation and excitement to unwind.

Solution: No matter how compatible a couple is, we are individuals with our own needs, desires, dislikes and boundaries. We will never match up completely – nor should we. Before you go away, think about what you expect and want from the trip. Think about previous holidays too. What worked? What didn’t? Where did resentment creep in? Then talk honestly.

I encourage clients to avoid criticism and instead focus on communicating their feelings and needs. I also suggest giving themselves permission to spend at least 20 per cent of the time meeting their own needs separately and guilt-free. That might look like a hot-stone massage while their partner enjoys a hike.

They’re glued to their phone

Many couples hope a holiday will finally provide quality time together. Then one partner spends the entire time scrolling, answering emails, disappearing into work or their social media.

When somebody is always on their device, I wonder what function that behaviour serves. It can be a sign of a dysregulated nervous system, where they use their phone to numb or soothe themselves, or to avoid being present.

If somebody continually chooses their phone over being present with you, it can leave you feeling lonely even when you’re together, says Natasha 

Sometimes work becomes an excuse. They tell themselves it’s important – and perhaps some of it genuinely is – but to the partner sitting beside them, it can feel incredibly rejecting. If somebody continually chooses their phone over being present with you, it can leave you feeling lonely even when you’re together.

Solution: I often ask couples: ‘When you get home from your holiday, what would make you say you got exactly what you needed?’ That’s a useful question to prepare for a trip, especially if this issue has come up before.

It’s usually easier to discuss these things before you go, rather than being perceived as ‘nagging’ on holiday. Maybe suggest times you can be phone-free, and other times when you can check in on emails, if that’s truly necessary. 

They don’t pull their weight

One child’s having a tantrum over ice cream, the other needs their armbands blown up. Their father? On a sun lounger, headphones on, buried in a thriller.

I hear this complaint constantly, particularly from women: ‘He did not help me with the kids at all. He was useless.’

Often, they had convinced themselves their partner’s lack of involvement at home was because work was demanding. Then they go away together and realise it isn’t that they’re busy. It’s that they don’t want to share parenting. For some, that realisation becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

He may say he didn’t notice or ‘I thought you were managing fine without me’, but the fact a partner can see you’re struggling and you feel he doesn’t care enough to help can be deeply hurtful.

Solution: Rather than say, ‘You never help with the children’, try, ‘When I’m managing everything with the children on holiday, I feel unseen, overwhelmed and like I’m doing it by myself.’

It’s also important to be specific. Tell your partner exactly what you need from them. Many people resist this because they think, ‘Why should I have to spell it out? I’m not their parent.’ But sometimes that’s exactly what you need to do. You can also discuss booking a kids’ club, or a babysitter if you’d both like a break.

Couples who navigate holidays successfully are usually the ones who can communicate effectively both beforehand and on holiday, and work out ways to ensure both partners feel considered.

You feel lonely in paradise

The air is soft, the night is young, and you’ve been chatting away to your partner. Their response? ‘Sorry, did you say something?’

One of the most painful complaints I hear is from people who feel their partner has very little interest in what they have to say.

They won’t maintain eye contact when talking about feelings and seem uninterested in their partner’s inner world.

It’s natural to hope that with time alone together in a beautiful place, things will be different. But with an avoidant, disconnected partner, that’s not likely.

Even harder is when that same partner suddenly becomes highly engaged when they want sex. For many, that combination is a relationship killer.

Solution: If you come home feeling just as lonely, unseen, rejected or disconnected as when you left, only with a great tan, it’s likely the problem isn’t the holiday at all, but the relationship.

Counselling can help but only if both parties are willing to do the work.

Holiday sex becomes a battleground

For one partner, holiday sex might seem like the perfect way to let go and relax without life’s pressures getting in the way. For the other, it might seem like yet more caretaking – the very thing they are trying to escape.

The expectation of intimacy can act as a wet flannel on desire.

One partner may resentfully give in to duty sex, while the higher-desire partner, who thought sun, sea and sangria would allow sex to flourish, feels deeply rejected. At this point couples start to realise, ‘It’s not our routine, is it? It’s us’ – and this can feel really destabilising.

Solution: One of the most effective things couples can do is remove the expectation entirely.

Touch your partner simply to be close to them. Stroke their hair. Hold their hand. Tell them, ‘This isn’t going anywhere. I just want to be close to you.’

Research tells us that people who have new experiences together have a better sex life.

When somebody no longer feels pressured, they have space to ask themselves what they want. And relaxed, tanned, with a cocktail in their hand, that may well be sex.

Friends and family always come first

There’s nothing wrong with group holidays or wanting family around. The question is whether friends and family are a strategy to avoid spending time alone as a couple. Wanting couple time is healthy, but if the idea of your partner wanting others there makes you feel rejected, or like you aren’t ‘enough’, that may be worth paying attention to.

Solution: There’s plenty of room for compromise here. Discuss how you can both get your needs met, even in small moments. For example, if his family are coming along, can you go for dinner alone one or two nights?

You might suggest booking another break with just the two of you, or a weekend away with friends. However, if only one person consistently gets what they want, the power dynamic isn’t equal. If you find yourself giving in and repressing your feelings, don’t ignore that.

As told to Leah Hardy

Lord Simon Woolley, principal of Homerton College at the University of Cambridge, told the vigil that when he met with Arday last week, the academic told him he felt that critics were “hounding me to death”.

Filmmaker and activist Misan Harriman told the vigil: “The legacy media crossed every line in the treatment of Jason.

“Imagine being so lost in the business of cruelty that you relish hurting another human for sport, with your own poison pen.”

He added: “Jason should still be here today.”

Arday, 41, was found dead at an address in south London, on 14 August, two days after Cambridge said it would investigate the circumstances around his appointment.

He had resigned as a Cambridge professor of sociology of education on 5 August, after the university said it would look into claims about his career.

Arday said his resignation should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.

Monday’s vigil came as more than 90,000 people signed a Good Law Project petition seeking an inquiry into media coverage of Arday.

Earlier, Cambridge University’s chancellor criticised the “racist feeding frenzy” around Arday in the weeks before his death.

Speaking publicly for the first time on the row, Lord Chris Smith said academic integrity could be upheld while questioning Arday’s treatment.

In a statement, he said: “I do believe it is possible to hold to two principles at the same time: to believe in the importance of academic integrity, and where criticisms of plagiarism arise, about any academic, whoever they are, ensure that they are rigorously investigated.

“And also to refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic.”

Cardiff’s manager couldn’t contain himself after the equaliser went in in the 1-1 draw with Wrexham

Cardiff City manager Brian Barry-Murphy couldn’t hide his delight following Rubin Colwill’s injury-time equaliser against Wrexham – jumping into the crowd to celebrate.

In the Bluebirds’ first game back in the Championship, they trailed to the north Walians with the clock in the red. Phil Parkinson’s men had taken a very early lead through Kieffer Moore on the night and looked the more composed team during the first 45 minutes.

But the hosts grew into the game, and the introduction of Rubin and his brother Joel seemed to change the match, with the Red Dragons the ones holding on as the clocked ticked down.

And when the younger Colwill was brought down on the edge of the box with 96 minutes gone, Cardiff had one last opportunity to level matters.

Up stepped Rubin Colwill, who struck a free-kick into the top corner.

That prompted bedlam, with the Cardiff players jumping into the stands and Barry-Murphy striding down the touchline and joining his charges in the crowd. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community.

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That prompted Sky Sports commentators Gary Weaver to call the Irishman “Brian Barry-Mourinho”, in reference to Jose Mourinho’s famous celebration at Old Trafford while Porto manager.

Asked post-match about the chaotic scenes, the head coach confirmed he had been booked for leaving his technical area and played the celebration down.

“No, no, no. I don’t want to be paying any fines. I was a bit embarrassed,” he said.

On Rubin, Barry-Murphy told Sky Sports: “We’re pretty stretched at the moment and Rubin’s not fully fit, he’s only had two days of training.

“He’s a very skilful player and a very unpredictable player.

“When you talk about formations or structure, he’s a little bit unstructured which is a good thing from our point of view, because he makes the games difficult for the opponents to predict.”

The idea of someone hacking a plane in less than a minute might sound like the plot from an unrealistic Hollywood blockbuster. 

But a terrifying new study has revealed how this could be achieved, using a device the size of a 10p coin. 

Scientists from the University of California San Diego have developed a custom hardware device that can take over the communications between two key onboard computers. 

One computer is the flight management computer, while the other is the computer that displays this flight path information in the cockpit.

To take over these crucial systems, all hackers would need to do is plug the device into a port inside the plane’s belly. 

According to the researchers, an attack of this sort would take less than 60 seconds to carry out on a Boeing 737 either parked at a gate or in an airport hangar.

‘We believe we have made a strong case that time–limited physical access (e.g., 60 seconds) represents a realistic goal for a motivated attacker,’ the researchers said.

‘The consequences of even such short access can be significant (and hence worthy of attention).’

Typically, physical access to an aircraft is not considered a major cybersecurity risk. 

However, in their new study, the team set out to understand whether or not an attacker with physical access to a plane could exploit its systems.

‘Our goal with this research is to alert the aviation community to this class of risks, so they may be appropriately mitigated well before they become dangerous,’ said Aaron Schulman, one of the senior authors of the work.

While studying a Boeing 737, the team discovered an unused maintenance port in the plane’s Electonics and Equipment (E&E) bay, which houses key electronic systems. 

The bay can be found under the plane’s nose – and crucially, it can be reached from the ground, and isn’t locked. 

‘What we found in our work, is that there’s a plug that is deep in the E&E bay, that if you open the door, and get inside, you can then touch from the ground,’ Mr Schulman explained.

‘And if you attach something to that plug, it actually gives you full control over the entire flight management computer.’

This port contains two ‘buses’ – communications systems that carry information and instructions between the flight management computer and the computer displaying the flight path information.

Scientists from the University of California, San Diego, have developed a custom hardware device that can take over the communications between two key onboard computers. One computer is the flight management computer, while the other is the computer that displays this flight path information in the cockpit

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While studying a Boeing 737, the team discovered an unused maintenance port in the plane’s Electonics and Equipment (E&E) bay, which houses key electronic systems. The bay can be found under the plane’s nose – and crucially, it can be reached from the ground, and isn’t locked

These buses, called ARINC 429, operate on decades–old systems – and lack any modern security features.

For that reason, it was fairly simple for the researchers to design and build a small hardware device to take over the buses.

In simple terms, the device sends out a strong signal that can overpower genuine transmissions.

This allows it to secretly send new instructions to the plane’s computers while hiding the fact that anything has been changed.

During a demonstration, the team showed that the implant could reroute a plane in flight, or modify key data about weight, balance and temperature – which could lead to an unsafe takeoff.

‘The pilot doesn’t have any knowledge that something is going on,’ Mr Schulman said.

‘So it’s a very covert and inconspicuous type of control that you can have with this kind of attack.’

The researchers decided to focus on the Boeing 737, as it is one of the most used aircraft in the world.

However, before you panic about your next holiday, the researchers reassure that their hacking device is staying under lock and key.

Mr Schulman added: ‘All of the authors of this paper routinely travel on Boeing 737 aircraft and expect to continue doing so.’

Three sisters and a seven-year-old boy were on their way to Dublin Airport ahead of a family wedding in Britain when they were seriously injured in a head-on collision. 

Alma and Niamh Kinsella, in their 30s, their younger sister Ella Hendricken, in her 20s, and her nephew were travelling in a Hyundai on the M9 in County Kildare when the horrific crash occurred on Sunday morning. 

Their vehicle collided head-on with a high-powered BMW, which was allegedly stolen, driving southbound on the northbound carriageway shortly after 3am. 

All five of the teenage boys – reportedly aged between 15 and 17 – travelling in the BMW died and were today identified on social media as Kamil Pustkowski, Joe Carthy, Jeremy O’Brien, Alex McCarthy and Jack Kennedy.

The four family members riding in the other vehicle all remain in hospital. Alma and Niamh are said to be in a critical condition, while their younger sister and nephew are receiving treatment for serious injuries. 

Alma and Niamh are thought to have been sat in the car’s two front seats when the crash occurred, with Ella sat beside her nephew in the back. 

All four of the family are from the Carlow area of south-east Ireland and had been making their way to the airport to attend a wedding in England. 

Father Tom Little, from a parish in Carlow, said today that the family of those who suffered injuries are ‘bereft with sadness’.

Alex McCarthy was one of the five boys who died in the collision in County Kildare on Sunday morning

Joey Carthy also died in the crash on the M9 motorway

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Jeremy O’Brien was one of five teenagers to lose his life in the collision 

Kamil Pustowski was one of five teenagers to die in the collision

Jack Kennedy was the fifth teenage boy to lose his life in the crash yesterday 

He told the Irish Times: ‘It is a terrible, sad event. It’s very hard to comprehend what’s happened. Everybody is hoping that those that are injured will make a full recovery.’ 

It emerged earlier on Monday that the five youngsters who passed away may have stolen the BMW which later crashed.

The vehicle had been spotted in several areas near Kildare and County Carlow before the smash happened – and police are trying to verify whether the boys are part of the ‘Lucky Dip’ burglary and car theft gang in Dublin.

It is also being probed whether they were part of a number of attempted robberies of cars in the same region over the course of the night. All five of the dead were masked when the gardaí came upon the grisly scene. 

Post-mortem examinations will soon be carried out to establish a cause of death.  

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said its members were ‘all in shock’ after the ‘horrific incident’.

GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell said: ‘This involved a stolen BMW that drove – trying to evade gardaí – the wrong way down the M9 and then a head-on collision occurred with this car of a family heading to Dublin Airport on holiday for a few days.’

Mr O’Connell explained the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardaí and that it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to pursue the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9.

Asked if this was normal, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio programme: ‘It would be standard practice, and the command and control centre would be dictating what happens in a live environment – but the members in the cars have to make a split-second decision.’

Mr O’Connell said there were ‘numerous gangs’ of boys and young men ‘trying to outdo each other’ in social media videos depicting interactions with Gardaí, pursuits and wrong-way driving.

‘Our members are not going to follow down that route – we’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, that way,’ he said.

The Kildare-based representative said the GRA did not ‘know what the exact answer is’ to address the problem, but added: ‘There’s not one member of An Garda Síochána [the national police] trained in pursuit – never mind in dealing with cars going down the wrong way.’

Mr O’Connell said gardaí also face internal sanctions, discipline and possible criminal offences when they decide to chase in pursuits. He said gardaí cars have also been rammed by stolen vehicles. 

Mr O’Connell said there was a need to ‘look at the sentences’ when these cases come before the courts, as he criticised those partaking in wrong-way driving as ‘playing Russian roulette with their lives and everyone else’s lives’.

He urged parents to talk to their sons about the potential consequences of getting into a stolen car ‘for the craic and the clicks’.

Friends and family took to social media in the aftermath of the crash to pay tribute to the teenagers who lost their lives. 

The scene on the M9 after a BMW smashed into the Hyundai on the M9 motorway

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In a social media post, a cousin of Joe Carthy and Alex McCarthy said: ‘Rest in peace to my two cousins Alex and Joey.

‘May you get a best bed in heaven, watch over your mother and father and brothers and sisters at this hard time. Left away to soon.’

In a separate post, she added: ‘God give your family the strength to get through this difficult time.’

Sharing pictures of Carthy wearing a balaclava, another cousin said: ‘Never in a million years would I ever (have) thought it would come to this Joe.

‘The thought of us never seeing you again. No matter where you were, you always put a smile on anyone’s face. Forever 15, my cousin.’

Meanwhile, a family friend said of Carthy: ‘Only a baby with his whole life ahead of him, most mannered little boy you were Joey.

‘Too good for this big cruel world, watch over my James he’s heartbroken over you. Your poor father and mother, Joey.

‘Please God give them this strength to get through this. Rest easy champ.’

A friend of Kamil Pustowski wrote: ‘My heart is broken, you’re gonna be missed so much by everyone. Rest in paradise, God is going to give you the best bed up there.’

A cousin of Jeremy O’Brien said: ‘RIP to my cousin. (He) was like a brother. (May) God give you the bed in heaven, you’ll be missed.’

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has described the head-on collision between junctions three and four as ‘horrific’ and warned that ‘in some cases’ vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of motorways for social media likes.

The previous weekend, nine people were injured in a head-on collision on the M50 in Dublin with a car travelling in the wrong direction on the motorway.

Jason Arday’s family have spoken out at a London vigil honouring the former Cambridge University professor who died last week.

He died days after resigning from his role as a professor at Cambridge, one he took on in 2023 as its youngest-ever Black professor.

The 41-year-old academic had faced criticism concerning his PhD thesis, other work, and accounts of his personal achievements.

A vigil was held in London’s Trafalgar Square, organised by the group Stand Up to Racism, with those close to Arday speaking at the event.

Organisers said more than 30,000 people gathered outside the National Gallery to pay tribute to the late academic; many wore black and brought flowers.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy read a statement on behalf of his family, which said ‘the public cruelty Jason was subjected to was too much for any man to bear’.

The statement continued: ‘What has become clear over the past 72 hours is the profound impact he had on people’.

‘A selfless and gentle soul, he tirelessly uplifted others through his words and actions,’ they continued. ‘His achievements were great and we do not want misrepresentations about his character to overshadow them.’

They appealed for him to be remembered ‘for the wonderful person he was and all that he achieved’.

Other speakers included MPs Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler, along with crossbench peer Lord Woolley and director of the Good Law Project Jo Maugham.

Lord Woolley, who was a friend of Arday’s, called the criticism of the professor a ‘public execution’ and a ‘lynching’, to cheers from the crowd.

He shared how he had dinner with Diane Abbott and activistMisan Harriman just last week, during which Arday had said: ‘They’re hounding me to death’.

Lord Woolley said: ‘We held him in our arms. We told him he was loved. He held Diane’s (Abbott) hands, and he said, “I love you, but”, he said, “they’re hounding me to death, and I cannot see a way out”.’

Recalling his friend, the crossbencher called Arday a ‘wonderful man’, adding: ‘Never stole a bag of crisps. He was exonerated from plagiarism.

‘But the dogs of hell, the hounds of hell, sought to pursue any inaccuracy that they could say Jason is a bad man, Jason doesn’t deserve to be in Cambridge.

‘For them, Jason doesn’t deserve to be alive. There needs to be some reckoning. There needs to be some justice.’

During her speech, Abbott said Arday was the subject of a ‘vicious’ and ‘bitter’ campaign, by people who did not believe a black man should be a Cambridge professor.

She said: ‘He must have felt that if he resigned the attacks on him would stop, but in fact they got even worse. From his resignation to his suicide last week, was just three weeks, but the newspapers printed 249 articles about him.

‘This was a vicious campaign but it wasn’t just a campaign against the professor, it was a campaign against all of us and that’s why it is so important to come together and fight for justice for Professor Jason Arday.’

One attendee was holding a cardboard sign which read ‘249 articles in 22 days’ which is believed to be a reference to analysis of media coverage conducted by NewsCord, an AI-based media analysis company.

More than 90,000 people, including Abbott, Green Party leader Zack Polanski and presenter Jameela Jamil, have signed a Good Law Project petition seeking an inquiry into coverage of Prof Arday, which says his death followed ‘two weeks of relentless harassment’.

In addition, Sir Patrick Vernon, who played a leading role in the successful campaign to establish a national Windrush Day, set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page, which has collected more than £170,000 in donations.

The crowd, dressed mostly in black, held flowers and signs which read ‘Rest in power Jason Arday’, and calls for ‘justice’ rang out through the square.

In their statement, the family concluded: ‘The outpouring of love, support and grief since his death mean so much to us.

‘Although it is bittersweet, now kindness is needed in life, not just in death. We’ll never know what might have been different had he experienced more of it while he was still here.’

Flowers were laid at the foot of Nelson’s Column by the vigil attendees as they left the square.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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The Government has announced that, from April 1, 2027, time restrictions on concessionary passes will be removed, allowing eligible disabled people to use buses without charge 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Currently, disabled bus passes are only valid for free travel between 9.30am and 11pm on weekdays unless a local authority chooses to fund longer hours.

The change will bring all areas of England in line with Greater Manchester, where the time restrictions were permanently lifted earlier this year.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Buses are a lifeline for so many people – making it easier to get to work, education and healthcare.

“It’s simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day.

“So we’re fixing that.

“Disabled people will now have unlimited free bus travel 24/7.

“I did it before in Greater Manchester and I’m proud to do it now for the whole country.

(Image: TfGM)

“This is part of our ongoing action to bring back hope and give people some much-needed breathing space on the cost of living.”

The nationwide change is backed by £60 million in funding and is part of the Government’s broader plans to make public transport more accessible and affordable.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “We’re putting an end to this postcode lottery, so disabled people can travel on buses for free whenever they need, wherever they live – unlocking opportunities and access to jobs, learning, and more.

“We are making this change because we’ve listened to disabled people, and we know the importance of buses to local communities.

“These passes are a lifeline for so many, helping them stay connected and get to work and appointments, and it’s only right they receive the same treatment, no matter their postcode.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the change would help remove barriers to employment and education.

Mr McFadden said: “For too long, disabled people have held a free bus pass in their pocket that didn’t always get them to work.

“Now we’re changing that.

“By removing these time restrictions, we’re helping disabled people access jobs, training, and other opportunities at any time of the day.

“Alongside our £3.5 billion investment in tailored employment support, this change shows we’re serious about breaking down the barriers that have held disabled people back for too long.”

Disability and transport charities have welcomed the announcement.

(Image: Bee Network)

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, said: “This is welcome relief for disabled people struggling with the cost of living as well as the extra costs of being disabled.

“Most importantly though, it removes the inference that disabled people can’t or shouldn’t work.

“Disabled people should have the same opportunities as anyone else to work or contribute to society in some other way and this will help level that playing field.”

James Taylor, Executive Director Strategy Impact & Social Change with Scope said: “Disabled people face extra costs every day and many need to travel in the morning for work, education and healthcare.

“Making free bus travel available around the clock is a welcome step that will put money back in people’s pockets and remove barriers to everyday life.”

Eligibility for a disabled person’s bus pass is set out in the Transport Act 2000 and includes people who are blind or partially sighted, profoundly or severely deaf, without speech, unable or virtually unable to walk because of a disability, without arms, or unable to use both arms, people with a learning disability, and people who would be refused a driving licence on medical grounds (other than because of drug or alcohol misuse).

This is part of the Government’s wider commitment to better, affordable, reliable buses, including the £2 bus fare cap, free bus travel for kids this summer and giving local leaders control over their buses.

The Prohibition Bar, a 1920s-themed venue in the centre of Middlesbrough, will welcome Leeds-born DJ and producer Tom Zanetti on Friday, August 28.

Zanetti, who has three platinum singles, more than one million social media followers and his own bar in Marbella, is expected to attract house music fans from across the region.

However, ahead of the event, The Prohibition Bar has stressed that it will be operating a strict zero-tolerance approach to illegal drugs, and says all customers will be searched on entry.

Tom Zanetti. (Image: Provided)

In a statement shared on Facebook, the bar said: “For the Tom Zanetti event, we operate a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs.

“Anyone found using, supplying, or in possession of controlled substances on the premises will be removed immediately and may receive a permanent ban.

“Police will be informed and stop-and-search procedures may be carried out where necessary.

“CCTV operates throughout the venue and footage will be provided to the police when appropriate.

“Our staff are fully trained to report and respond to any suspicious activity. All guests will be subject to a search on entry.

“Please respect the venue, the staff and fellow customers so everyone can enjoy a safe night.”

The warning comes ahead of what is expected to be one of the venue’s biggest events of the summer.

The Prohibition Bar describes itself as a venue where “style meets soul”, offering crafted cocktails, live music and headline DJ appearances in a “safe, sophisticated environment”.

The venue regularly hosts headline DJs, live music sessions and pop-up events as part of its entertainment programme.

Doors open at 8pm on Friday, August 28, for Tom Zanetti – Up Close & Personal.

The event is open to over-21s only, with tickets still available through the venue’s website, priced at £32.52 per person.

Kazinsky said: “I left EastEnders in 2008 as a 23-year-old boy and was lucky to spend the next 19 years of my life working around the world, always championing EastEnders and stating the fact that one day I wanted to walk in Sean’s shoes again – but this time as a man, to see who Sean the man might also be.