A driver has been slapped with a £110 fine after he left his car unattended for one minute while he tried to pay for parking.

Zhangyu Wu, 55, said he was reading the payment instructions just metres away from his Toyota in Enfield when an officer fined him for being parked without paying.

The penalty charge notice (PCN) revealed the warden had only observed the car unattended for one minute before handing out the punishment.

Despite explaining the situation in person, Zhangyu was told he had to appeal the fine, which was then rejected by the council.

The business owner told Metro: ‘It is awful and not fair. They do not have any common sense.

‘Drivers should be given a reasonable amount of time to read the payment instructions.’

Zhangyu parked in an Enfield Council parking back on Green Lanes just before 9am on June 9 this year.

He says he had just stepped out of his vehicle and walked across to a parking sign when an enforcement officer walked over to his Toyota and fined it.

‘I was just understanding how I was supposed to pay. The sign has lots of small letters,’ Zhangyu said.

He added: ‘I was not trying to avoid paying, I was trying to follow the rules. The officer thought I was not a driver.’

The PCN shows the parking warden had observed his vehicle ‘parked without payment of the parking charge’ for just one minute, from 8.55am to 8.56am.

The council say their officer did not see anyone at the nearby parking restriction sign.

But it is clear Zhangyu was very close by to his Toyota when he was fined, because he was recorded protesting to the warden at 8.57am, just seconds after the penalty was issued.

Zhangyu went over to the officer and explained he had only just arrived and was still working out how to pay.

The parking inspector told him the PCN had already been issued and the only option he had was to appeal.

Zhangyu wrote to the council with the same explanation but was told there was ‘no grounds… to wave the PCN’.

The driver said: ‘I don’t understand. Is the council using this as a way to generate money? It is not fair.

‘Anybody with a reasonable understanding should see this is not correct and should be cancelled.’

While the fine had a discount rate of £55, Zhangyu refused to pay, so his sister-in-law – who is the owner of the Toyota – has now been formally sent a Notice to Owner to pay the full £110 fine.

But Zhangyu has now vowed to formally challenge the punishment.

He said: ‘My point is not that people should park without paying. But my question is whether it is fair to issue a £110 penalty when someone has just arrived.’

Enfield Council defended their decision to issue a Penalty Charge Notice.

A spokesperson said: ‘A council Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) followed procedure in this case, by remaining with the vehicle in question the whole time.

‘No one was seen in the vicinity of the vehicle or at the nearby parking restriction sign, so the CEO issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) correctly.’

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

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile barrage overnight Thursday killed at least six people in Kyiv as explosions echoed across the capital throughout the night, local authorities said.

At least 33 people were wounded in the attack, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service. The air raid alert remained active into the early morning hours Thursday.

The strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging residential buildings, a medical facility and an educational institution. Emergency crews pulled people trapped under the rubble.

Russia has intensified ballistic missile attacks on the capital to constrain Kyiv’s air defense stocks. Kyiv has limited systems capable of intercepting ballistic threats, while supplies of missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems remain chronically constrained.

U.S. President Donald Trump had authorized Ukraine to obtain licenses to produce Patriot air-defense systems, but later reversed that decision.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has intensified its own campaign of long-range strikes against weapons depots, military facilities and other strategic targets deep inside Russian territory, seeking to degrade Moscow’s ability to sustain its attacks on Ukrainian cities.

In Solomianskyi district, the top two floors of a 9-story residential building were destroyed and fires broke out on other floors. People were also trapped in two residential buildings and a school shelter.

By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER

Published: 00:22 BST, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 05:20 BST, 20 August 2026

A 16-year-old girl in Tennessee is facing criminal charges after storming onto the field and tackling a middle school football player during a game on Tuesday night.

The wild incident unfolded during a contest between South Middle School and Cornersville Middle School, played at Franklin County High School in Winchester.

Tensions boiled over after South scored a touchdown and extra point, sparking a brief scuffle between players on the field.

Video footage showed the teenage girl suddenly sprinting onto the field and charging toward a South player involved in the altercations.

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She leveled the player with a hard tackle, knocking him straight to the turf and sending herself falling to the ground alongside him during the chaotic moment.

As the stunned football player attempted to stand back up, the girl shoved him back down to the turf a second time.

A 16-year-old girl in Tennessee is facing criminal charges after storming onto the field and tackling a middle school football player during a game on Tuesday night

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Video footage showed the teenage girl suddenly sprinting onto the field and charging toward a South player involved in the altercations

A man who appeared to be a coach quickly rushed over and stepped between the two to prevent any further physical attack.

According to WSMV, a school resource officer met the teenager as she was led off the gridiron, and she was later released into the custody of her parents.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has reportedly charged the 16-year-old with assault and disorderly conduct.

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School district officials and state sports authorities acted swiftly following the incident to issue strict bans against the teenager.

She was served with a lifetime trespass ban from all Franklin County Schools properties.

Additionally, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association issued a ban prohibiting her from attending any Cornersville Middle School athletic events, both home and away.

The shocking incident comes after police confirmed they are investigating a shocking soccer fight that marred a high school game in South Dakota and sparked calls for a player to be given a lifetime ban.

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The vicious attack occurred just minutes before halftime in last week’s clash between the Brookings High School Bobcats and Rapid City Central Cobblers.

The shocking incident comes after police confirmed they are investigating a shocking soccer fight that marred a high school game in South Dakota

Following a collision, Rapid City Central’s Jaxson Bergman confronted Kyler Soost of Brookings, shoving him to the turf before kicking him on the back of the head and then unleashing a barrage of punches to his rival’s head.

The referee and coaches sprinted over to stop Bergman, while one of Soost’s teammates confronted Bergman, who was shown a red card. The game eventually resumed after a 10-minute delay.

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The incident, which was streamed live on YouTube, quickly flooded social media, with many fans calling for Bergman to be banned for life.

Now the authorities are looking into the incident, with Brookings Police telling KELOLAND that officers will interview more than 100 witnesses and review extensive footage of the fight.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams accused Nigel Farage of using Christianity to channel anti-Muslim feeling and said he would like to ask ‘some awkward questions’ of Tommy Robinson, who declares himself a Christian

A former Archbishop of Canterbury has accused Nigel Farage of invoking Britain’s Christian identity as a means to “channel anti-Muslim feeling”.

Rowan Williams, who served as the Church of England’s most senior bishop for a decade until 2012, also stated he would like to pose “some awkward questions” to activist Tommy Robinson, who professes to be a Christian.

Speaking in an interview for New Humanist magazine Mr Williams acknowledged there is an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

The former archbishop, who was born in Ystradgynlais, remarked: “I suspect really that [Nigel] Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling and it helps to have: ‘We’re a Christian society’ to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.”

At Easter Reform UK leader Mr Farage published a post online declaring: “The Christian values on which our country is built are something to be proud of.”

In 2024 he prompted criticism after suggesting there were “a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for”, confirming when asked that he was referring to Muslims.

Earlier this year Mr Farage also attacked an Iftar celebration in Trafalgar Square, describing the religious fast-breaking gathering in London as an “attempt to overtake, intimidate, and dominate our way of life”.

In the magazine interview, published this week, Mr Williams was asked what he believed was fuelling Christian nationalism across the UK. He said: “There are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about migration; anti-Islamism.

“In France that anxiety has a secular aspect but the St George’s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.

“The second thing is the globalising of all political discourse. The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them.

“Ironically, for someone like Nigel Farage, it’s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He’s often not here, after all.”

Reform UK announced last year the appointment of theologian James Orr – an academic who has influenced Donald Trump’s US administration – as a senior adviser to Mr Farage.

Mr Williams stated: “Although Nigel Farage thought it was worth getting. a theologian on board for Reform UK I don’t think he lies awake at night thinking about his soul.. I may be doing the man an injustice but I don’t believe he cares about profound theological questions.”

Reform UK has been contacted in relation to the comments.

Mr Williams further suggested that while he would be “very glad” if “Tommy Robinson is doing his best to lead a life of Christian discipleship” he would want to pose “some awkward questions” to him.

He said: “I would ask him how attempting to lead a life of Christian discipleship squares with public rhetoric designed to produce hostility and violence.”

Mr Robinson has spoken about doing Bible studies while in jail and has said he is now a Christian having grown up Catholic but not practised.

In December he led a carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas” and his Unite the Kingdom march in London earlier this year saw some participants carry wooden crosses and chant: “Christ is king”.

They say what goes up must come down – although houses normally last longer than this.

The million-pound property was built in 2017 but council officers ordered it to be torn down six years later after discovering it was secretly harbouring a three-bedroom home, instead of the horse clinic that had been agreed.

The decision was later backed by a planning inspector and work to demolish the property in Great Abington, Cambridgeshire, finally began in April.

As these photos show, the process has now been virtually completed, with nothing left but the footprint of the two-storey building remaining, shown by the foundations.

Earlier stages showed the roof being peeled away, revealing the wooden support beams within.

Eventually, just the skeleton of the ground floor remained, surrounded by scaffolding, before that disappeared too. The foundations must be removed to complete the process.

Furious owners Jeremy Zielinski, 75, and his wife Elaine, 80, told the Mail they remained bitter about the decision, which they said had cost them £1 million ‘overnight’.

‘Anyone who knows the situation – every single person I’ve spoken to – they all think it’s absolutely ludicrous because the original planning permission was given for the physical building as it was,’ Mr Zielinski fumed.

‘They say “The housing situation is desperate and they are making you pull down your home without recourse”.’

But a local said today: ‘I just can’t believe they’re still complaining about it.

‘The house looked okay, to be fair, but they weren’t given [planning] permission for a house.’

The horse-mad couple bought a house with an outbuilding and 17 acres of land for £100,000 in 1986.

In 2014, they were given planning permission by South Cambridgeshire District Council for a countryside business with a reception area, office, kitchenette, laboratory space, staff changing room and toilet on the ground floor.

The first-floor design featured two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms for staff.

Contractors began work on the property in 2017 and Mr and Mrs Zielinski – who had three children, although one tragically died in 2021 after taking the Covid vaccine – sold their own house two years later, moving into a static home.

The couple believe a jealous neighbour informed on them about the property not adhering to the agreed design, leading to planning officers visiting their home and a July 2023 enforcement notice which ordered it to be razed to the ground.

The footprint of the property is all that remains now

Jeremy Zielinski, 75, and his wife Elaine, 80, told the Mail they remained bitter about the council ruling, which they said had cost them £1 million ‘overnight’.

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They appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and, in their submission, claimed lockdown wrecked their business plans for the clinic which forced them to turn the property into their home, while continuing to run their commercial interests in their grounds.

The order to pull down the entire building was over the top and would leave them without a roof over their heads, they added.

But planning inspector Chris Preston noted the property had a ‘decidedly residential appearance’, including a kitchen with island breakfast bar, domestic furnishings and appliances, a dining area, living room and home office.

Upstairs were two bedrooms with a ‘lounge equipped with sofa and television’.

Mr Preston turned down their appeal, concluding it had been built as a house from the start, rather than converted from the approved lab and flat, and the couple had sold their own home and another plot of land with permission for a dwelling.

He also noted there was ‘very little evidence that the stallion semen collection and analysis business ever got off the ground to any notable degree’.

The only payment for laboratory fees was £44 for a horse named Dublin but there was ‘no indication as to whether the analysis was carried out at the appeal site’.

Mr Preston also considered the owners’ claim to need somewhere to live but concluded: ‘Given the clear and flagrant breach of planning policy and the associated harm arising, I find that interference with the human rights of the appellant and his wife would be proportionate in this case.’

Easy come, easy go: the house, shown intact before work began to take it apart

Roof gone and exterior stripped, the property makes for a forlorn sight

Sections of the house have been removed, including the innards

The process is close to the end, with the outline of the ground floor remaining and scaffolding and a walkway left in place

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Mr Zielinski, a former marketing manager for the Injured Jockeys Fund, told the Mail the onset of Covid had battered their hopes of founding the business in their property, while the death of their daughter, Claire, aged 55, had ‘taken the wind out of our sails for fighting an enforcement notice’.

He insisted: ‘We moved in when it was partially complete to get it ready to operate as a business [and] on the basis that we were going to comply with the planning by living upstairs and running the business downstairs.’

His wife, a GP’s receptionist, previously said they had been unaware they were breaking the law.

‘We want to carry on living here. It’s a warm and comfortable home. I love it,’ she explained.

‘It doesn’t make sense to tear it down. I don’t want to go and live in a caravan. If we are chucked out, we will be having to rely on the state.

‘We would not have gone on and built this and put all our money into it unless we thought it was totally legal to do it.’

The Zielinskis arranged for a contractor to take apart the building, rather than demolish it.

This meant the trader could make use of parts including timber frames, windows and bifold doors, saving a portion of the estimated £30,000 it would have cost to demolish it.

Mr Zielinski, pictured, said he and his wife were planning to move to Thailand with the funds from the sale of the land and stables

Once they had sold their stables and the land they stand on, they expected to be left with no more than £350,000, which they revealed they were going to use to invest in a new home in Thailand.

They would have preferred to move to Australia where they have a daughter and four grandchildren but complained the financial blow they had suffered meant that was beyond their budget.

A council spokesman said: ‘The foundations remain on site and must be removed to comply with the enforcement notice. 

‘The council is continuing to review the matter and consider the appropriate next steps.’

Whether sprinting around a Scottish golf course to keep up with the presidential buggy or being squashed into a car boot to ensure she didn’t miss one of his court appearances, Natalie Harp has always swallowed her pride and put her devotion to Donald Trump above all else.

After all, as the former presenter of a Right-wing cable-TV news show gushed to the US President in one of her many cloying letters expressing her fealty: ‘You’re all that matters to me.’

The White House aide, 35, is nicknamed ‘the human printer’ because of her somewhat demeaning job of lugging around a portable, wireless computer printer – with battery pack and paper – wherever he goes. It’s her role to keep him instantly updated with everything positive that is said or written about him, always in the hard copy he prefers.

Until now, mention of Harp’s name has drawn only eye-rolling from Trump critics as an illustration of his pathological need for adulation and the lengths to which undying loyalty combined with shoulder-length (dyed) blonde hair can take an attractive young woman in his administration. The President has hardly helped matters by calling her ‘sweetie’ and ‘that young, beautiful woman’.

Now, however, she has been thrust centre stage after an apparently chance remark by a Democrat politician raised questions about the exact relationship between the 80-year-old president and his constant companion less than half his age.

Jon Ossoff, a Georgia senator who has been touted as a potential Democrat contender for the White House in 2028, complained at a rally this week that Trump ‘doesn’t want to do the job [of president]’, adding: ‘He wants to build his [White House] ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.’

Until now, mention of Harp’s name has drawn only eye-rolling from Trump critics as an illustration of his pathological need for adulation – it’s her role to to keep him updated of anything positive written or spoken about him

Ossoff was referring to the fact that Harp had recently been revealed as one of a select handful of aides who, following a Nato summit in Turkey last month, had left the aeroplane donated to Trump by the Middle Eastern state and secretly moved with him – for security reasons – to a different plane.

Ossoff later said he mentioned Harp’s name because she had been described in the media as Trump’s ‘security blanket’. He claimed Harp, along with some others in the White House, are ‘not telling him what he needs to hear – they’re telling him what he wants to hear … The nation is at war – and we cannot afford that’.

However, the fury of the Trump administration’s response to Ossoff’s remark has fuelled speculation that the Democrat touched a raw nerve.

Asked about Ossoff’s comments by CNN reporter Kristen Holmes, Trump ridiculed Ossoff and, when Holmes asked a subsequent question about North Korea, told her to ‘be quiet’.

The White House later castigated Holmes on social media, telling her: ‘Some day, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question.’

So who exactly is Natalie Harp – and how did she rise to such a powerful position?

She joined Trump’s staff in 2022 and her devotion to the president – after many had abandoned him following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – reportedly stunned even his closest aides.

‘I want to bring you joy, to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk “work”,’ she wrote in one gushing letter to her boss, revealed in the recent book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

In another she described Trump as her ‘Guardian and Protector in this Life’, while in a third she admitted that her devotion to him was such that she would sometimes forget to eat and sleep while working for him.

Trump describes Harp as the only person who loves him as much as his wife and children. According to political journalist Alex Isenstadt, author of Revenge: The Inside Story Of Trump’s Return to Power, Harp remains so determined to deliver the printed updates to Trump wherever he needs them that his wife, Melania, once found her late at night in his private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, which was normally off-limits to staff. There was no suggestion of impropriety and the First Lady has not publicly commented on the alleged incident.

Photos of the president on duties rarely fail to capture Harp nearby, staring lovingly at him – in recent weeks, she was spotted next to him at Camp David (the president’s country retreat), at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey and in the Oval Office.

Even before he went into politics and was a New York property developer, Trump liked to fill his office with young women who could be relied on to pamper his ego. That continued in the White House. Insiders, however, insist Harp has an influence like no one before her, often texting world leaders on her boss’s behalf.

Trump describes Harp as the only person who loves him as much as his wife and children (Pair pictured with US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at a golf course in Hains Point)

Enjoying an elaborate title and a salary of £110,000, Harp helps compose many of the wilder posts Trump puts on his social media platform Truth Social (pictured with Trump and JD Vance)

Trump chronicler Michael Wolff claims people around the president were baffled by her sudden rise before the 2024 election and, at the time, some even considered her ‘dangerous’ 

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The New York Times described the ‘seldom-heard-from and sylphlike woman’ as ‘a one-woman conduit of information operating entirely outside the usual chain of command’.

Trump chronicler Michael Wolff claims people around the president were baffled by her sudden rise before the 2024 election and, at the time, some even considered her ‘dangerous’ given her obvious influence over him.

‘She was the most important person in his political life, and I think was then gradually becoming the most important person in his personal life, also,’ said Wolff.

The White House said in response: ‘Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump’s team. Michael Wolff is a professional scumbag and serial liar with s**t for brains.’

She proved her devotion in 2023 when Trump’s motorcade was setting off with him for his appearance in a New York court. There was no room for Harp in the vehicles but, following a ‘screaming match’ with other aides, she scrunched into the boot of one of the SUVs to ensure she was there for him.

A Christian from California, she was – according to her estranged brother Preston – homeschooled by an ‘extremely conservative’ mother. Preston, a self-described Communist, has called his sister’s relationship with Trump ‘very unhealthy’. He believes she’s ‘infatuated’ with the president because he embodies her conviction that the US is ‘the boss of the world’. Harp is unmarried and has no recorded boyfriends.

In 2019, she had come to Trump’s attention after she was interviewed on Fox News. Harp claimed to be ‘living proof’ of the merits of his federal healthcare changes – giving Americans the right to try experimental drugs.

Trump saw the interview and recruited her to his campaign.

She addressed the 2020 Republican national convention – only a month after her father’s death by suicide – where she cooed at Trump: ‘I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for you.’

Soon afterwards, she and her mother moved into an apartment in West Palm Beach, Florida, so Harp could be close to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago HQ, reportedly sleeping in the women’s changing rooms at his golf club so she could remain close to him, having rejected a maid’s room because it was further away.

Around the same time, she started working for the One America News Network, a Right-wing TV station accused of promoting conspiracy theories.

Enjoying the title of ‘Special Assistant to the President and Executive Assistant to the President’ on a salary of £110,000, Harp helps compose many of the wilder posts Trump puts on his social media platform Truth Social.

These have reportedly included reposting a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, as well as an AI-generated picture of Trump as Jesus Christ.

As salacious theories continue to circulate about the pair, Trump insiders stress the president regards his aide like one of his children.

But given that in 2006 he observed of Ivanka Trump that if she were not his daughter ‘perhaps I’d be dating her’, that assurance may not silence the cynics.

By SOPHIE CHURCH – POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 00:34 BST, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 05:39 BST, 20 August 2026

The mother of a Green Party MP has claimed the Greens have welcomed ‘less than nice people’ through the door by shunning their eco-roots.

In a dramatic intervention, Liz Spencer, the mum of recently elected Green MP Hannah Spencer and herself a Green member, said of the party in its current guise: ‘It’s not what the Green Party used to be; nice people who wore hemp shoes.

‘That opened the door for lots of less-than-nice people to enter. And no one was primed for it.’

Ms Spencer first joined the Green Party when it was called the Ecology Party, and unsuccessfully stood in the 2017 and 2019 Bolton North East general elections for the Greens.

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But she claimed that a deepening divide within the Bolton branch – with more traditional Greens focussed on the environment on one side and its four newly elected councillors on the other – is making the party a ‘laughing stock’ in local politics.

She said: ‘The Green Party has a set of values; environmental stuff that leads onto social justice stuff’, but that ‘now, we are a laughing stock in local politics.’

She added that ‘the atmosphere of paranoia is huge’ and that ‘nobody trusts anybody’.

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The mother of a Green Party MP has claimed the Greens have welcomed ‘less than nice people’ through the door by shunning their eco-roots

The Greens saw three more councillors – Baggy Khan, Zan Arif and Ismail Ibrahim – elected to Bolton Council at this year’s local elections (Baggy Khan pictured)

Ms Spencer told the Manchester Mill, which first reported her comments, that the party would now likely expel her after her intervention.

This comes as the Greens saw three more councillors – Baggy Khan, Zan Arif and Ismail Ibrahim – elected to Bolton Council at this year’s local elections.

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They joined the leader of the Greens on Bolton Council, Hanif Alli, who was elected in 2024.

But an internal row has broken out with some Greens claiming the new councillors do not align with the party’s values.

Helena Carman, who ran for the Greens in May’s local elections, claimed that Mr Alli is ‘not Green’.

She said: ‘I will stand on rooftops and shout ‘that man is not Green!’ and added: ‘He walks around as if he is, but he is truly not.’

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All four Green councillors on Bolton council have now threatened to resign over allegations of ‘racism’ by its older members.

Mr Alli claimed there is a ‘core ‘white’ group who have now become a ‘dab hand’ at orchestrated abuse and press leaks’ – and branded the more traditional Bolton Greens ‘racists’.

He added: ‘In all my years of being involved in politics, I have never seen such well organised/coordinated en masse racism by a group of people who are in my opinion drunk on a short taste of political power and in their quest to rid the [Bolton Green Party] of any people of colour or tarnish them at any cost to the Green Party and its values.’

Commenting on the disunity in the Bolton Greens, a Conservative source, said: ‘Hannah Spencer’s mum is right. Under Zack Polanski’s leadership the Green Party have turned in on themselves and are now turning on each other.

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‘It just shows how unserious they are about the big issues facing the country.’

And Darren Johnson, a former Green Party councillor and London Assembly member who defected to Labour this year, told the Mail:

‘While I think the Green Party’s membership did need to become more diverse, beyond the old hemp-wearing hippies, by re-inventing themselves as a hard-left populist party they’ve completely lost sight of their values and allowed some rather unpleasant people to join who have no real interest in the Green agenda.’

A Labour spokesperson added: ‘While the Greens are busy fighting among themselves, Labour is focused on delivering for people across Greater Manchester.

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‘This extraordinary infighting shows what happens when a protest party is suddenly expected to take responsibility. The Greens can barely manage their own party without descending into chaos — voters will rightly ask how they could ever be trusted to run vital local services.

‘People deserve serious, competent leadership focused on their priorities, not a Green Party consumed by internal rows and dysfunction.’

A spokesperson for the Green Party said: ‘We do not comment on internal matters. We are continuing to support our councillors and members in Bolton.’

Who doesn’t love Center Parcs?

Since opening its first UK village in Sherwood Forest back in the ’80s, the brand become a cultural and nostalgic touchstone.

The resorts draw around 2.3 million across the UK and Ireland each year with its woodland lodges, pretty cycle paths and family-friendly activities.

They’re so popular, in fact, that they’re often at 97% capacity, all year round.

However, there’s no denying that these getaways have become increasingly expensive — rising to eye-watering prices during the school holidays.

Case in point: Martin Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert found three-bed lodges starting at £2,798 for the first week of August 2026.

Even regular Bank Holiday breaks start from £1,149.

With the cost of just about everything rising, it can be hard to justify spending that on any kind of holiday, certainly on staycations.

Especially when budget airlines are selling European flights for less than a train from London to your favourite Center Parcs.

Metro has done some digging to find the best family-friendly alternatives on the continent.

1. Center Parcs Europe

Die-hard Center Parcs fans — why not swap the UK resorts for a cheaper European one?

Center Parcs Europe is under separate corporate ownership from the UK arm, but offers identical experiences.

We’re talking massive indoor water parks, climbing walls and those same gorgeous forest lodges.

Resorts across France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands often come in at a fraction of the price.

For example, four-night stays for four people during promotional off-peak seasons can be as little as €207 (£177) per person.

Standard off-peak and mid-week getaways typically range between €400 (£342) and €800 (£684) for short stays.

And if you’ve choice but to travel during the summer holidays, prices for a family of four generally range from €1,300 (£1,111) to €2,200 (£1,881).

According to peak summer estimates by Holiday Park Guru, Germany is the cheapest, followed by the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

2. Ulrichshof Nature, Germany

Deep in the Bavarian Forest, and close to the Czechia border, is Ulrichshof Nature.

The complex is perfect for families: there’s a heated outdoor pool, a pirate-themed splash park, a whirlpool and slides.

Away from the water-based activities, there’s also a forest playground where adults and kids can enjoy climbing and zip lines.

Plus, there’s daily childcare available from 9am to 8pm if an adults-only relaxation day calls.

The main difference between the classic Center Parcs is that rather than lodge accommodation, Ulrichshof Nature has family suites of all sizes.

On the cheaper end of the scale, there are standard rooms with balconies.

If you’re willing to splash the cash, you can upgrade to luxury suites with large living spaces.

There are plenty of packages to suit all budgets, many of which include all-inclusive meals with sustainable, regional cuisine.

For example, the July ‘family happiness’ package starts from €366 (£313) for one night.

The ‘lucky riders’ package, which includes three-pony riding sessions, starts from €1,341 (£1,146) for four nights.

The nearest airports are Munich and Nuremberg, around a two-hour drive away.

In September, flights from Gatwick to Munich with easyJet average at £48. Ryanair flies to Nuremberg from Stansted for as little as £30.

3. Lalandia, Denmark

Water babies must try Lalandia at least once.

Denmark’s collection of tropical-themed family holiday resorts has locations across the country, including Billund, Rødby and Søndervig.

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The Billund resort is home to Scandinavia’s largest indoor waterpark (called Aquadomes), where guests can enjoy high-speed water slides, a large wave pool, a lazy river, and a secret cave pool with an underwater aquarium.

@londonfamilydaysout

Save @lalandia for an amazing family holiday this summer. (Ad – PR invite) Lalandia in Billund, Denmark is home to Scandinavia’s largest waterpark where they have loads of slides, lazy river, a wave pool and a special area for children. They also have loads of amazing activities, including Skyrider, ice skating, bowling, climbing wall, mini golf and more. There is a huge soft play there too. They have great accommodation, which is just a short walk from the centre or you can take their free mini train which rides around the site. It’s just a 5 min walk from @legolandbillund which was so much fun and it was amazing to have it so close. For more information, visit @Lalandia #lalandia #lalandiabillund #aquadome #familyholiday #gatwick

♬ sonido original – Random.Music.pe – Random.Music.pe

As a collective, Lalandia also features Nordic holiday cottages, indoor play areas, and various restaurants.

There are bowling alleys, mini-golf, fitness centres, and sports halls, too.

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Not to mention the impressive Tarzan course – a forest obstacle course that stretches over 400 metres, complete with a zipline.

For those wanting to experience the Aquadomes, autumn holiday bookings for the Billund location are now open.

A spacious holiday home for a family of four starts from €734 (£627) in October. The cottages have two bedrooms, a covered terrace, and disabled facilities.

You can fly directly to Billund Airport from London Heathrow. British Airways has direct flights in October from £68.

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4. Duinrell, Netherlands

From the largest waterpark in Scandinavia to the biggest in the Netherlands — Duinrell should be on your agenda.

This holiday and amusement park is located in the town of Wassenaar, in the province of South Holland.

You can either stay overnight or visit for the day, whatever your budget permits.

Key features include the amusement park, which boasts rides for all ages, from thrilling rollercoasters to competitive bumper car sessions.

The tropical waterpark is also a highlight: With 21 unique slides, including a spinning giant funnel and a lazy river, it’s the largest in the Benelux.

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The park also features an outdoor tiki pool, open in the summer months.

For those planning on a day trip, tickets for the amusement park and outdoor tiki pool start from €29.50 (£25).

Making a holiday of it? There are multiple accommodation options available, including camping, glamping, and ‘Duingalows.’

A four-person, five-night bungalow stay in September starts from €736 (£629).

Camping by the river starts from €265 (£226) for two nights, while a glamping spot for a family of five starts from €515 (£440) for three nights.

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The closest airport to Duinrell is Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM), a 30-minute drive away.

Transavia flies from Stansted for as little as £39 in September.

5. Cambrils Park, Salou, Spain

Last but not least, if southern Europe is calling, check out Cambrils Park in Salou.

It’s located just a five-minute walk from the beach, in the heart of the Costa Daurada, where you’ll find charming villages, natural landscapes, and historic sites.

On-site, it’s a family affair. The park boasts swimming pools with splash areas for the little ones, slides and water games for the adventurous, and a quiet environment where parents can relax.

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Inside, there’s a playroom where kids can take part in creative workshops or group games.

Or, if you feel like a family wellness day, there’s a spa where parents and children can relax together. Whether it’s floating in heated pools or trying hydrotherapy circuits, Cambrils Park believes that wellness isn’t just for stressed-out adults.

As for accommodation, there are a variety of themed apartments available, with one, two or three bedrooms.

There’s the ‘calm and sophistication of La Mediterrània,’ the ‘exotic vegetation of La Polynesia,’ and the ‘energy and colour of the Caribbean.’

For example, a villa for a family of four for four nights starts from €720 (£615) in September, while ‘Aloha bungalows’ that sleep six start from €745 (£637).

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The nearest airport is Reus, a 15-minute drive away. Jet2 fly from Luton for around £30.

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The Getaway Expert

Your exclusive seven-day guide to travelling with confidence from Metro’s resident travel expert, Alice Murphy.

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Take a walk in London’s Trafalgar Square this summer and wilting under the heat will be all sorts of body sizes, some tall, some short: a real mix of sizes.

Picking just two from the crowd to represent the whole human species would be a tall order. But that is exactly what we do when we find fossils of ancient hominins (human relatives).

Anthropologists can estimate a person’s height with reasonable accuracy from the long bones – your femur (thigh bone) works well. On average, the size of this bone
scales well with overall height, given a large samples of bones.

This is exactly what a group of scientists have done using fossils dredged from the seafloor off Taiwan. To add to the mystery, these bones are those of Denisovans, currently one of the most enigmatic species of hominins.

The Denisovans were a widespread species of Homo (the genus which encompasses our own species, as well as close relatives such as Neanderthals). They were initially known only from genetic sequences that had been extracted from isolated fragments of material, such as a small finger bone, at Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.

The apparent absence of substantial fossil material from this species made them mysterious, although in recent years, fresh discoveries have added to our understanding. These include the Dragon Man (or Harbin) skull, recovered from a river in northeast China. DNA and protein analysis has now linked this large skull to the Denisovans.

The remarkable feature of the fossils analysed by Yousuke Kaifu, from the University of Tokyo, and colleagues, is that they were dredged from the Penghu Channel in the Taiwan Strait.

Most rare hominin fossils are carefully excavated, allowing researchers to record their exact position within layers of sediment and their relationship to associated animals, artefacts and environmental evidence.

These bones were instead recovered from the seabed among the fossilised remains of terrestrial ice age mammals, probably deposited when sea levels exposed the channel as dry land around the time when the ice age was at its height. Their precise discovery locations and geological contexts were not recorded.

This makes the fossils scientifically unusual: their anatomy and preserved proteins contain valuable evidence. However, much of the contextual information normally supplied by an archaeological excavation has been lost.

Recovered long bones

The bones – an incomplete femur (thigh bone) and tibia (the largest bone in the shin) – have been assigned to two Denisovans on the basis of analyses of their recovered ancient proteomes. A proteome is the collection of proteins preserved within a fossil. These proteins can retain evidence of evolutionary relationships, even when DNA has been lost.

These bones produced slightly different proteome signals, which is why the authors suggest that these represent two individuals. The newly described femur and tibia are likewise not directly dated.

Because they were recovered by dredging and lack secure geological provenance,
they can only be placed broadly within the Middle to Late Pleistocene, using the
animal remains and preservation evidence. The Pleistocene epoch lasted from around 2.58 million years ago until 11,700 years ago.

Aside from assigning the bones to Denisovans, the researchers have used them to
infer the stature of the two individuals. They are incomplete, which complicates
matters somewhat, but skilled anatomists can be reasonably confident on the
complete bone sizes.

The lack of context for the fossils – normally provided by the sediments in which they are recovered from – means we don’t know if the two individuals lived at the same time or at least a similar interval.

But the bones are long and when the other body elements are scaled based on the leg bones, it suggests that these individuals were tall. In the new paper, Yousuke Kaifu and colleagues say that the estimated height of Penghu 2 (one of the newly described specimens) was approximately 1.8 metres (5’11”), with a weight of around 83kg.

Their estimates for the other fossil, Penghu 3, give a height of about 1.9 metres (6’3″) and a weight of about 91kg. These estimates, the team writes in their study, “are comparable to the largest known Pleistocene Homo from Africa and Europe”.

Inferring tallness as a species-level trait based on two individuals is challenging, although it has not prevented some headlines from claiming that Denisovans were tall. Think back to our walk in Trafalgar Square.

Proceed with caution

The dangers of reconstructing stature are illustrated by the famous Turkana Boy or
Nariokotome Boy, a remarkably complete Homo erectus skeleton discovered in
Kenya in 1984. He was unusual because his skull, teeth and long bones
were all complete and available for study.

He was already around 1.6 metres tall when he died, but estimates of his age have differed. Dentally, he appears younger than his skeleton suggests. His skeletal development appeared comparable to that of a modern human aged around 11-13, while microscopic growth increments in his teeth suggested that he was only about eight or nine.

The discrepancy reflects uncertainty over whether Homo erectus grew slowly like us, including an adolescent growth spurt, or matured more rapidly.

Different assumptions consequently produced different projections of his adult height, although more recent modelling suggests he would probably have reached approximately 1.76–1.80 metres.

He is the only example of such a complete Homo erectus skeleton, but does this mean that all members of his species would have been as tall? We should be sceptical – just as we should be about the height of Denisovans.

It is not clear from this study whether the change reflects an overall increase in the populations of these whale species, or just a redistribution from other areas.

Other experts the BBC spoke to were concerned that the study suggested there was an influx of the animals from West Greenland. That is a sensitive issue in Greenland, a country where some whales are hunted.

But the scientists said that their findings do suggest that these “opportunistic” baleen whales appear to be adapting and might even be benefiting from the change.

Other Arctic species, however, are “in trouble now”, explained Prof Heide-Jørgensen.

Animals including narwhals and belugas are sharing habitat with – or even being displaced by – these other whales.

“For some species, climate change is not necessarily a problem – it opens up new opportunities,” said Prof Heide-Jørgensen, “but other species are losing their habitat”.

The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, external.