I always raise my eyebrows when people associate gardening with relaxation and pleasure.

Yes, it is lovely to have a garden and yes they are great places in which to sit and relax with a glass of wine. But they also have to be maintained and, far from being a place to boost your wellbeing gardens can be a serious threat to your health.

Around 87,000 people are injured every year while gardening, estimates from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) state. That probably won’t come as a surprise to most people, with hazardous equipment such as lawnmowers and electric hedge trimmers being in regular use. But, get this – seemingly innocuous pieces of gardening kit can also pose a problem.

Areas which suffered from hosepipe bans this summer have seen a sharp rise in strains and other back injuries caused by lifting heavy watering cans. It’s not only the elderly, even young, fit people are suffering. One osteopath practice in Berkshire reported ‘a huge increase in patients with back, neck, shoulder and elbow pain that they attribute to watering cans.’ Another practice, in Stowmarketin Suffolk, said patients were coming in with musculoskeletal problems from lugging watering cans to their plants.

Our vegetable patch is at the bottom of the garden and I admit to being relieved that we didn’t have a ban, and using a hosepipe throughout the heatwave. During the Yorkshire hosepipe ban last year I lugged watering cans up and down, hundreds of times. At the time I didn’t associate it with my sudden-onset lower back pain that lasted at least a month, but there was no other reason for it.

I haven’t avoided gardening ailments this summer, however. Thirty minutes extracting some dead wood from within our hedge left my arms covered in an itchy, bright red rash. An hour cutting the hedge with shears – the electric cutter terrifies me – left me with upper arm pain that’s still lingering. Cleaning out the green bin after collection, I lost my balance, fell over and bruised myself.

Take care when using gardening equipment. Picture: Pixabay

My husband has had his fair share of gardening accidents. Wearing sandals while tying up some runner beans, he stubbed his toe on the side of a raised bed, breaking it. It was the night before we were due to go on holiday. He refused to go to A&E and instead strapped it up. It healed awkwardly – it needs re-breaking and setting to fix it, but he refuses – and has since had to buy a larger shoe size.

He now wears clogs when digging, and sturdy boots when going up ladders.

That’s a trivial accident compared to some. What we don’t consider is that many gardening activities involve – proper ones, bought in the Netherlands – the use of equipment that, were it used in an industrial setting, would require special clothing, footwear, eyewear and, sometimes, hard hats.

Yet we – I’m pointing the finger at my husband here – skip up stepladders to saw branches off trees wearing flip flops. We dig, fork and hoe wearing sandals and, commonly, wellies, which, if you stick a fork into your foot, certainly aren’t up to the job.

My neighbour couldn’t wear shoes for a month this summer after dropping a pair of secateurs on her foot. The blades pierced her skin between the straps of her sandal. Secateurs, pruners and shears are, in fact, the third most dangerous gardening tool, with 4,400 injuries every year in the UK.

Lawnmowers are top, accounting for 6,500, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents per annum in the UK, topping injury lists.

Another seemingly harmless item – flowerpots – comes next, with 5,300, due to heavy lifting strains, cuts, and dangerous trips or falls.

Garden canes can be lethal if you bend down and poke your eye, and a minor scratch form a rose could turn nasty.

Of course, it has been proven that gardening is great for your mental health, and keeps you fit, so don’t let me put you off. But if you have a garden, wear protective gear and take care.

The Fife native moved across the pond around a decade ago and became a naturalized American citizen.

KT Tunstall has stated “I’m American now” while commemorating the 9/11 terror attacks and revealing the song she wrote which was inspired by the tragedy.

The hugely successful singer grew up in St Andrews, Fife and rose to fame with her 2004 album Eye to the Telescope. She went on to win a Brit Award as Best Female Solo Artist and an Ivor Novello award for songwriting.

The 51-year-old moved to the US around 2014 and became a naturalized American citizen. She previously lived in Los Angeles and now resides in New Mexico.

Taking to Instagram on Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Suddenly I See hitmaker recounted where she was on that day in 2001, and the song she wrote off the back of the devastation.

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She wrote: “I was living in Edinburgh, trying to get somewhere as a musician. I was up early, and walked past a TV & Electronics store window, and every single TV was showing what was happening in New York. It didn’t feel real.

“I immediately called my dad, I needed to hear his voice. My song ‘Under the Weather’ was written after the events of 9/11, how it made all of us want to be near our loved ones and hold them close. How people are our home.

“My thoughts and my heart are with those today who lost their lives, those who lost their loved ones, and all the incredible heroes who did everything they could to help.”

On her US citizenship, she said: “I am an American now, and I love being one. This date will always be a harsh reminder that there are those who do not want us to thrive, or even exist. So I will thrive more, exist brighter, and remember.”

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The musician spoke about becoming a US citizen with comedian Craig Ferguson on his series Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose earlier this year. She said: “I remember the ceremony and kind of getting an idea of the commitment of it – giving up your allegiance to any other nation… it feels serious…

“I feel so lucky. So many people would love to be American and they can’t do it. People have died. Many people die today trying to get this and I’ve got it in my hands and I’ve done it and it’s a big deal.”

The US marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with memorial ceremonies in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

All living US presidents bar Donald Trump attended a ceremony in New York at the site of the World Trade Center where about 2,700 died after hijackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers.

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Another plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, with a memorial service taking place there to remember those who died on board Flight 93 after passengers tried to regain control of the cockpit.

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Osama Bin Laden wanted to attack Britain years before 9/11, top secret documents have revealed 25 years after the tragedy that shocked the world.

Newly declassified presidential memos show the CIA had ‘strong indications’ that the terror chief wanted to attack the UK in 1998 – years before the incident. 

The information was revealed in a trove of President’s Daily Brief products released by CIA director John Ratcliffe to mark the 25th anniversary of the terror attack. 

The terrorist attack remains the worst of our time, claiming the lives of nearly 3,000, including 67 British citizens as well as victims from more than 90 nations.

The PDB is a confidential dossier presented to the US president each day, summarising the most important global threats, national security issues, and intelligence analysis. 

The intelligence agency said the single largest publication of such files relating to 9/11 aimed to give Americans a ‘glimpse’ into the days before and after one of the country’s ‘darkest moments’.   

It added that the 71 briefing notes, which have been redacted, ‘trace the story of CIA analysts’ evolving understanding’ of al Qaeda.

They said the reports made efforts to highlight and warn of Bin Laden’s plotting ‘despite sparse, vague, and imperfect information’.

Pictured: The moment A hijacked commercial plane crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in New York

The document compiled after American cruise missile strikes on al Qaeda bases in Sudan and Afghanistan in retaliation for the earlier bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, were titled ‘Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat.

It stated: ‘Hours before the US missile strikes, Bin Ladin (redacted) was looking at options for further attacks against the US as well as the UK (redacted) Bin Ladin did not indicate precise targets or timing.’

A further memo at the end of that year, subject marked ‘Significant Near-Term Threat of Bin Ladin Attacks’, said: ‘We have strong indications that he would like to attack the US and allies such as the UK and Israel on their own soil.

‘If Bin Ladin judges these venues are too well defended, however, he will target US and allied interests in other areas of the world accessible to his network.’

It also made a portentous reference to ‘planning to hijack aircraft’, in relation to ‘impending anti-US terrorist operations’.

A separate file dated August 1999 highlighted Bin Laden’s frustration after two of his London-based henchmen were detained by British police.

The document stated: ‘His organisation’s capabilities have suffered from the arrest of key operatives.

‘Bin Ladin in interviews last year expressed anger over the arrests of his senior procurement officer and the chief of his organisation in the UK.’

Britain was also named in the haul of papers as a recruiting ground for the al Qaeda leader.

A note dated October 14 2000 with the title ‘Bin Ladin: Terrorist Network Active Despite Disruptions’ said: ‘Worldwide recruitment of fighters for the struggle in Chechnya has created a surplus of Islamic militants that Bin Ladin and other extremists are drawing on to promote terrorism abroad.

‘Mujahidin supporters recruit young Muslims in the UK, Pakistan, Turkey, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere for training at camps affiliated with Bin Ladin in Afghanistan.’

The final document dated the day after the 9/11 outrage provided a situation report in which Bin Laden’s name featured prominently.

A source indicated the attacks had been planned for two years, and suggested the congressional building and the White House may also have been targets.

It also noted the disruption to air travel caused by the closure of US and Canadian airports and pointed out that the UK and Belgium had banned commercial flights over central London and Brussels.

2,977 people were killed when passenger jets hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, causing both to collapse, and the Pentagon outside Washington DC.

A fourth plane seized by extremists – United Airlines Flight 93 – crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after the crew and passengers fought back and so prevented it from hitting another target, thought to be the Capitol building and seat of the US legislature.

The information was revealed in a trove of President’s Daily Brief products released by CIA director John Ratcliffe to mark the 25th anniversary of the terror attack

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It remains the worst terrorist outrage of all time, claiming the lives of victims from more than 90 nations.

Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who was serving as White House national security adviser at the time of the attack, told a 25th anniversary ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday that she still felt deep pain that ‘those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11’.

She added: ‘I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured.’

It has previously been reported that Bin Laden was aware of the July 7 bomb plot in London.

On that day back in 2005, four suicide bombers struck the capital’s transport network, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770 on three underground trains and a bus.

Evidence also emerged that he had prior knowledge of the foiled 2006 plot to detonate liquid bombs on transatlantic flights from the UK.

Bin Laden was killed in a US military raid on his compound in Pakistan back in 2011.

GoFundMe has been accused of deceptively adding “tips” to donations that go to the company and not helping others.

The fundraising site has skyrocketed in popularity since it launched in 2010, helping strangers connect with grieving families struggling to pay for funeral costs or those who can’t afford to pay for medical bills after a tragic accident. Donors can send money to those in need through GoFundMe with a click of a button.

But when people go to donate to a charitable cause of their choice on the site, they are also hit with an automatic tip to the company that they can opt out of, a practice that a recently filed lawsuit claims is tricking donors into paying more.

“Once automatically added, GoFundMe makes the ‘tips’ difficult to remove, forcing consumers to hunt around for a way to remove them,” according to a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Illinois last month by Sandra Donovan of Illinois and Ebony Baker of Georgia, who have both made donations on GoFundMe.

The Independent, which obtained the lawsuit from ClassAction.org, has reached out to GoFundMe for comment.

The lawsuit also challenges how GoFundMe explains the tipping option on its site.

When donors go to pay on the site, the company has a blurb that reads, “GoFundMe has a 0% platform fee for organizers and relies primarily on the generosity of donors like you to operate our service.”

But the lawsuit argues that this description is “false,” adding, “In reality, completely unbeknownst to those who donate through its website, GoFundMe funds its services by charging charitable organizations hefty transaction fees on each donation they receive.”

GoFundMe says on its site that while it’s free to create a fundraiser, the company charges “one small transaction fee per donation.”

The fee varies slightly depending on who creates the fundraiser. Individuals and businesses are charged 2.9 percent of the donation plus $0.30, while certified nonprofits are charged 2.2 percent of the donation plus $0.30.

“Donors act quickly, often emotionally, and with the reasonable expectation that their money will go where they intend—toward helping others, not toward undisclosed or preselected middleman fees like the ‘tips’ charged by GoFundMe,” the lawsuit claims.

Donovan and Baker “paid money they did not knowingly authorize, conferring an improper financial benefit on GoFundMe” because of the company’s business practices, the lawsuit argues.

Donovan and Baker’s lawyers are asking the court to certify the case as a class action and are demanding a jury trial to stop GoFundMe’s “deceptive conduct and return its ill-gotten gains,” according to the lawsuit.

A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Independent that the company “exists to help people help each other, and we have carefully designed our business model to deliver as much support as possible to those who need it – the beneficiaries of fundraisers.

“Donors have the choice to leave GoFundMe an optional tip, which helps us provide fundraising technology, customer support, and Trust & Safety protections to our community. Tips are completely voluntary and can easily be adjusted to any amount, including zero.”

The spokesperson said the claims in the lawsuit have “no merit.”

“The majority of donors adjust the suggested tip amount, and many choose to leave no tip at all. Before completing a donation, donors are shown a clear breakdown of their donation, optional tip, and total,” the spokesperson said. “Whether a donor chooses to leave a tip has no impact on the amount the fundraiser beneficiary or nonprofit receives.”

This article was updated on September 11, 2026, to include a statement from GoFundMe.

Andy Burnham and his Home Office cohorts would be very much happier if this lot were all in black hoodies and balaclavas, like the new breed of anti-migrant protester we have seen in recent days in Dover and Portsmouth (and, indeed, outside the offices of the Daily Mail).

How much easier it would be to demonise them as either the dark forces of the Far Right or a bunch of nutters – or both.

Instead, infuriatingly, these people are in jumpers, gilets, jackets and jeans. In short – though not in shorts – they are in country casual. 

Quite a lot of them are farmers. Others are accountants, engineers, builders, housewives and public servants. Many, if not most, are women. And I cannot see a single face-covering between them.

Nor can the spin doctors paint them as knuckle-dragging Reform/Restore voters since, at the last elections, they returned a Lib Dem and a full hat-trick of Lib Dem local councillors (though they may not go down that route again in future). No one here has been attaching British and English flags to the handful of local lampposts.

These are the people of Piddington, the pretty Oxfordshire village of 358 souls which is about to vote on leaving the United Kingdom, having been told that it will shortly accommodate more than 1,250 asylum seekers. 

All young, single, undocumented males, they will be free to come and go from their digs in a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site on the edge of the village.

With no shops or cafes in Piddington and nothing to do all day, some may board the first available bus to nearby Bicester – on the rare occasions when one actually turns up. But what about the rest of them the rest of the time? 

Daily Mail reporter Robert Hardman at Piddington in Oxfordshire, where a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site was revealed as a planned asylum-seeker camp earlier this year

These are some of the many questions flying around the room this week as I drop in on a gathering which feels more like the Boston Tea Party than your ordinary parish council meeting.

For I find the village making its final plans ahead of Tuesday’s historic vote on a simple yes/no issue: Should Piddington secede from the United Kingdom and become a principality – like Monaco or Liechtenstein? 

The result will be announced, by-election style, on Wednesday morning. And I am more than happy to wager my house on the result.

Before this week’s gathering closes and people adjourn to the bar, I ask parish council chairman Tim McNally to read out the question on the ballot paper – ‘Yes or No: I support Piddington seeking to secede from the United Kingdom and pursuing self-determination’. 

I then ask those packed into the village hall (most of the electorate) to raise their hands if they intend to vote ‘Yes’. The result is a thumping Vladimir Putin/North Korea-style nem con slam dunk: 100 per cent in favour.

Nonetheless, the referendum will be held formally and correctly, under strict electoral protocols with numbered voting papers and a secret ballot. It will not be legally binding, since the Government has not authorised the vote.

One local council official has actually warned the villagers that it is illegal. So much for all that chips ‘n gravy baloney about localism and devolution from ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham. Here in rural Oxfordshire they want their own Prince of Piddington.

It is now two months since the Daily Mail first dropped in on this saga. Back then, I likened it, half-jokingly, to the plot of the old 1949 Ealing comedy, Passport To Pimlico – in which the residents of a small London district discover an ancient treaty which means they are still part of Burgundy and, thus, not British and not subject to post-war rations and taxes.

The Home Office announced plans to house more than one thousand asylum seekers on the edge of the village

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Our Piddington story captured the imagination of the national and international media, not least because it has all the essential ingredients – picture postcard village with funny name/medieval church/rolling acres/history/colourful cross-section of articulate locals. It could easily host an episode of Midsomer Murders, a series filmed just down the road.

Yet behind the good humour and the sensible jerseys, these locals are every bit as serious and angry as those Poundland paramilitaries in their balaclavas down on the South Coast.

Back in July, neither the local MP for Bicester and Woodstock, Lib Dem Calum Miller, nor Cherwell District Council, run by the Lib Dems with Green support, wanted to talk to me about this local uprising. 

They had voiced the mandatory dismay at the lack of consultation from the Home Office, having been told out of the blue that the old MoD depot on the edge of Piddington was scheduled to become an open-door migrant centre.

However, not wanting to look in any way xenophobic, the MP then signed a letter in support of the asylum seekers while the council steered all questions to the Home Office which, in turn, said it was committed to moving small boat arrivals out of hotels.

The official response, in other words, was to write off the story as a sweet little silly season spasm of local anger and let it all blow over in a week or two.

Except, the Piddington story has not gone away. The world’s media has followed the Daily Mail down here. TV networks from America to Australia have latched on to the story. Even the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has pitched in to voice support.

Here is a Government spin doctor’s nightmare: A grass-roots movement which resolutely refuses to fall into a stereotypical subset ripe for demonisation as either ‘Far Right’ or ‘Nimby’.

Robert Hardman attended a meeting hosted by Piddington locals, who are opposed to a migrant camp being set up next to their village

In light of the plans, Piddington voted to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK 

You need only look at this week’s video message from the female half of the village which has already clocked up more than two million hits without even trying. It is accompanied by a letter to every female MP asking for solidarity in the face of an influx of single foreign young men with nothing to do except hang around a village.

As the 133-strong ‘Women of Piddington’ state in their appeal to the parliamentary sisterhood: ‘They would outnumber us ten to one. As fellow women, you will understand the serious risks.’

In fact, they could be outnumbered 26 to one if the Home Office opts to install 3,500 asylum seekers here, as an earlier blueprint suggested, although officials have now denied that this is the plan. 

The ‘Women of Piddington’ are not stopping there, of course. When Samantha Phillips stands up at this week’s meeting to offer a course in female self-defence, all 26 places are swiftly snapped up.

It is just another example of how this village has found a very effective alternative to blokes in balaclavas. Piddington is now on the map with a smile rather than a scowl. It also seems to have an uncanny knack for publicity.

It was back in July that the chairman of the parish council, management consultant Tim McNally, deliberately chose July 4 for a vote on whether to stage a referendum at all. ‘The USA was celebrating 250 years of independence on the same day and we thought we’d model ourselves on them,’ he told me at the time.

A polling booth was set up at the village hall for the day – all of it monitored on CCTV – and the result was an overwhelming vote in favour of holding an independence referendum (plus one invitation to a barn dance).

The campaigners then fixed a date for that plebiscite. Next Tuesday, September 15, seemed perfect. It comes ahead of Thursday’s deadline for contributions to the ‘public consultation’ on the quadrupling of the local population. 

The tiny Oxfordshire village has a population of just 350

Everyone accepts that this process is merely a box-ticking exercise which the Government must always undertake before pressing ahead with whatever it has decided to do in the first place.

Piddington therefore picked Tuesday so that the vote can be announced before the deadline.

‘I was on TV explaining that we would be holding our vote on September 15,’ recalls Mr McNally. ‘Then the presenter said, ‘So you have chosen Battle of Britain Day’. It was only then that I realised that we really had. So we are now calling ourselves ‘Ground Zero for the Battle of Britain’.’

September 15 is, indeed, the official anniversary of the 114-day battle in 1940. The Home Office spin doctors will be displeased to hear that a supporter has offered to fly a Spitfire over Piddington next week. ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It will depend on the weather,’ adds Mr McNally.

This is a slick operation in every regard. This week’s meeting includes media training. Villagers are told to expect saturation press attention and ‘to speak from the heart’ about what they want for the principality of Piddington. ‘Tax-free shopping!’ shouts one old chap at the back to gales of laughter.

Mr McNally is recruiting local children to design a new flag for an independent Piddington. This is a canny electorate. Many are boffins from the world of Formula One, given the concentration of motor racing teams in and around Oxfordshire.

Engineer James Burton has designed a very professional new Tiktok video to go with the new Piddington song – ‘It’s the Battle for Britain’ – complete with computer-generated wartime scenes and a dazzling heroine in Forties chic.

‘Everyone in this hall is of a certain age, let’s face it,’ he says. ‘We want to reach 16-24-year-olds all over the country.’

Pictured: A security guard is pictured at the entrance of the proposed migrant camp  

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The village is scouring the Whitehall rulebook to use it against Whitehall, not least draconian bat protection legislation. 

Farmer Joy Haw-Cook, 56, has been put in charge of the bat survey and stands up to report on her findings with a local bat expert in to help. ‘One of them is incredibly rare and is on the Red List as ‘one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in the UK’. So that is really great news for us!’ She receives a hefty round of applause.

‘Call me Batwoman or ‘Old Bat’,’ she jokes. ‘I didn’t know much about bats before but I do now and you can’t disturb very rare bats until the breeding season is over. A judge could put an injunction on the site until May.’

‘People just feel the Government is not listening,’ says accountant and deputy chair of the parish council, Susannah Parden, who has been appointed returning officer for the referendum.

‘We are giving all our freedoms to people who have simply broken into the country and we feel unsafe,’ says Krissy Honour, a farmer with a 13-year-old daughter. ‘She’s got her own flock of sheep on our smallholding right next to the MoD. I won’t be letting her out to look after them if we have no idea who these men are.’

Communities in the same boat from across Britain have been in touch with the Piddington team to discuss tactics.

The campaigners here are also feeding their research and ideas into a broader protest group drawn from across the Bicester area. Called ‘Wrong Plan. Wrong Site’, it is seeking a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision.

More legalistic in tone, this has the support of the local MP. 

‘Residents across our community have worked to expose the serious flaws in the proposal to build an asylum centre at MoD Bicester,’ says Calum Miller in a written statement. 

‘My goal has been to unite the various local groups around a community-based, inclusive campaign so that our area speaks with one voice to Government in expressing our opposition. I have challenged the Prime Minister to live up to his pledge to give agency and control back to local areas.’

He declines to say how he would vote in the referendum, if he lived in Piddington.

I get no response from Cherwell Council, although Mr McNally says he received a ‘curious’ call from them. ‘We got a missed call and rang it straight back and it was the council’s electoral services department. They said they hadn’t called but then said that the referendum was against the law. We are only allowed to hold a vote on things like what colour to paint the church gates.’

Ultimately, last week’s scenes on the coast and next week’s vote in Piddington all underline the same point: No one in Britain is buying the old liberal narrative that the (ever-expanding) small boats are packed with doctors, engineers and families fleeing war and oppression. Nor do people believe that they are ‘frontline’ workers without whom the NHS will implode.

It is accepted that these are, simply, people – many from peaceful Commonwealth countries – with an unimpeachable aspiration to make a better life for themselves and also the wherewithal to pay a people smuggler £3,000 for a ride on a boat.

Once they land, they can pretend to be whatever and whoever they like and, according to a Home Office whistleblower, they will be believed. As The Times revealed this week, the number of those granted asylum who are actually in genuine need of asylum stands at just 1 per cent.

None of which is the primary concern of the ‘Women of Piddington’ whom I meet.

 What concerns them most is the fact that their future neighbours have such a limited grasp of British culture and norms that the Government now feels the need to issue them with leaflets informing them that rape is illegal.

That is why, come Wednesday morning’s referendum result, Piddington will be casting around for a prince.

The train came off the tracks near Cleon in Normandy at around 7.45pm on Friday

At least 44 people have sustained injuries after a passenger train carrying approximately 180 people came off the rails in northern France, authorities have confirmed.

The train derailed close to Cléon in Normandy at roughly 7.45pm on September 11, resulting in one carriage overturning and four carriages leaving the tracks.

Reports from the area have subsequently indicated the casualty count may be greater, with an 18-year-old woman understood to be in a critical condition and 43 passengers believed to have sustained minor injuries.

A major emergency operation was launched in response to the incident, with French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot confirming 140 firefighters had been dispatched to the location.

The regional TER train had been travelling between Rouen and Caen when it derailed between Tourville and Elbeuf-Saint-Aubin, within the Cléon commune area of Seine-Maritime, reports the Express.

Mr Tabarot stated: “At this time, the provisional report indicates about twenty injured. 140 firefighters are deployed on site to provide assistance to the injured and passengers.

“Along with the prefect, who is heading to the scene and coordinating the mobilization of emergency services, and the SNCF teams, we are closely following the situation.”

The prefecture of Normandy and Seine-Maritime gave a separate estimate that roughly 200 passengers had been aboard, contrasting with the figure of 180 provided by the transport minister.

It stated: “A passenger train operating the Rouen-Caen route derailed this evening, Friday, September 11, around 7:45 pm, near the municipalities of Cléon and Tourville-la-Rivière.”

“Approximately 200 passengers were on board.”

The Seine-Maritime prefect activated the departmental operational centre at 8pm, merely 15 minutes following the derailment, and initiated the ORSEC NOVI emergency plan for incidents involving multiple casualties.

The prefecture urged the public to keep clear of the area, stating: “It is requested to avoid the area. Situation updates will be communicated regularly.”

Questions are now surfacing about what led to the train leaving the rails.

A police source told French broadcaster BFMTV that the regional train collided with an unidentified object prior to the derailment.

Nevertheless, the cause of the crash has yet to be officially confirmed.

One woman quoted by local media described shattered windows following the impact, with passengers reportedly hurt by flying glass and debris inside the train.

Rail services have been entirely halted in both directions on the Rouen-Caen line following the derailment.

Services on the Paris-Rouen-Le Havre and Rouen-Amiens routes have also faced significant disruption, according to local reports.

Emergency operations continue at the scene and the public prosecutor’s office has now opened an investigation to establish the cause of the accident.

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New research has shown that nearly half of drivers get worried when an emergency vehicle comes their way

Drivers are being reminded of what to do when an emergency vehicle approaches. It comes as new research of 1,292 car owners commissioned by car insurance expert MoneySuperMarket found that millions of motorists reported panicking and making risky manoeuvres when they hear a siren approaching.

According to the new survey by MoneySuperMarket, more than 17 million (41%) motorists admitted to panicking when they hear approaching sirens from an emergency vehicle, such as an ambulance, police car or fire engine.

More than one in four drivers (27%), equivalent to 11.5 million motorists, said they had made a risky manoeuvre, such as harsh braking, swerving or mounting a kerb, when an emergency vehicle approached, potentially increasing the risk for themselves and other road users.

When asked about knowing what to do when an emergency vehicle approaches with a siren going, less than a quarter (23%) said they knew the correct way to react every time; only 4% say they never know how to correctly react and more than two in five (45%) reported feeling anxious when they hear a siren.

Younger drivers were the most affected group, with those aged 18 to 24 twice as likely to feel anxious when they hear a siren compared to the over-55s (66% vs 32%). Drivers aged 18 to 24 were also more likely to say they had panicked and made a risky manoeuvre than drivers aged over 55, at 54% compared with 12%.

Alicia Hempsted, car insurance expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: “Hearing a siren can make drivers feel under pressure, but sudden or unpredictable movements can create additional danger. Drivers should stay calm, check their surroundings, and make space only when it is safe and legal to do so. Knowing how to respond before an emergency vehicle approaches can help motorists act confidently while protecting other road users and emergency crews.”

What to do when an emergency vehicle approaches

Rule 219 of the Highway Code advises drivers not to panic, to consider the route of the emergency vehicle and to take appropriate action to let it pass while complying with traffic signs.

In practice, this means:

• Check your mirrors and work out where the emergency vehicle is likely to go
• Indicate and move to the side of the road in a controlled way, if it’s safe to do so
• Avoid stopping in a blind spot, bend, junction or narrow stretch of road
• Never mount the kerb, block a junction or brake sharply in the middle of the road
• Do not break traffic laws to make way – running a red light, entering a bus lane, or driving into a yellow box junction are still offences, even if you’re trying to help
• Once it’s passed safely, check your mirrors again before rejoining traffic

The data was collected via a survey of 1,292 UK drivers (aged 18+) conducted by Censuswide, with all data correct as of September 2026.

The percentages were based on more than 42 million people currently possessing a complete UK driving licence, according to data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Two in five respondents, 41%, said they felt panicked when they heard an approaching emergency siren. This is equivalent to an estimated 17 million motorists when applied to the stated licence-holder population, the researchers said.

There are set to be delays for hours

A person has been hit by a train in the Cambridgeshire area. Emergency services are at the scene of an “incident” in the Ely area this morning (Friday, September 11).

National Rail has confirmed a person has been hit by a train. A National Rail spokesperson said: “A person has been hit by a train in the Ely area. Whilst the emergency services carry out their work, all lines between these stations are closed. Trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Major disruption expected until 3pm.”

For people travelling on Cross Country, Greater Anglia and Great Northern trains, National Rail has advised them on what they can do if their train is affected.

Advice for CrossCountry customers:

Tickets will be accepted on:

• The two CrossCountry services operating before and after your cancelled service;
• Thameslink services between Peterborough and Hitchin connecting in to Great Northern services between Hitchin and Cambridge;
• EMR services between Ely and Peterborough;
• Greater Anglia services between Ely and Stansted Airport.

Advice for Greater Anglia customers:

• Trains are unable to run between Thetford and Cambridge North;
• Trains between Ipswich and Peterborough have been suspended.

For people travelling between Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge and Peterborough, they are told to travel to Cambridge, change on a Thameslink train to Stevenage and then board a train at Stevenage to Peterborough.

Advice for Great Northern customers:

All lines are blocked between Cambridge and Kings Lynn. National Rail “strongly advises” people to delay their journeys between these stations until later.

Tickets will be accepted on the following services:

• Thameslink and Great Northern services between London stations, Cambridge, and Ely;
• Greater Anglia services between London Liverpool Street, Cambridge, and Ely;
• London Underground services between London Terminals.

Replacement buses have also been requested to run between Cambridge and Ely.

British Transport Police have been contacted for more information.

Beverley Callard has spoken out about how she is “not herself” amid her cancer battle and was recently forced to cancel huge plans with a loved one because she just wasn’t feeling up to it

Beverley Callard has admitted she is struggling with having to put her life on hold amid her breast cancer battle.

The actress, 69, announced earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer around the time she joined RTE soap Fair City. The soap legend, who is best known for having starred as Rovers Return landlady on Coronation Street on and off for 30 years, has been keeping her fans updated ever since.

On Friday night, the star, who recently completed radiotherapy, explained to her followers that she is currently preparing for “more tests and scans” as well as an endoscopy, for which she will have to be sedated.

Whilst she had had a great week at work, she found the days “long and hard” and by the time the weekend rolled around, she was left unable to attend a close friend’s wedding.

Speaking in a new video posted to Instagram, she said: “Oh, it’s been a hell of a week. In some ways, it’s been fantastic. Work was amazing, fantastic scripts. I was working with great actors, so we did really good stuff, but also we laughed a lot as well, it was amazing. But they were long, hard days.

“And it catches up with you when you’re not well. It’s great for me in one way, because it takes your mind off everything. I’m at work again but I’ve also got to have more tests now, and more scans.

“And the first one is on Thursday, I have to have an endoscopy. And apparently, I’ve got to be sedated for that, so they’re just checking out inside and seeing how that all is.

“But I am tired, and I’m not myself yet. To be honest, the whole thing just makes you put real life on hold, and I find that quite hard. I should have been going to a really mega Irish wedding tonight of someone who’s very dear to me, and I’m not up to it. I’m not up to partying yet, at all. I will be, I’m sure, but not just yet.

“So, time will tell. I’m trying my best. Today, I’ve been very lazy aside from walking the dogs, which you can have a look at on John’s Instagram! Yes, walking in the countryside. And thanks for all your messages, and keep telling me how you’re doing, please, as well.”

Beverley, who is also known for starring in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and last year filmed I’m A Celebrity…South Africa but was unable to attend the live final due to her illness, was optimistic about the situation in the caption of her post.

She wrote: “A bit of a chat about how I fell and what’s next…just don’t feel myself at all…but I WILL get there.” Beverley was instantly supported by her followers in the comments section of the post.

One wrote: “Keep going Bev. It’s really hard at times, especially the caner fatigue but take each day at a time.” Another said: “Sending love from a long time Corrie fan. You’re doing fantastic.”

Another said: “All you can do is your best and your body will tell you when you’re able,” whilst a fourth said: “Hang in there lovely lady. All the best this week.”

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.

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Qasim Rizwan, from Bolton, required every unit of rare blood available to him in the country after being diagnosed with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA). Doctors initially struggled to match his blood type but scientists discovered he was a rare mix, including r’r’, a subtype of the Rhesus system that is shared by roughly one in 10,000 people. Only around 50 blood donors are type r’r’. Qasim, now 9, visited NHSBT’s national frozen blood bank in Liverpool in August with his father Rizwan Ahmed, 46, and brother Yusuf to thank staff for their help (NHSBT/PA)