Emergency services were called to Sparrow Hall Drive in the early hours of this morning (Monday, March 23) following reports of a vehicle fire.

Police have confirmed that the car was reported stolen.

Smoke at 4am in Darlington after the car fire (Image: UGC)

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

A resident told The Northern Echo: “I was woken up by what I assume to be an explosion.

“Not sure what it was yet, but there was big billowing smoke in the Wylam Hill, Five Arches area.”

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said: “Shortly after 6am today (Monday), we received a report of a vehicle fire in the Sparrowhall Drive area of Darlington.

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“One crew from Darlington Fire Station attended to put out the fire, leaving the area shortly before 6.40am.”

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

The car on Monday morning (March 23) after it was reported stolen and found set alight (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: “Police were called by the fire service shortly before 6.15am today (March 23) to a vehicle on fire on Sparrow Hall Drive, in Darlington.

“The car is believed to have been stolen.”

The new Netflix series Lead Children has put a spotlight on the issue of lead poisoning in 1970s Poland. The series follows a young doctor who discovers that children living near a smelting plant have been poisoned with lead.

According to the latest Global Burden of Disease study, exposure to lead remains one of the leading environmental risk factors for early death and poor health globally. Unicef estimates that one in three children worldwide have an elevated blood lead level, highlighting this modern global health failure.

Historically, lead has been used in paint, gasoline, water supply pipes and industry. This has contaminated air, water, soil, dust and foods, which is why lead is a persistent and toxic environmental problem.

While the global elimination of lead from gasoline has been hugely successful in reducing lead in air, leading to a fall in population-wide blood lead concentrations in many countries, decline is not eradication.

We still live with the consequences from leaded paint being widely used until the 1960s on domestic and workplace skirting boards, bannisters, windowsills, doorframes and radiators. Lead is also still found in uPVC and leaded windows, roof flashings, glazed kitchenware, as well as some traditional medicines and cosmetics.

This may explain why ingestion, rather than inhalation from leaded gasoline, is now the dominant source of lead exposure in high-income countries.

Health effects of lead

Lead is a cumulative toxin so there is no safe blood lead concentration. Children under the age of six are particularly vulnerable to its effects. Even low-level exposure impacts neurodevelopment – resulting in lower IQ, reduced attention span, antisocial behaviour, ADHD and hearing loss.

Lead exposure at all ages can cause cardiovascular disease, kidney impairment, infertility, increased risk of spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, depression and panic disorder. It causes permanent structural brain changes in adults (particularly males) who were exposed to lead during childhood. These include a loss of brain volume in areas responsible for executive function, behavioural regulation and fine motor control.

It’s estimated that the global cost of childhood lead exposure may be around US$3.4 trillion (£2.5 trillion) per year. These losses are estimated by accounting for the lower lifetime earnings and lower economic productivity that children exposed to lead experience due to reduced intelligence and lower educational attainment. Since it doesn’t include healthcare costs, it may even be an underestimate.

Preventing harm

Unlike several other counties (such as France, Germany and the USA) there is currently no large-scale childhood blood lead monitoring programme in the UK. This is significant, as estimates from 2020 suggest that 180,000 to 280,000 children in the UK have elevated blood lead concentrations.

In 2014 the UK established the Lead Exposure in Children Surveillance System (LEICSS) so that NHS laboratories could notify the UK Health Security Agency of children with raised blood lead concentrations, but testing is only initiated if there’s a high clinical suspicion of lead poisoning. Since low and moderate blood concentrations tend not to produce symptoms, many UK children with elevated blood lead levels are likely to go undetected. Indeed in 2024, only 247 cases were reported to LEICSS.

There are also shortcomings with current techniques used to detect lead exposure in the UK. At the moment, blood taken directly from a vein (a venous sample) remains the gold standard for determining exposure to lead.

This technique requires a nurse or other healthcare professional to collect the sample, which makes it hard to test lots of people. It also means that families must take time out of their day and travel to a clinic to be tested.
Alternative testing methods using urine, hair and saliva have been used, but are typically subject to large biological variations and less accurate than venous blood samples.

This is why my colleagues and I launched the ECLIPS study in November 2025. This is the UK’s first citizen-led childhood lead exposure study, which is being conducted in Leeds, northern England.

We chose Leeds because not only is it a typical post-industrial city, it has had the highest reporting rates of lead poisoning to LEICSS for the past ten consecutive years. It’s also the only part of the country with a targeted alert system designed to support healthcare professionals in identifying lead poisoning in children: when a healthcare worker requests a test for iron deficiency, the electronic system includes a prompt suggesting the staff member also have the sample tested for lead levels.

Our study uses finger-prick blood sampling kits that are mailed to families in Leeds. Participants are asked to collect a few drops of blood from their child’s finger onto a sampling device, which is then mailed to a central laboratory for analysis. This overcomes the main limitations of current sampling techniques. Participants are also provided with advice on ways to reduce lead exposure at home.

The results of this study are currently ongoing, but we believe it could be an opportunity to develop a large-scale programme for testing childhood blood lead in the UK. It would also pave the way to wider testing nationally and internationally.

This latest Netflix series highlights the human cost of lead contamination. It also drives home the importance of taking action early to protect children from the damaging, often lifelong, health effects of lead. Early detection can change lives and save billions in lost opportunity costs.

Arsenal’s hopes of achieving an historic quadruple went up in flames at Wembley on Sunday but Declan Rice remains determined to finish the season in style as they battle for three other trophies

Declan Rice has insisted that Arsenal’s humbling at the hands of Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final has only made them hungrier to finish the season strongly. The Gunners were beaten 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday as they missed the first chance of the season to win a trophy.

Arsenal were far from at their best and Nico O’Reilly’s two headers within four minutes of each other in the second half saw City home. Mikel Arteta’s side went into the fixture in contention for a quadruple, but will now have to focus on their remaining opportunities.

Arsenal have not won a trophy since the FA Cup in 2020, in Arteta’s first season in charge, and left Wembley disappointed. City, by contrast, claimed their fifth Carabao Cup under Pep Guardiola’s management and their ninth in total with a ruthlessly efficient performance.

O’Reilly’s first goal came when Kepa Arrizabalaga couldn’t hold onto a cross and the City youngster netted another from the back post minutes later. Barring an impressive triple save from James Trafford in the first half, Arsenal created little and Rice has now responded on social media.

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READ MORE: Viktor Gyokeres makes Arsenal trophy vow after stinging Carabao Cup final defeatREAD MORE: Declan Rice and Gabriel’s different reactions to Arsenal squad as Man City lifted trophy

“A final defeat doesn’t define us,” he wrote on Instagram. “Only makes us hungrier to go on & finish the season strong. Thank you to our amazing fans as always. See you after the break.”

Arsenal are nine points clear of City at the top of the Premier League table, although their rivals do have a game in hand. They face Southampton in the quarter finals of the FA Cup after the international break before facing off against Sporting Lisbon in the last eight of the Champions League.

Arteta sent a similar message to his players post-match. “We had eight amazing months with this team,” he said. “Today is a disappointment. We need to use that fire in the belly for the next two months to have an incredible season. That’s on us and we’ll manage that energy in the right way. Now we have to go through that pain and disappointment and it’s normal and it’s part of football.

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“Very sad, very hard one to take, especially for our players and our supporters because we know how much it means to them and how much we want it, and the fact that we haven’t managed to deliver that obviously is disappointing and sad, and it leaves you with a really bad taste.

“But we wanted to show respect and they won the cup and I think you have to wait for that moment when they lift it and once they’ve done that and they’re going to have their own celebration.

“Every time you have a defeat or a draw, if that’s the consequences, then you have to be prepared because that will happen when you play 70 games. It’s bound to happen at some point. But when it’s happened before this season, we haven’t allowed that to happen, we have to prove it, we have to do it again.”

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England’s 2026 World Cup kits

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Firefighters took around five hours to extinguish the fire

Firefighters have provided an update on a house fire in a Cambridgeshire town. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue were called to the incident in Heddon Way, St Ives, at around 8.20am on Friday (March 20).

Neighbours were asked to keep their windows and doors closed while the fire was dealt with, as smoke engulfed the air. At the time, a fire spokesperson said: “On Friday at 8.21am crews from Huntingdon, St Neots, Chatteris, Ely, and Cambridge, along with the turntable ladder, were called to a house fire on Heddon Way in St Ives.

“Firefighters arrived to find smoke issuing from the property. Wearing breathing apparatus, firefighters worked hard to extinguish the fire. There were no reported casualties.”

An update has now been provided on the cause of the fire. A fire spokesperson added: “The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental.”

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Anyone who has seen him should contact police

A teenager from Peterborough has gone missing and police are asking the public to call 999 if they see him. Alfie, who is 15-years-old, was last seen at 5pm on Saturday, March 21 in the area of Rushden, Northamptonshire.

When Alfie was last seen, he was wearing a dark grey hoody, black jacket and black tracksuit bottoms. He is described as 5ft 11in, of slim build, and has dark, blonde hair. He has links to the Sussex area specifically Brighton and Eastbourne.

Northamptonshire Police has urged anyone who has seen Alfie or has information about his whereabouts, to call 999 quoting missing person reference MPE1/870/26. You can also report a sighting via the Northamptonshire Police website.

A spokesperson for Northamptonshire Police said: “Alfie, if you see this appeal, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. You’re not in trouble, we just need to make sure you are OK.”

When Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was recorded refusing to sign a shirt when a man approached his car after a match recently, he defended himself against a backlash by saying he felt “exposed” and claimed some fans “are not doing it for the right reasons”.

Last year, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola furiously berated a group of hunters who approached him at a car park near his home, lambasting their career choice, telling them: “Don’t come again – I won’t tell you again, I know your faces. Do you want to live your life doing this, honestly? What are your dreams?”

The sports memorabilia industry is estimated to be worth billions of pounds globally per year, underlining the wealth professional hunters can generate by regularly seeking out stars.

Clubs sometimes have to step in and protect players, including banning professional hunters from operating outside training grounds, providing security staff at nearby petrol stations where hunters know players stop to fill up their cars, and in some cases helping escort them home.

In 2023 Manchester United‘s Mason Mount was filmed telling hunters to stop following him home after they had done so on consecutive days.

And earlier this month United defender Noussair Mazraoui was recorded comically scribbling half-hearted signatures on a set of shirts given to him by a hunter who approached him at his car window after training.

“Players get really fed up with it,” says Premier League winner Chris Sutton.

“I’ve had it loads of times as a player and as a pundit. They stand outside the BBC studio and ask me to sign 12 number nine shirts all at once. I queried it recently and said ‘you’re going to flog these online, aren’t you?’

“It’s so annoying that the intention is to make money out of players and other high-profile people. It’s up to the player, manager, or has-been like myself to make a judgement call in the moment.

“If we say no, then the spurned party will often abuse the person who turned them down and out them online or publicly.

“It’s out of order as genuine autograph hunters must get fed up with these imposters who are doing it for the wrong reasons.

“These people spoil it for kids and genuine fans.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday in a case from Mississippi over whether states can count late-arriving mail ballots, a target of President Donald Trump.

The outcome of the case could affect voters in 14 states and the District of Columbia, which have grace periods for ballots cast by mail, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be impacted.

A ruling is expected by late June, early enough to govern the counting of ballots in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

Forcing states to change their practices just a few months before the election risks “confusion and disenfranchisement,” especially in places that have had relaxed deadlines for years, state and big-city election officials told the court in a written filing.

California, Texas, New York and Illinois are among the states with post-Election Day deadlines. Rural Alaska, with its vast distances and often unpredictable weather, also counts late-arriving ballots.

Lawyers for the Republican and Libertarian parties, as well as Trump’s administration, are asking the justices to affirm an appellate ruling that struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day.

The court challenge is part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states.

Last year, the Republican president signed an executive order on elections that aims to require votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day. The order has been blocked in pending court challenges.

At the same time, four Republican-dominated states — Ohio, Kansas, North Dakota and Utah — eliminated grace periods last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and Voting Rights Lab.

The issue at the Supreme Court is whether federal law sets a single Election Day that requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials.

In striking down Mississippi’s grace period, Judge Andrew Oldham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the state law allowing the late-arriving ballots to be counted violated federal law.

Oldham and the other two judges who joined the unanimous ruling, James Ho and Stuart Kyle Duncan, all were appointed by Trump during his first term.

The museum, tucked away at 15 Castle Hill in the shadow of Lancaster Castle, transports visitors back to 1739 and the home of Richard and Ann Thompson.

Far from a traditional museum experience, it invites guests to sit in period chairs, peer inside wooden coffers, try their hand at a spinning whorl and even practise cursive handwriting, making it a hands-on journey into 18th century domestic life.

The museum opens on Saturdays only, between 1pm and 4pm, from April 4 through to September. Admission is cash only, with adults paying just £2 and under-18s getting in free when accompanied by an adult.

One reviewer called it “a true hidden gem” (Image: Lancaster City Council)

Carers accompanying a disabled visitor also get in free. For those who want to make a day of it, a multipass ticket gives unlimited entry to all three Lancaster City Council museums, the Cottage Museum, the Maritime Museum and the City Museum, for £8 a week or £10 for a full year.

And if the TripAdvisor reviews are anything to go by, it is well worth the visit.

One reviewer called it “a true hidden gem,” adding: “A wonderful and unique museum.

“It was a very interesting and immersive experience, much more interactive than many much larger and more expensive museums.”

Another said: “Fantastic little museum, everything feels authentic and you really do feel transported back to the 18th century.

“The staff are so friendly and knowledgeable, definitely worth visiting if you are in Lancaster.”

A third reviewer was equally enthusiastic: “Brilliant little place.

“Low ceilings, steep stairs and tiny rooms, but that’s exactly the point.

You get a genuine sense of how people lived, unmissable if you love history.”

The museum is located steps away from Lancaster Castle and the Judges’ Lodgings, making it an easy addition to a day exploring the city’s rich history.

Visitors are advised to watch their heads on the beams and note that no dogs are permitted, with the exception of assistance animals.

Victoria Stroughair, 39, of Copperfield Close, Malton, pleaded guilty to assaulting three men, assaulting two police officers, and using threatening words or behaviour, all committed in Coney Street in December 2025.

She was given a 12-month community order with six months’ alcohol treatment, banned from all off-licensed premises in York for 12 months and 25 days’ rehabilitative activities. She must pay £100 compensation to each of the people she assaulted.

The Lisburn Road was closed overnight

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A man is in a critical condition following a two-vehicle collision on Sunday.

Police say the crash on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast involved a silver Volvo V40 and a motorcycle. It happened near the junction with Elmwood Avenue shortly before 7:30pm last night.

The motorcyclist, aged in his 30s, was taken to hospital where he remains in a critical condition. The Lisburn Road was closed overnight following the incident but has since reopened.

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A police spokesman said officers are appealing to witnesses or anyone who has footage.

They added: “Officers would ask anyone who witnessed the collision, or who has dash-cam or mobile phone footage which could assist with their enquiries, to contact them at Lisburn Road on 101, quoting reference number 1331 22/03/26.”

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