OGECHUKWU Obiechefu only arrived in the UK from Italy a year ago.

But the teenager went straight in at the deep end, going into Year 11 at Djanogly City Academy to study for her GCSEs – even though she struggled to speak English.

Despite this, she knuckled down and managed to pick up top GCSE grades, including a B in English.

She also managed As in Italian, science and maths and has moved on to New College Nottingham to study A-levels in biology, maths, psychology and music.

When she got her results, the 16-year-old, of Sherwood Rise, said: "It wasn't easy coming in at such a late date but I really wanted to work hard and get good results.

"Now I have done that I am very happy."

Her hard work prompted teacher Susan Davies to nominate her in the Most Improved category of the Nottingham Post Student Awards.

Ms Davies said: "She had a very poor experience of schooling when she was overseas. She spoke Italian and her written English was far better than her spoken English.

"Moving to a British school was a huge cultural shock for Ogechukwu, especially given the difference in teaching and learning.

"However, she threw herself into her new surroundings and school life and, rather than seeing them as problems, welcomed them as challenges to be overcome.

"She set a very high example for fellow students and was also very supportive of other new students who joined the academy."

A WASTE firm has given up its six-year battle to build an incinerator at the former Rufford Colliery site in Rainworth.

Veolia Environmental Services Notts revealed plans for the incinerator in July 2006, which were later the subject of a public inquiry.

In June last year communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles said that Veolia's incinerator application should be refused planning permission for various reasons, including the impact upon protected bird species.

Veolia subsequently launched a legal challenge to this decision by making an application to the High Court under Section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the decision to be rendered null and void.

However it has now withdrawn that challenge.

Campaign group People Against Incineration (PAIN) said it was delighted that Veolia was no longer pursuing the Rufford site.

Shlomo Dowen, 50, PAIN member and Forest Town resident, said: "This campaign has taken up years of my life and I am thrilled with the outcome.

"It has been a big learning curve for not only our campaign group but also for the whole community.

"As a group, we do not want to see incineration anywhere but it is a victory that it won't be happening on the beautiful site at Rufford which is home to so much important wildlife.

"Everybody is a winner here and the hard campaigning work has paid off."

Linda Tift, Rainworth Councillor and PAIN treasurer, added: "The community has plenty to celebrate, and still more to do to protect and enhance local wildlife for the benefit of future generations."

A new incinerator was part of the council's 26-year £850 million Private Finance Initiative contract with Veolia to deal with waste collected by Notts local authorities other than the city council.

Steve Mitchell, managing director of Veolia Environmental Services, said the company would continue to work with the county council to find an alternative to the Rufford proposal.

He said: "With the development of any waste management facility of this size there are always challenges during the planning process.

"We've have been working closely with the county council to formulate a revised plan that will meet the county council's needs going forward."

He added: "Our partnership with Notts County Council began in 2006 and since that time we've collectively increased the county's recycling rate, improved the performance of all of Nottinghamshire's Household Waste Recycling Centres, and delivered a state-of-the-art recycling facility in Forest Town that has delivered nearly 70 full time jobs.

"I'm confident that with this track record we can agree and implement a revised project plan that will divert the residual waste that is currently sent to landfill."

Councillor Richard Butler, chairman of the county council's environment and sustainability committee, said: "The council continues to work closely with Veolia on the development of a revised project plan to identify the best possible way of dealing with the residual waste which was due to be treated at the Rufford ERF, and which is currently being sent to landfill."

A MAN who head-butted a work colleague on a night out has been ordered to pay him £500 compensation.

James McIntosh knocked Oliver Kingdon to the floor in the Rescue Rooms, in Goldsmith Street, Nottingham, after a row. Mr Kingdon was taken to hospital with a suspected broken nose.

The Experian workers had been for after-work drinks to celebrate a birthday and a colleague leaving on August 24.

But the night ended with McIntosh being arrested.

He appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Tuesday, having been convicted last month of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Judge Michael Stokes QC told him: "One can only draw the conclusion that you had a moment of madness, when you head-butted your colleague.

"It was a pretty dramatic and deliberate head-butt and has caused him some injury to his nose, which appears to be continuing to cause problems."

The court heard the pair's work relationship turned sour in January, when McIntosh sent Mr Kingdon an e-mail when a sale fell through.

On the night of the attack, they were standing opposite each other in a group when an argument began.

McIntosh, 26, of Bishop Street, Eastwood, suddenly and without warning, butted Mr Kingdon. The jury saw CCTV footage of McIntosh putting his hands on Mr Kingdon's shoulders and using his head as a weapon.

Robby Singh, prosecuting, said: "That headbutt caused Oliver Kingdon to go to the floor for a short period of time. When he gets up, he says, the defendant is smiling."

Mr Kingdon now suffered from headaches and a blocked nose, the court heard..

Mr Singh said the pair were still employed by Experian.

"It appears they are both working at the same company and they have been placed quite far apart."

Christopher Geeson said, in mitigation, that the two men had previously sat close together in the same room.

"It's now been resolved," he said. "They now sit further away. They are still in the same room.

"The defendant is ashamed of his actions and he is sorry and exceptionally contrite, which has enabled him to keep his job."

He said that, during the argument in the club, his client felt he was being backed into a corner. "He accepts he shouldn't have done what he did and accepts this may have been assisted by alcohol. He'd had four pints."

McIntosh works flexi-time for Experian and is also a retained firefighter. He and his fiancee have saved £5,000 to get married in Cyprus next September.

The judge concluded that the attack was "wholly out of character" and that McIntosh was a hard-working man.

There was no point in sending him to prison for a "momentary aberration", he said.

Ordering McIntosh to pay compensation and be subject to a community order, with 90 hours of unpaid work, the judge told him: "I'm quite sure you will never do anything like this again."

A YOUNG mum caused thousands of pounds of damage to a toy shop when her car ploughed through the front window.

Nicole Busuttil was behind the wheel in a pair of slippers when she careered into Applebee's electrical store and toy shop, in Wollaton Road, Beeston.

She ran off, leaving the red Ford Fiesta embedded in the front of the shop.

Police caught up with her the following day.

She was charged with dangerous driving and failing to stop after the accident at 4.30pm on February 11.

Yesterday, the 22-year-old mother-of-one, of Rathvale Court, Beeston, was sentenced after admitting the charges at a previous hearing.

She was banned from driving for one year, ordered to take an enhanced driving course and received six months in prison, suspended for one year.

Judge Michael Stokes QC told her at Nottingham Crown Court: "No one would sensibly drive any vehicle in this particular area, full as it was with pedestrians, at the speed you were doing.

"You didn't help yourself by trying to disappear afterwards."

The court heard Busuttil has seven previous convictions for 12 offences, mostly for violence and public order offences.

On this occasion she was driving at 37mph on a road with a 30mph limit with two others in her car.

She was struggling to control the vehicle when she hit the kerb and veered into the window. The car was a write-off.

The shop's owner, Jeff Graham, said today that he was at the back of the shop at the time and heard a huge bang, glass smash and felt the building trembling.

He added: "There could have been a small family looking through the window at the toys and she could have killed them or badly injured them all."

The repair bill ran to £4,000.

Mr Graham is the third generation of his family to run the business, which has been in the town for 94 years.

Despite the damage caused by Busuttil, he was open for business the following day.

Applebee's is next to the main pedestrian crossing, connecting High Road to Beeston Square and the pavement was busy with shoppers.

Busuttil had been giving a lift to friend, knew the road well and was going a short distance.

She said she believed she blacked out and could not remember the crash.

Her driving was dangerous on the basis of speed and inexperience.

After the hearing, the Post tried to speak with Busuttil at her flat but she refused to comment.

POLICE are continuing to search a landfill site for the head and arms of a Nottingham murder victim.

The decapitated body of Kevin Kennedy, 50, was found on overgrown land between Rossington Road and Burrows Court, Sneinton, on August 8.

The murder inquiry now centres on Staple Quarry landfill site, at Grange Lane, Newark, where refuse lorries take rubbish from kerbside collections and commercial and industrial waste.

The search began in the middle of October and was predicted to last for at least a month. So far nothing has been found by officers who are continuing to search the tip.

A post-mortem examination into the cause of Kennedy's death was inconclusive.

Peter Healy, 50, of Lord Nelson Street, Sneinton, has been charged with murdering Mr Kennedy, causing actual bodily harm and theft.

Tara Swift, 40, of West Street, in Leicester, has also been charged with Mr Kennedy's murder.

They are next due to appear in court in January.

THE head teacher at Burton Joyce Primary School has been suspended.

Margaret Gretton's suspension comes at a time when Notts County Council is investigating the way the school is being run.

Allegations made against the school include failing to prevent two Year 4 girls watching adult TV while on a field trip to Skegness.

It has also been claimed important decisions about the school have been taken by governing body committees, but no formal records of these meetings exist.

Phil Palmer, head teacher at Cropwell Bishop Primary School, will take over as acting head teacher until the investigation is concluded.

The decision to suspend Ms Gretton follows a meeting of the school's governing body on Tuesday night.

One of the governors, Eric Ashworth, who has previously expressed concerns about the school's child protection measures, was at the meeting, but said he was unable to say what was discussed.

He had previously called for Ms Gretton to be suspended during the course of the investigation.

However the county council said the governors had decided to suspend Ms Gretton.

John Slater, the authority's service director for education standards and inclusion, said: "We have been notified that the governing body at Burton Joyce Primary School has chosen to suspend the school's headteacher.

"The council will now continue to work with the school and governors to bring a full and proper investigation to a timely conclusion.

"Mr Palmer will work closely with the governing body, ourselves and all colleagues at the school to maintain the high quality of teaching and learning which are already features of the school.

"The county council will continue to support the school during this period."

The school had applied to the Department for Education for academy status but this has now been put on hold.

News of the investigation has divided parents.

Emma Statham, 26, said: "I believe the right decision has been made in suspending Mrs Gretton. I have been unhappy about the way the school is being run for some time."

Christopher Green, 47, of Main Street, Burton Joyce, took his four children – aged five, eight, nine and ten – out of the school.

He said: "The right decision has been made to suspend the head teacher. I have been of the opinion it should have been done some time ago."

However, a 34-year-old parent, who didn't want to be named, said: "I'm more than happy with the school and I'm disappointed with the news.

"I believe it is a good school that is well run."

The county council was unable to say when the investigation will be completed.

DAY-TRIPPERS from Notts were left stranded at Alton Towers after both their coach drivers were arrested.

One of the drivers was later charged with being in charge of a vehicle while over the alcohol limit.

The outing had been organised by the social club of a firm in Lenton. As well as employees, there were partners and children on the trip.

The group was due to return from the Staffordshire theme park on Saturday when police arrested the drivers, who were about to drive the Silverdale Tours coach back to Nottingham.

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said officers were called to Alton Towers at 8.15pm after concerns were raised about the behaviour of two coach drivers.

He said: "Officers arrested a 43-year-old man from Nottingham and a 65-year-old man from Derbyshire. The 65-year-old was subsequently released without charge.

"The 43-year-old was charged with being in charge of a motor vehicle when his alcohol level was over the limit. He has been bailed to appear at North Staffordshire Magistrates on November 14."

A father-of-two from Bestwood, who was on the trip with his children, aged four and seven, told the Post: "This is one of the most shocking things I can imagine. It is incredibly appalling behaviour for anyone, especially coach drivers responsible for the safety of the public.."

The dad, aged 35, praised Alton Towers after staff at the theme park arranged transport back to Nottingham.

Simon Read, transport manager at Silverdale Tours (Nottm) Ltd, of Little Tennis Street South, Sneinton, said: "We take this incident very seriously and have suspended both drivers concerned.

"We operate a zero tolerance towards alcohol and regularly perform random breath tests to eliminate this kind of behaviour. ."

HIGH numbers of city schoolchildren are regularly missing classes, according to the latest Government figures.

More than 2,000 pupils were persistently absent during the autumn term in 2011 and spring term in 2012 – among the worst nationally.

Ian Stevenson, regional secretary for the National Union of Teachers, said the statistics are "worrying" but there were a number of factors that needed to be looked at.

He added: "There is more behind levels of absence than the figures themselves – you have to look at potential barriers to education, be it poverty, language issues or perhaps parents not seeing the benefit of education.

"In any case, the focus should be on bringing these barriers down and not just simply taking parents of absentee children to court.

"Handing out fines won't solve the underlying problems – we need more early intervention type programmes like Sure Start, and this is exactly the type of thing that Government is removing funding for."

To be classed as persistently absent, a pupil has to miss 15 per cent or more of lessons.

The figures show that 5.3 per cent of primary pupils were classed as persistent absentees.

While this is a vast improvement on the previous – when the figure stood at 9.9 per cent – the city is still the second worst of the 153 education authorities in England.

At secondary level, 10.3 per cent of students in the city were classed as persistent absentees, making them joint fourth worst across the country.

Parent Becky Humber, of Bilborough, said that having such a high level of truancy is concerning for her.

She said: "I have two children aged 13 and 11 that go to Hadden Park School and hearing there's a high truancy level in the city is a big problem.

"It just disrupts everyone's education when people miss school, because then people have to catch up.

"Councils should show parents and pupils that school is important and make sure children are engaged with school rather than threaten people with fines."

Meanwhile, schools in the county improved their year-on-year figures and are below the national average for persistent absentees in primary and secondary schools.

In primaries, 3.2 per cent of pupils were persistently absent, down from five per cent, while in secondaries the figure was 6.6 per cent, down from 9.5 per cent.

Laurence Jones, Notts County Council's group manager for targeted support and youth justice services, said the figures were "encouraging".

He added: "Where schools have been unable to address issues of attendance with a child's family, or where they are concerned that a child's behaviour makes exclusion likely, schools may refer to cases to our targeted support service.

"We appoint a case manager who assesses the issues for the child and family through interviews and access to records held by various professional agencies.

"They will then agree a plan with the family to improve attendance or behaviour.

"Where a parent fails to engage in the assessment or planning, or fails to make sufficient efforts to improve the situation, then we will begin proceedings to prosecute them."

TWO police cars were damaged and residents had to be evacuated as a man threw items out from a city centre building in the early hours of the morning.

Roads around Fletcher Gate were closed during the incident which lasted for several hours yesterday.

A 27-year-old resident of Weekday Cross, who did not want to be named, took pictures of the scene as it unfolded.

He said: "I saw a bloke in the window of the building next to the Cross Keys pub at about 8pm on Tuesday. Police started to gather and there was an ambulance too.

"Then they stopped letting people out of Fletcher Gate car park and closed the road.

"My girlfriend and I watched what was happening.

"The man then started to throw what looked like big silver beer barrels out of the window at the police.

"I saw one of the barrels hit the roof of one of the police cars and smash the lights.

"It was really weird – we just couldn't believe what we were seeing.

"I just kept thinking 'I hope he doesn't jump out of the window'."

He added: "When I went to bed about 1am the man was still in the window and the police were still trying to coax him down.

"He had been up there for at least five hours by then.

"It was just such a strange thing to see."

A Notts police spokeswoman said: "A number of roads were closed and residents were evacuated from flats in Fletcher Gate on Tuesday evening, as a precaution, after reports that a man was on the roof of buildings across from the car park."

She added: "A 22-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, after two police vehicles were damaged by falling items during the incident.

"Roads reopened around 2.20am yesterday morning . No one was injured."

A DRUG dealer has had her home taken off her.

Tracey McGill, formerly of Dunscombe Close, St Ann's, was caught with amphetamines last year.

She was given a suspended prison sentence in December after admitting possession of the drug with intent to supply.

Now Community Protection Officers have made a successful order to have her evicted from her home.

She was originally ordered to leave by August 6 but failed to move. She was eventually evicted on October 3.

McGill, 26, has now been placed on the Social Housing Exclusion Register which prohibits her from accessing social housing in the future.

Councillor Alex Norris said: "Social Housing is a precious, limited resource in our city.

"We work with Nottingham City Homes to take breaches of tenancy very seriously.

"We're determined to rid our estates of drug dealing."

POLICE are investigating claims that a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted at Rock City.

Officers were called to the club in Talbot Street after the alleged assault at about 9.30pm last Friday.

The Sonic Boom Six show that was held at the club was open to people aged 14 and over.

No arrests have been made and police inquiries are ongoing.

Nobody at Rock City was available to comment.

Anyone with information about the incident should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A BASFORD firm has been fined for safety failures – after a worker had four finger ends severed on a poorly-guarded machine.

Albert McEvoy, 53, from Nottingham, lost the tips of the fingers on his right hand in the incident at Murphy & Sons Ltd in Alpine Street, Old Basford, on 9 March last year.

The company provides hops and malt, yeasts and various other products to the brewing and food industries.

Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that Mr McEvoy tried to feed clogged powder back into an industrial mixer through a discharge tube, and his fingers struck the rotating blades.

Mr McEvoy lost the tips of his index and little fingers above the first knuckle, and the ends of his middle and ring fingers just below the first knuckle.

He was off work for several months and. although he has since returned, he now struggles with everyday tasks such as fastening buttons, using cutlery or texting on a mobile phone.

He may need a further operation to relieve pressure and pain.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was no guard on the mixer to prevent access to dangerous moving parts via the discharge tube.

Had a suitable guard been fitted, the incident would have been prevented.

Murphy & Sons Ltd was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £7,674 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jayne Towey said: "Mr McEvoy suffered a serious and extremely painful hand injury because of a simple guarding failure that could and should have been avoided.

"The risk was entirely foreseeable, but no-one at the company had the foresight to consider the mixer was inadequately guarded.

"This was despite the fact that clear industry guidance is readily available and the fact that a large number of workers are injured on poorly guarded machines every year."

No-one from the firm was available to comment.

HSE statistics show that in 2010/11 alone more than 550 people were seriously injured in the manufacturing and processing sector after coming into contact with moving machinery or material being machined.

A substantial number of these injuries relate to guarding failures.

A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy who fell from the first floor of a Nottingham store has left intensive care.

Ryan Hooley, of Beeston, was taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in a serious condition following the incident at about 2.25pm in Primark on Wednesday, October 24.

He is now on a ward and is stable and comfortable.

Police are continuing to make inquiries, working with health and safety officers, to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

WHETHER you're a lover of Lincolnshire sausages, a Cumberland connoisseur, a toad-in-the-hole taster or even a saveloy savourer – this is your week.

For British Sausage Week has again arrived. And the British Sausage Appreciation Society – with help from comedian Al Murray – is making its way around the country through the week to celebrate the noble banger.

Al turned up Wednesday at the Orange Tree pub in Shakespeare Street along with a phalanx of appreciation folk and a handful of trophies and awards. They're working their way around the country all week, doling out sausage awards by region.

For Al, who turned up in character as his comedy alter-ego the Pub Landlord, promoting sausages sounds like a labour of love.

"I'll take sausage any way I can get it," Al said.

Favourite sausage?

"Whatever one's in front of me. Love the one you're with."

The comedian, whose onstage persona is a well-known defender of all things British, spoke rapturously of a proper British food that can be served in a sandwich, with potatoes, in a plethora (or whatever the proper British word for "plethora" is) of other dishes – or as the always popular cold leftover sausage in the fridge.

"It's the all-round food," he said.

Local butchers JT Beedham and Sons of Sherwood and A Cunnington Butchers of Hucknall were among the regional finalists that also included butchers from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire.

JT Beedham was the only shop to have two sausages – the Five-a-Day Sausage and the Olympian Sausage a Hoy – on the shortlist.

The Olympian Sausage a Hoy won the "iconic sausage" category.

The sausage is named after Scottish cycling Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy and, perhaps inevitably, it's filled with haggis.

"We've only just made it," said Johnny Pusztai, the butcher behind perennial award-winner Beedham.

"It's pork, it's got heart – basically everything that goes in haggis."

He was also proud of his other sausage, the five-a-day.

Each sausage contains turnips, parsnips, sweetcorn, carrots and peas.

"It's a healthy sausage for children," he said.

"It's a meal in a sausage. Just needs potatoes."

If the day all seemed like fun, games and encased meats, Al wanted to remind people that there's a serious message behind all the pork.

"British pork farmers are feeling the pinch," he said.

Weather-related poor crops has meant skyrocketing costs for feed. That in turn has meant a difficult time for many smaller and mid-sized British pork farms.

That's particularly frustrating since, according to a report commissioned by the appreciation society, Britons can't get enough sausage.

The report claims the banger is Britain's most popular dinner choice, featuring in 864 million meals a year.

That means Britons consume nearly 200,000 tonnes of sausage a year.

The plain pork sausage remains easily the most popular, accounting for 40 percent of sales. The Cumberland comes in second with 13 percent.

Learn more about British Sausage Week at britishsausageweek.com and facebook.com/lovepork.UK.

And if you feel the need to tweet pork, follow them on twitter.com/LovePork.

A MOTORIST found driving while at more than twice the legal alcohol limit has been banned from the roads for two years. Przemyslaw Kowalczys, 35, of Grimston Road, Radford, had 93 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath as he drove a Peugeot car in Grimston Road on October 14. The legal limit is 35 micrograms. Kowalczys was also fined £220 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £22 victim surcharge.

GEORGE Kent, 45, of Thorpe Close, Coddington, admitted possessing amphetamine in Newark on June 17. He was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge. Kent also pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in Sleaford Road, Newark, on June 17. He was fined £600, and also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

MAJID Farsi-Monfared, 47, of Anstey Rise, Sneinton, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at the Colwick level crossing on April 13. He was fined £400, had his driving licence endorsed with six penalty points and was ordered to pay £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

A MAN has been jailed for eight weeks after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman by beating her. Martin Bramley admitted committing the offence at Yates's Wine Lodge, in Nottingham city centre, on September 20. Bramley 49, whose address was given in court as HMP Nottingham, in Perry Road, Sherwood, was also issued with a 12-month restraining order.

NIGEL Wilson, 39, of Kestrel Drive, Bingham, admitted driving in Bath Street, Sneinton, on October 28 while using a mobile phone. Wilson was disqualified from driving for six months, fined £145, and ordered to pay £35 prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

NEIL Page, 38, of Strelley Road, Strelley, pleaded guilty to driving without valid insurance in Clifton Boulevard, Dunkirk, on April 8. He was fined £110, had his driving licence endorsed with six penalty points, and was ordered to pay £35 prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

JULIE Dubko, 48, of Barrique Road, Dunkirk, pleaded guilty to stealing £68.78 of food from Sainsbury's in the city on October 19. She was sentenced to a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20 prosecution costs.

A CLIFTON man has been banned from driving for 17 months after he admitted drink-driving. Denis Hannan, 28, of Brooksby Lane, pleaded guilty to driving a Peugeot 106 on the A52 Nottingham Knight Island on October 19 while having 76 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – exceeding the 35 micrograms limit. Hannan was also fined £260 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

SEAN Togher, 33, of Ashwell Gardens, Hyson Green, pleaded guilty to driving without valid insurance in Valley Road, Sherwood, on October 30. He was fined £300, had his driving licence endorsed with six penalty points and was ordered to pay £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

JONATHAN Ansell, 36, of Westleigh Road, Broxtowe, admitted causing criminal damage to a window in Broxtowe on October 20. Ansell was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 compensation to Nottingham City Homes and £50 prosecution costs.

STEVEN Bourne, 21, of Hungerhill Road, St Ann's, has been jailed for four months after being found carrying an offensive weapon – a metal table leg – in Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham city centre, on October 20. The court deemed the offence to be so serious due to it having been committed while Bourne was on bail and subject to a community order. Bourne was also sentenced for two other offences which he admitted. He received a two-month concurrent prison sentence for causing criminal damage to the windscreen of an Audi A5 car belonging to Hertz UK Ltd in Milton Street, Nottingham city centre, on October 26. He was also handed a four-month concurrent jail sentence for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards three people – including a police officer – in Milton Street and Bluecoat Close, Nottingham city centre, also on October 26.

LIAM Bednall, 23, of Villa Street, Beeston, admitted stealing a £550 bike in the city of Nottingham on October 24. He was jailed for 12 weeks, due to the offence being aggravated by his criminal record and a recent similar offence. Bednall was also made subject of a two-year restraining order preventing him from entering any University of Nottingham or Nottingham Trent University campus.

AMANDA Cunningham, 33, of Westwood Road, Sneinton, pleaded guilty to stealing three cartons of SMA powdered baby milk, worth £23.77, from Boots in Beeston on June 28. Sentencing was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared. Cunningham was bailed to reappear at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on December 20.

DEFENDER Ashley Eastham has left Notts County and returned to Blackpool.

However, the Magpies still hope to bring the promising youngster back to Meadow Lane on loan.

The 21-year-old's spell with Notts came to an end after their 2-0 win at Colchester United on Tuesday night in League One.

He has been recalled by Blackpool because they are set to appoint a new boss – so he could now figure in the Championship club's plans this season.

The Magpies are waiting with bated breath to find out if Eastham is still going to be available for another loan stint, but will turn their attention to other defensive targets if he is not.

"He's gone back to find out exactly what his situation is because they are going to appoint a new manager," said Magpies' boss Keith Curle.

"He wants to know if he's going to be in their plans.

"What he does not want to do now, having been here and played a few games, is go back there and get swallowed up."

Eastham was on the subs' bench at Colchester, but he started three league games for the Magpies during his one-month loan, against Coventry, Bournemouth and Doncaster.

And even though Curle has now signed Damion Stewart until January and also has Dean Leacock and Gary Liddle, he still wants to extend Eastham's loan because Manny Smith is sidelined with a knee injury.

"He knows I rate him as a player," added Curle.

"He's a young man so he's still learning his trade.

"But he's given us a glimpse of what he's about in the games he's played and I think he's a work in progress.

"I think he's got something to offer so I would love to get him back."

The Magpies are likely to find out Eastham's future before they face newly-promoted Crawley Town in League One at Meadow Lane on the weekend.

A NOTTS bus company says it its Long Eaton service has been "decimated" by "horrendous" delays caused by roadworks for the new tramline and other services.

Premiere has said the time it takes its Red 5 service to travel between Nottingham and Long Eaton has doubled, with tram works on the route causing the "most disturbance".

The service is now running every 20 minutes during the day instead of every ten minutes – and an extra two buses have been put on.

Brand manager Jamie Swift said buses would now always leave on time at each end of the route, instead of running at sporadic times because of the delays.

However, the full journey, which used to take about one hour and 20 minutes now takes two hours and 40 minutes.

Mr Swift said there are four sets of roadworks along the route that are causing problems.

Gas works that are being carried out near the Chilwell Olympia and drainage works in Long Eaton.

Buses are also held up at University Boulevard by works for utility services along the new tram line, and by the Beekeeper pub in Chilwell, where the Meadow Lane and Queens Road East junction is being widened for the tram.

Mr Swift said: "All of them combined are just causing hold-up after hold-up. The tram works are causing the greatest disturbance."

He added: "We should be running the route with seven buses but we're running it with nine, we've put on extra buses to try and ease the delays but it's not enough. The buses are just getting bunched in the queue – the customers are getting very annoyed, the drivers are getting frustrated."

Chris Deas, Nottingham City Council's project NET phase two project director, said: "The contractor for the tram project is working hard to try and minimise, as far as possible, any disruption caused, but with a construction project of this scale and with the nature of the works involved, it is inevitable that there will be some."

Councillor Richard Jackson, cabinet member for transport and highways at Notts County Council, said: "The council is doing all it can to minimise problems but, despite what people think, we don't have the power to prevent statutory bodies like major utility companies from digging up the roads when they need to.

"We do however, work with them to deal with it the best we can and most of them are pretty good at trying to co-ordinate stuff. The trouble with the tram is that it's two years' worth of works and even routine utility work is not going to wait two years until the tram works are through."

Hayley Sheffield, 22 of Sawley, said: "Normally I try to catch the train but today I saw the bus first and jumped on there. Now I wish I hadn't, I was nearly late for work."

And Paul Davidson, 29, of Tamworth Road, Long Eaton, added: "The journey time has been up to half an hour on some days and roadworks are really growing."

What do you think? E-mail your views to newsdesk@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk or call us at 0115 905 1967.