Local News

The RMT’s ballot for both strike action and action short of a strike of all First Great Western members over the threat to jobs and safety from the introduction of the new Hitachi Inter-City trains has recorded overwhelming votes in favour: Members of the union will walk out for 48 hours from 18:30 BST on 8 July.

The union said a guard should be kept on every train, but FGW said having drivers controlling doors was safer and jobs would not be lost.

At the end of May the union confirmed that it had entered into dispute with First Great Western over the introduction of Super...

Sidmouth’s Manor Pavilion Theatre has topped the bill with its own audiences after being awarded a Certificate of Excellence Award from TripAdvisor.

Staff at the venue, owned and managed by East Devon District Council, are thrilled with the surprise accolade and believe they are one of the few theatres in the South West to have received such an award.

The 277 seat theatre continues to go from strength to strength and has attracted more than 32,000 visitors in the last year with over 265 performances. Investment and improvements made to the venue by the council over the...

Police are appealing for witnesses to a collision in which a motorcyclist died near Okehampton on Tuesday 30 June.

The collision, involving a John Deere tractor with slurry tanker and a blue Suzuki GSXR motorcycle, happened on the A3079 outside Yelland Cottage, Fowley Cross, at 3.10pm.

Officers and an air ambulance attended. The first police officer arriving at the scene carried out emergency treatment on the 45-year-old male motorcyclist, from St Austell, with assistance from members of the public.

Despite their efforts the motorcyclist died at the scene. The man’s...

Nearly a third of people in the UK say they don’t like to burden others with their problems, according to research for the charity Samaritans.

The figures, published today to launch Samaritans’ awareness raising #TalkToUs campaign, also reveal that more than 1 in 5 (21.4%) people sometimes feel overwhelmed by their troubles, but 1 in 9 (11.4%) feel they don’t have anyone to share them with.

Other barriers to opening up about what’s bothering us include:

• Feeling embarrassed (1 in 7 or 14.4%) • Feeling weak (1 in 10 or 10.2%) • Feeling judged (1 in 12 or 8.3%) •...