A Devon taxi driver, who stood up for an elderly couple being preyed on by gang of rogue traders, has been honoured with a Hero Award.

Chris Smith, 37, owner of Black Swan Taxis, Dawlish, was awarded the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Hero Award at their annual conference on Wednesday 28 June.

He was nominated by the Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service for his ‘outstanding contribution to consumer protection’ when he intervened to prevent doorstep traders from ripping off an elderly couple in March.

The gang had quoted the couple £170...

THERE were wins for two Exeter community football teams, Marcel's Allstars and Alphington Ladies Football Club, who won, respectively, the male and female 5-a-side community diversity football tournament, when 10 male and 10 female teams competed for trophies.

The tournament, held at the University of Exeter’s Streatham Sports Complex on Sunday, July 2, was organised by Exeter City Supporters Trust’s One Game One Community Group, supported by Exeter City’s Football in the Community.

Marcel's Allstars beat the team Beanskins United, 1-0 in the final of the men's tournament...

Specialist restoration work to the Ten Commandment Stones monument on Buckland Beacon has just been completed. The work was carried out in two phases by Bath-based conservator and lettering expert Iain Cotton.

The first phase, completed in late May, saw the stones cleaned and wrapped in preparation for the restoration work to commence. The second phase of the process saw further careful cleaning before some of the lettering was re-carved to bring it back to legibility. Finally, the lettering was painted with a specially designed black paint suitable for use at high altitude and...

An Unmissable Evening Of Eavesdropping

Go on admit it! Don’t you love to listen in on other people’s conversations?

The beauty of cracking good radio drama is you can revel in this guilty pleasure without being caught. But in an age of iPhones, and iPods, people increasingly listen to audio drama alone, while being jostled by commuters or mithered by children, and have no one to gas to about the characters with afterwards. Now a group of Devon-based playwrights are plotting to buck this trend...

This July Exeter’s historic Boat Shed will be taken over by The Bike...

Police were called just after 7pm on Friday 30 June 2017 to reports of a two vehicle collision on the Moor Lane junction with Osprey Road, Sowton, Exeter.

A black Alfa Romeo MiTO car and a Honda CB 600 motorbike were both travelling northbound from the direction of Exeter Moto Services towards the Honiton Road Park and Ride Roundabout when the collision occurred.

The rider of the motorbike, a 22-year-old man from Exeter, sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

The female driver of the Alfa Romeo and front seat...

An Exeter school has achieved ‘unprecedented’ academic success this year, with a record number of pupils being offered scholarships to prestigious public schools.

A plethora of major scholarships and exhibitions have been awarded to Year 8 children at the historic Exeter Cathedral School - and its reputation for musical excellence also remains undiminished with a staggering 15 music awards being won to the UK’s leading senior schools this year. The school – founded in the 12th century and the only school in the city to offer both day and boarding places – also announced this week...

The warm weather returned to the West Country over the weekend (Saturday 1st July) to celebrate 150 years of Wincanton Racecourse and to welcome Jess Glynne to the stage. Triple platinum artist Jess, who didn’t get her South West fix at this year’s Glastonbury festival, treated the crowds that had travelled from across the country to some of her famous hits including ‘Take me home’ and ‘Hold my hand’.

Proving she has just as much sass as the likes of Beyoncé, Jess rocked the stage wearing black flares, a sparkly floor length silver jacket and gold hooped earrings emblazoned with...

A rare pair of RSPB red-listed pied flycatchers have been spotted by thrilled bird watchers making their home in specially made bird boxes. The birds have been nesting near the bird hide at the National Trust’s Lydford Gorge on Dartmoor. Migrating from sub-Saharan Africa, usually in the Congo basin, the pied flycatchers move to the coast of West Africa in the spring, before returning to the UK. It’s believed the pair has adopted a nest at Lydford due to work done by National Trust ranger’s to manage the habitat for them. The birds tend to like mature woodland, similar to that at Lydford...