A student who drove at a teenager and flung him from his car bonnet following a feud has avoided prison. David Fisher, 18, was banned from driving for a year and ordered to carry out 12 months' community service. Rufus Stilgoe, prosecuting at Oxford Crown
New Labour luminaries Jane Darke and John Tanner argue that the Green Belt should be built on to provide more 'affordable' homes -- as if such a thing existed in Oxford! The debate should not be about where more homes go in the South East, but whether
Bigger may not be best when it comes to donations to charity. A national survey ranks Abingdon far ahead of Oxford when it comes to giving money. Of 597 cities and towns analysed by a consumer information company, Abingdon was ranked 11th for its generosity
A Wallingford man with learning disabilities has set off to achieve his ambition -- to climb the highest mountain in the world. Paul Sillitoe, 32, has climbed all over the world with the help of the MacIntyre Care organisation, which has looked after
Plumber Mick Simpson missed his 50th birthday because of a 16-month stay in hospital, undergoing three major brain operations. So his family organised a special late birthday party to celebrate his survival. Mr Simpson suffered an aneurysm -- a swelling
Compared with fines imposed on companies for copyright infringements, the £2m Thames Trains has to pay out for health and safety offences is small change. But it is a step in the right direction. Cutting corners at the cost of public safety will no longer
THERE'S an old saying about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Royal Mail's dealings with its industry regulator Postcomm seem to prove the accuracy of this. It appears Royal Mail did not know that strike action is now a legitimate
Thame Town Council has paid £366,000 to buy the town its first museum. The town council has bought the old court house, in Lower High Street, from Oxfordshire County Council. The chairman of the museum working party, David Bretherton, said he hoped the
Rover Oxford stage their 12th Annual Youth Festival this weekend at Tilsley Park, Abingdon. The event has now become one of the largest of its kind in the UK, with more than 600 youngsters taking part from all over the country, including regular visitors
Oxfordshire Senior League: Paul Flack struck twice as Horspath lifted the Presidents Cup for the first time with a 3-1 victory over Division 1 rivals BCS Bardwell in the final at Oxford University Press. Flack fired Horspath ahead 15 minutes into Monday's
A mother is urging people to cover up in the sun after she was diagnosed with skin cancer and went through months of hell. Last February, Michelle Whittaker's life was turned upside down after doctors discovered a small mole was malignant. It was thanks
A Banbury woman jailed twice for allowing her daughter to play truant said she would go to school with her to stop it happening again. Patricia Amos, 45, was released from a 28-day prison sentence imposed last month. She denounced her sentence as "hypocritical
Single mothers in Banbury are keeping a hi-tech record of their children's development. The mothers, who live at Rachel House -- a Banbury Homes-run temporary accommodation unit -- have been given the use of computers with Internet access, a digital camera
Traders, residents and councillors have issued a blunt response to a suggestion that Abingdon should become part of Oxford -- "hands off our town". Alan Lester, the former chairman of the city's Covered Market Traders' Association and an Abingdon resident
Cowley Road is certainly not one of Oxford's most attractive streets. But we find it hard to believe that it should rank as Britain's shabbiest. We can think of many streets in other parts of Britain in a far worse state. The Radio Five Live survey should
An Oxford-born film maker is hoping to turn the city into 'the new Hollywood'. Robin Burke, 20, a former pupil at Wheatley Park School, in Holton, near Oxford, is returning to Oxford to shoot a short comedy about Sigmund Freud. Mr Burke said the script
Transport planners considering the future of two key Oxford roads have been urged to do more to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Residents have called for better cycling provision, including separate bus and cycle lanes, and pedestrian crossings
Hyundai's new sports utility vehicle, the Tucson, was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show, marking the company's expansion of its range of 4x4 vehicles. The Tucson marks the entry level to Hyundai's 4x4 range and complements the existing Santa Fe and Terracan
Suzuki has announced that all 2004 models in its range are to receive an increased specification at no extra cost. Driver and passenger airbags are now fitted even to entry level models, while the standard anti-lock braking system with EBD (Electronic
Strikes are a thing of the past and the only support for the postal strike in Oxford comes from other trade unionists, like Douglas Williamson of the Amicus/NUJ joint chapel (Oxford Mail, April 9). Most of us do not even know anyone who belongs to a trade
Fears that Bicester's new 30-bed community hospital, costing up to £13m, will not be built have been described as "premature". Banbury MP Tony Baldry cast doubts on the project's prospects when he questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair about health care
The strike by Oxford postal workers could expand to other areas of the country unless staff vote to return to work. Crunch talks to resolve the dispute, now in its third week, were due to be held today with the national deputy general secretary of the
High-powered cars are being stolen by organised gangs who break into homes, stealing ignition keys to ship vehicles overseas. BMWs, Land Rovers and Audis are among the most popular targets in Oxfordshire. In some cases, criminals use make-shift hooks
Crunch time is arriving to choose a road system to provide some relief for Witney's growing traffic problems. A long-awaited report is suggesting three options -- but the earliest start date for any of them could be as late as 2006. The Cogges Link Road
The parents of a man missing on a trekking holiday have appealed for help in finding him. Gareth Koch, 24, of Hamfield, Wantage, has not contacted his parents Gill and David, for seven weeks, which they said was "totally out of character". His parents
RT Harris Oxford City FA: A strike from top-scorer Terry Stockford helped Donnington lift the Premier Challenge Cup for the second successive season with a 2-0 extra-time win over Bakels Crusaders at Rover Cowley. In a hard-fought game, neither defence
Headington Roadrunners' Tracy Galbraith claimed the veteran ladies' prize at the inaugural Benson 10k on Easter Sunday. Galbraith crossed the line in 37mins 13secs in the new race, which drew a field of more than 300 from across the south of England.
David Feore (+50) was in tremendous form as he helped Thame A reach the final of the Stephen Reiss Cup with a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Newtrim. Thame's success proved very decisive, with a massive 571-407 aggregate score. Feore ran riot against
North Berks League: Sutton Courtenay's Division 2 promotion hopes ended as they threw away a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw with Saxton Rovers Res. Strikes from Jimmy Mills, Mark Kucylo and Rob Newman had put Sutton seemingly in control with just 20 minutes
A group fighting Government proposals for an asylum accommodation centre has urged people not to turn to extremist political groups. The calls came after a High Court judge rejected a bid to stop the centre being built near Bicester. Mr Justice Collins
Witney & District FA: Carterton Town A strengthened their grip on the Premier Division title race with two important victories. After a 3-1 midweek victory at Napier Rovers, Town won 3-0 at bottom club Kingham on Saturday to go clear at the top. Against
Radley made a successful start to the competitive track and field season as they came away from Haringey with the Alpha/Beta Trophy after a fine all-round team display. Cold and miserable conditions greeted the athletes at the London track, but they showed
Shops, a cinema, open space, housing, a hotel and offices are all under consideration for the redevelopment of Witney's prime town centre site, the former town football club at Marriotts Close. West Oxfordshire District Council planners have drawn up
Honda is hoping that an improved version of the Civic Type S will work the same magic in the five-door category that the Type-R has worked in the three-door sector. Honda Civic Type S The flagship Civic five-door Type S (VSA), which goes on sale on May
A party atmosphere at an Oxford shopping centre is helping to raise money for Oxfordshire Hospital Schools. Computer software company School Soft has been organising games and competitions for children at Templars Square, in Cowley, to keep them busy
Oxford University's Magdalen College has restored academic pride by beating Cambridge in the final of the TV quiz show University Challenge. Oxford lost to Cambridge in this year's Boat Race but the team from Magdalen got ahead of rivals Gonville &
TV APPEARANCES are nothing new to Oxfordshire scientist Mike Leahy, but he admits he is getting nervous as the launch of his "experimental" show approaches. Not only will Dr Leahy be seen vomiting as he learns how to fly a fighter jet, and verging of
Cowley Road is in the running for the dubious honour of being named Britain's shabbiest street. Sabir-Hussain Mirza The east Oxford road was nominated for the title by radio listeners because it is awash with bags of uncollected litter and dumped household
Under-pressure caretaker boss Graham Rix was today beginning the difficult task of trying to lift his Oxford United players for the final push. Freefalling United have taken just two points out of a possible 15 since Rix took over from suspended manager
Politicians rely on the public's short memories to get re-elected. It is getting near election time again. It is up to us to let them know this time we have not forgotten. Who blew £5.1m on Cornmarket Street? Who ordered eight seats for £240,000? Who
