North East Lincolnshire Council

An appeal has been launched after a 74-year-old man was found with serious head injuries and his wallet missing in Skegness.

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It's not yet known how the man came to be injured, police say.

A spokesperson for the Lincolnshire force, said: "The incident on Drummond Road, Skegness, is believed to have happened at some point between 23:30 on 7 November and 00:30 on 8 November.

"The victim was taken to hospital as a result and his wallet containing a sum of cash was reportedly stolen during the incident."

Det Con Simon Chafer, said: “At this stage, it is unclear how the victim came upon his injuries and the circumstances leading up to it, but we are keeping an open mind and want to hear from anyone who saw what happened.

“We're also appealing for anyone with dashcam footage of Drummond Road at the time of the incident to contact us."

Knife amnesty bins are being put in police stations around Lincolnshire and the Humber region this week to allow people to dispose of weapons safely and without consequence.

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Police are warning that carrying a knife often only makes people more vulnerable and in danger of being harmed.

The Lincolnshire force said so far this year there have been 42 offences for possession of an offensive weapon, and a further 146 public order offences which intimated, referenced or involved an offensive weapon.

Insp John Roberts, of Humberside Police, said: “Operation Sceptre aims to reduce the number of people carrying weapons, especially young people.

“Knife crime presents very real and prevalent dangers and places other people in danger of serious harm.

“We will be providing knife bins throughout the week in a number of police stations across the force, where members of the public can anonymously and safely hand in weapons to remove these from our streets."

Ambulance handover delays at Lincolnshire's A&E departments have almost doubled, with over 70 patients waiting on trolleys for 12 hours in September, according to latest figures.

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A report before United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) covering the period of August and September said there were 71 12-hour trolley waits while nearly 6% fewer patients were triaged within 15 minutes.

Handover delays almost doubled, with those lasting over 59 minutes increasing by 294 patients in September to 629, and those waiting more than two hours increasing from 244 to 465.

In his latest board report, Richard Henderson, the trust's CEO, says: "Since the beginning of the summer we have started to see the hospital handover position deteriorating significantly.

"This relates to the delays we are experiencing in being able to hand over our patients on arrival at hospital."

ULHT this week confirmed that nearly all of its beds were occupied. The trust has been contacted for comment.

It comes as the College of Paramedics has told the BBC that lives are at risk because patients are facing unacceptably long waits for a 999 response.

An ambulance service in Lincolnshire has been rated as inadequate after inspectors found dirty vehicles putting patient safety at risk.

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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has warned Mobile Medical Cover, an independent service based in Grimsby, to make urgent improvements.

It said an August inspection found two ambulances "visibly dirty" and highlighted concerns over staff training.

Mobile Medical Cover said it had been working "diligently" to make changes.

The service, which has a workforce of 300 mostly self-employed staff, provides patient transport and emergency care cover at events and has previously served an NHS hospital.

In its report following the unannounced inspection, the CQC said the company had to take urgent action after the ambulances were flagged as "ready to use" when they were not clean.

There was also no evidence the firm was checking the competency of its staff and their skills, which was "putting people at risk", the CQC said.

Free school meals are set to be provided over the Christmas and Easter holidays to thousands of children in North East Lincolnshire.

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Those who are eligible will each receive £15 per week in funding, which is expected to help more than 7,000 households in the area.

The funding comes as North East Lincolnshire Council is awarded £1.5m of government cash to support vulnerable households over winter.

Other plans for the cash include helping to support people with energy and water payments.

People in Cleethorpes are being advised to keep doors and windows closed as fire crews tackle a blaze in the town.

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The fire is in a two-storey derelict building on Pelham Road which is said to be well alight.

Black smoke, believed to be caused by polystyrene inside the burning building, is currently visible across the town.

More than 1,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the two weeks leading up to half-term in North East Lincolnshire Council's area, the authority has said.

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The council's epidemiology report found 481 of those were under 20, with the majority of those secondary school pupils.

As of Wednesday, Grimsby hospital was treating 22 people with Covid, with one patient in intensive care.

The number of patients has increased by four since the previous week.

Humberside's Police and Crime Commissioner has asked for research to be done examining violence, harassment and abuse experienced by women and girls in the region.

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Dr Jessica Taylor, from Victim Focus, has been commissioned to do the work to build a profile of the experiences of females over the age of 16 for commissioner Jonathan Evison.

She says: "Following our national survey of over 22,000 women aged 18+ in the UK about their experiences of all forms of violence since birth, we are pleased to be replicating and adapting this novel methodology for Humberside.

"Our approach means that we make the research as accessible and easy to understand as possible, across a wide range of women and girls."

You can take part in the survey here.

New flood defences between Ferriby Sluice and South Ferriby have been completed, improving protection for 150 properties as well as agricultural land and other infrastructure.

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The £14m work which started in April 2019, following a tidal surge in December 2013, includes embankments, flood walls, and de-mountable barriers.

The project also includes 13-metre (42.6ft) flood gates which slide across the A1077 and are the country's first such defences to operate across an A-road.

Sara Haddon, chair of the South Ferriby Parish Council Flood Protection Committee, said: "Residents of South Ferriby Sluice are delighted that the new defences are now complete. Memories of the 2013 floods are still raw and the new defences mean that they can sleep easy as we approach the coming winter."

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Anyone caught behaving in an "inconsiderate" way could be fined up to £1,000 from today as part of measures to rid public spaces in North Lincolnshire of rowdy and unpleasant behaviour.

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Street drinking in public areas, swimming in open water after being advised not to and riding a motorcycle or quad bike inconsiderately will all become punishable.

Rob Waltham, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said: "I am pleased that our proposals on new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour and enviro-crime have won the support of local residents.

“There are some areas where inconsiderate people behave in ways which we should not put up with.

"These new powers will give the council and the police a new tool to tackle this inconsiderate behaviour with fines of up to £1,000."

Today will be another cloudy day throughout Yorkshire, with outbreaks of light rain for many. A breezy day with moderate to fresh westerly winds.

In Lincolnshire, the morning will be dry with some early sunshine. However, most areas will see cloud soon spread south eastwards. Gentle south-westerly winds.

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Today will be a mainly dry and cloudy day.

However, the odd light shower developing cannot be ruled out.

Feeling a touch cooler with a moderate westerly breeze:

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Businesses across North East Lincolnshire are being asked to sign up to a project to give young people opportunities about the world of work and divert them away from crime.

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The Hive Inspire Project will offer the chance for young people to connect based on their interests, aspirations and skills and it's hoped it will reduce anti-social behaviour and crime.

Whilst it's being piloted in North East Lincolnshire, there are hopes to expand the project into North Lincolnshire, Hull and the East Riding if successful.

Jo Taylor, (pictured above) manager of Business Hive says "Instead of them going down the road of criminality or sexual exploitation which is a real threat to them... they could be going into employment, they could be the next business leaders and I have every confidence that if we give them that opportunity that they can achieve great things."

Today in Yorkshire, any morning mist and fog will clear to leave a mostly fine and sunny day. A few patches of cloud may move in during the afternoon but there will be plenty of sunshine:

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Lincolnshire will see a mostly cloudy day with the risk of a few scattered showers. In the afternoon, there will be sunny spells in between the showers, but these can be sharp in places:

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Healthcare workers are receiving abuse from patients about things they simply have no control over, according to a new report out today.

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The Humberside Group of Local Medical Committees, a body which represents GPs and their surgeries across the Humber region, has launched a new campaign to tackle the abuse.

It says doctors, nurses and receptionists have wasted time dealing with aggressive people when that time could have been better spent treating patients.

The research also found that many patients thought GP surgeries had been “almost closed” or working at reduced capacity during the past 18 months.

Dr Dan Roper, chair of NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group, says "Patients had to contact the surgery by telephone during covid that was because of an NHS directive, that was orders from above. Recently there's been a supply problem for blood bottles in the NHS and GPs were blamed for that by patients, it's absolutely not the GPs fault if there aren't any blood bottles."

"When things go wrong and people are upset and angry and frustrated they often take it out on people who aren't really responsible."