Latest news with #Kent
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- Business
- BBC News
Kent sees 588% rise in shops having illegal goods seized
Kent County Council (KCC) has seen a rise of more than 588% in the number of shops having illegal goods seized in the past two years, BBC's England Data Unit has 2024-25, KCC reported illegal goods being seized from 117 shops, compared to 77 in 2023-24 and 17 in 2022-23."This increase is not a reflection of a worsening problem alone, but also of a deliberate and strategic intensification of enforcement activity across the county," said a council Home Office has been contacted for a response. KCC added that its trading standards team seized almost two million illegal cigarettes, 605.5kg (95st 5lb) of hand-rolling tobacco and 25,476 illicit vapes in 2024-25."These seizures were concentrated in areas such as Canterbury, Thanet, and Ashford, and included sophisticated concealment methods such as hidden compartments behind showers," it of Information request responses from 169 councils across Britain showed 3,624 shops in Britain had illegal cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products seized from them in the 2024-25 financial year - down slightly from 3,664 in BBC investigation also found many shops seized from were convenience stores, mini marts and vape Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said he supported enforcement action against businesses knowingly selling illegal products. He added: "At the moment, too many shady businesses are taking the risk on selling illicit goods because the financial reward outweighs any possible repercussions."
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- General
- BBC News
Warship wrecked in 1703 near Kent is more complete than expected
A wrecked near-350-year-old English warship is more complete than previously thought, Historic England has Northumberland, which sank off the Kent coast in 1703 during the Great Storm, has been a protected wreck since 1981.A new site assessment, seen by the BBC, revealed the wreck "remains high risk" as moving sand exposes the Northumberland, which was built in in Bristol in 1679, reportedly lost all 253 crew members when it sank on Goodwin Sands, south-east of Ramsgate. Historic England maritime archaeologist Hefin Meara said it was "quite likely that there's a huge amount of the vessel itself surviving buried beneath the seabed".The Royal Navy vessel's wreck is close to those of ships from the same fleet - the Stirling Castle and the Restoration - which sank at the same time.A wreck of the Mary, which also sank in the storm, remains undiscovered. According to the new assessment, compiled after dives to the vessel in July 2024, at least seven guns from three different decks of the ship were visible on the sea Meara said metal items from shipwrecks often survive, but at the Northumberland's site there is also "incredibly good preservation" of organic material, such as ropes, chests, and the vessel divers reported they found "high potential for an abundance of well-preserved material culture" that might give insight into life onboard navy warships at the time. Mr Meara said: "We always knew it as a well preserved site but I think nobody was expecting it to be quite so well preserved."Dan Pascoe, holder of the licence to dive at the wreck site, said the Northumberland "has the potential to be one of the best-preserved wooden warships in the UK". The site assessment contained a recommendation that the wreck stays on the Heritage at Risk Register as it "remains unstable and under threat".Paul Jeffery, Historic England marine team leader, said "it is a race against time" to protect the site. Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow said the wreck "can fill in crucial details of shipbuilding and life at sea at that pivotal moment in our history".Snow is fronting a documentary about the Northumberland and its wreck, which will air on his streaming service History Hit on Thursday.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
UK weather: Fresh yellow warning for thunderstorms comes into force this morning
A yellow thunderstorm warning will come into force this morning - with heavy rain, lighting and hail set to hit parts of southern England. The alert, covering areas including Bristol, Oxford, Southampton, London, Kent and Ipswich, will be in effect from 10am to 9pm. Forecasters have said downpours could dump up to 60mm of rainfall within two hours in some places. They also warned of possible flash flooding, public transport disruptions, road closures and power cuts. Check the latest weather forecast where you are Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said: "Expect some heavy weather coming towards central and southern parts of England and Wales through the next 24 hours. "A thunderstorm warning has been issued for southern counties of England, all courtesy of this feature running down from the Republic of Ireland into Thursday, bringing more clouds, some showery bursts of rain turning heavy and thundery, with lightning as well as hail." Ms Nasir added there will be some "fine weather" further north, and sunshine in the afternoon for Northern Ireland, western Scotland and Wales. Thunderstorms are expected to clear into Friday morning. Read more from Sky News: The Met Office advises those who expect to be affected to prepare an emergency flood kit and check to ensure movable objects or temporary structures are well secured ahead of the gusty winds. Further heavy showers are set to hit the East of England on Friday, as well as northern and northeastern Scotland. But many places in the west and southwest of the UK could stay dry and see some sunny spells. On Saturday, the risk of showers across the country is minimal, while on Sunday, the heavy rain could reappear, particularly in the North West of England.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- General
- The Guardian
British warship sunk in 1703 storm gives up its secrets three centuries on
The British warship HMS Northumberland was built in 1679 as part of a wave of naval modernisation overseen by Samuel Pepys, a decade after he had stopped writing his celebrated diary and gone on to become the Royal Navy's most senior administrator. Twenty-four years later, after the ship had taken part in many of the major naval battles of its day, it was at the bottom of the North Sea, a victim of the Great Storm of 1703, one of the deadliest weather disasters in British history. Now, more than three centuries later, the Northumberland is giving up its secrets thanks to shifting sands off the Kent coast, which have exposed a large section of its hull. A survey has revealed that the ship is in a remarkable state of preservation, with not only its timbers but ropes and even unopened casks having been protected from erosion and decay in the sand. The survey, funded by Historic England, which oversees protected wreck sites around the country, found that much more of the ship's hull remains than was previously thought, potentially making the wreck of the Northumberland one of the best-preserved wooden warships in the UK. Other artefacts detected on the seabed include copper cauldrons, seven iron cannon and part of a wooden gun carriage. As more of the Northumberland is revealed, however, archaeologists say they are in a race against time to learn all they can from what has been called a 'Stuart time capsule' before its timbers are claimed by the sea. The wreck of the Northumberland, one of more than a dozen navy ships lost during the Great Storm, was first located in 1980 in the Goodwin Sands, an area of shallow water off the coast of Deal, in eastern Kent. Hefin Meara, a marine archaeologist at Historic England, said the area, while difficult to access and dive, 'is brilliant for preserving material like this'. He said: 'We're incredibly lucky that because this site has been covered for so long, the sand has kept it in really, really good condition. That rope, for instance, is as fresh as it was on the day the ship sailed, and we've got very well preserved casks and barrels and similar – at this stage we just don't know what is in them.' While the survey found that parts of the wreck were standing proud of the seabed, Meara said there was 'still quite a lot of the ship surviving even deeper into the sand'. 'There is a lot of archaeology at this site, and there is a huge amount we can learn from it,' she added. That includes answering questions such as how ships were made and fitted out at a key time in British naval history, when Pepys, as secretary to the admiralty, was trying to professionalise it into a modern fighting force. Meara said the wealth of organic material surviving was unusual. 'Cannon iron can survive well at wreck sites, but it is quite rare to come across the wooden carriages that they were sitting on. There are many, many things like that that give us the opportunity to drill down and find out more.' Among very well preserved naval wrecks, marine archaeologists and historians can look to the Mary Rose, from the early 16th century, and other ships from the later 17th and 18th centuries, he said. 'This one fills in the gap.' Unlike the Mary Rose, however, cost and practicalities mean there are no plans to recover the Northumberland. 'We have these incredibly dynamic seabed environments where wrecks can be buried for hundreds of years – and then that sand cover moves away,' Meara said. 'Suddenly the wreckage is exposed to marine biological organisms and chemical processes operating on things like iron. A wreck that can survive in incredibly good condition for centuries will decay very, very quickly [once exposed]. So we have a small window of opportunity to go and discover what is there, and answer those questions. We are now at the mercy of the elements, and it is a race to see what we can save.'
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Sky News
UK weather: Fresh yellow warning for thunderstorms comes into force this morning
A yellow thunderstorm warning will come into force this morning - with heavy rain, lighting and hail set to hit parts of southern England. The alert, covering areas including Bristol, Oxford, Southampton, London, Kent and Ipswich, will be in effect from 10am to 9pm. Forecasters have said downpours could dump up to 60mm of rainfall within two hours in some places. They also warned of possible flash flooding, public transport disruptions, road closures and power cuts. Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said: "Expect some heavy weather coming towards central and southern parts of England and Wales through the next 24 hours. "A thunderstorm warning has been issued for southern counties of England, all courtesy of this feature running down from the Republic of Ireland into Thursday, bringing more clouds, some showery bursts of rain turning heavy and thundery, with lightning as well as hail." Ms Nasir added there will be some "fine weather" further north, and sunshine in the afternoon for Northern Ireland, western Scotland and Wales. Thunderstorms are expected to clear into Friday morning. The Met Office advises those who expect to be affected to prepare an emergency flood kit and check to ensure movable objects or temporary structures are well secured ahead of the gusty winds. Further heavy showers are set to hit the East of England on Friday, as well as northern and northeastern Scotland. But many places in the west and southwest of the UK could stay dry and see some sunny spells. On Saturday, the risk of showers across the country is minimal, while on Sunday, the heavy rain could reappear, particularly in the North West of England.
