News in Thurrock

PEWS were packed at St Margaret's Church in Stanford-le-Hope on Monday evening (9 December) when students from St Clere's School took part in their annual carol service.

An eclectic choice of music, from rap to traditional carols, rang out throughout the evening.

A TILBURY councillor has pleaded with anti-social members of the local community to mend their ways - but adds that it is time police stepped up their presence in the town.

Cllr John Allen was speaking after vandals dragged an old chest freezer onto a park and set fire to it.

EMERGENCY safety repair work on the A13 will see two lanes closed this evening and overnight.

The outside lane on both carriageways will be closed between the A1089 intersection and Rectory Road overbridge, from 9.30pm tonight (Monday, 9 December) until 5.30am to protect highway workers as they repair damaged safety barriers.

SOUTH Essex College, which has a major campus in the centre of Grays, is looking for experienced professionals from the engineering and construction industry to train to become teachers.

The college is looking for individuals who have excellent organisational skills plus an abundance of enthusiasm and patience. Candidates must be qualified tradespeople with specialist industry knowledge.

LIBRARIES are often perceived as quiet places where not a lot goes on.

In the first of a series of Thurrock NubNews features editor Neil Speight visited one of the borough's library and community hubs and found that impression is far from the truth.

A BURGLAR from Thurrock who targeted three victims in three days has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Paul Davis was part of a gang who burgled the homes in May this year but was caught with the help of CCTV and forensic evidence.

A WOMAN is recovering after being freed from her car by firefighters after it left the road.

The accident happened at North Hill, Horndon on the Hill at 8.45am today (Monday, 9 December).

A CHARITY that helps break the cycle of loneliness for older people in Thurrock celebrated with a big Christmas event at Orsett Hall Hotel.

Re-engage Thurrock (formerly (Contact the Elderly) brought together guests and volunteers for a festive lunch where they were entertained by Thurrock Golden Voices Choir.

THERE appears little sign of an immediate resolution to the problem of temporary traffic lights at the junction of Buckingham Hill Road and Stanford Road (A1013).

Temporary lights have been in place at the junction for most of 2019 after new permanent lights were installed as part of the planning permission granted to Persimmon Homes to build new homes in East Tilbury.

FAILURES by Network Rail and a civil engineering company it contracted to carry out work have been identified as the cause of a 'near miss' incident in Thurrock – when a speeding commuter train was just six second away from crashing into a concrete lorry at a level crossing.

The incident happened in March this year at the Mucking automatic half barrier level crossing in the east of the borough. The crossing is next to a power substation where construction work was being carried out and as it attempted to reverse into the site, the concrete lorry straddled the lines and became entangled with a barrier that was coming down because of the approaching c2c train.