Thursday 5th June

Thursday, 5 June 2025 at 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told that the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. The unit was shut with little warning last month following safety concerns raised in an inspection report by the Care Quality Commission. It has meant expectant mothers in the Yeovil area have to travel to the Royal Hospital in Bath, County Hospital in Dorchester or Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton to give birth. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Dance said the decision to close the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital had been badly handled.

Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers in Yeovil. The driver and the seven passengers on the coach made a quick exit when flames were spotted coming from the engine compartment. The incident happened at the crossroads at Vagg Hill. No one was hurt.

A Yeovil man has been given a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of a sexual assault against a teenager. Steven Hentschel, aged 54, was convicted of one count of sexual assault on a woman, who was 15 at the time and was given a 4-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. Hentschel was also ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and had his name put on the sex offenders register.

The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase. William Eastment, aged 79, was arrested by police as he was about to fly home to the UK.

The churchyard at St John’s in Glastonbury has re-opened after being shut for the past month due to anti-social behaviour.

Silver Street in Ilminster will be closed to traffic this weekend. It’s to allow for a food and craft market to be held between the Market Square and Court Barton. Residents of Silver Street are kindly requested to remove their vehicles by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday.

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