BROMSGROVE council was preparing to get tough on motorists who refused to pay the £5 excess "fine" when caught not having paid the 10p car park fee. The amount so far lost to the authority since last year was £3,000.

RECENT severe weather meant work on the new district council depot at Aston Fields was three months behind schedule, resulting in it not likely to be completed until the end of the year.

THE near doubling of petrol prices over the past few months was a boost to two Bromsgrove motorcycle dealers Howells and Ralphs in Birmingham Road. Sales of bikes, most of which could do 170 miles on a gallon, and which cost less than £200 to buy new, had doubled.

PAUL Henry, better known to millions of Crossroads fans as Benny, was besieged by autograph hunters when he opened a fete in the town organised by Bromsgrove Swimming Club.

PROOF that property prices in Bromsgrove were starting to spiral upwards was evident at an auction in the town. A two-bedroomed bungalow in Woodland Road, Dodford, went under the hammer for an astonishing £57,000. Auctioneer John Sanders, of Banks and Silvers, remarked the property was not out of the ordinary and the price was an indication of things to come.