A mum has praised her son for saving her from a fire at their home near Dartford.
The blaze broke out in a bedroom of the property on Capel Place in Wilmington, setting off the smoke alarms.
Loren Ringshall has lived there for 16 years and initially attempted to fight the flames, before being dragged to safety. She's been speaking to reporter Ben Austin.
More than a thousand days after major work started on the redesign of the Stockbury roundabout drivers can now use the new flyover.
One lane, heading Maidstone bound, opens today - then a lane in the Sittingbourne direction opens tomorrow.
A former student from Kent has welcomed a ruling by the High Court as they continue to fight for compensation for disrupted learning.
A group claim they didn't receive value for money due to Covid disrupting lectures.
A teenager from Kent has quit his politics degree to become, what could be, the youngest publican in the county.
Hugo Willett has taken over the reigns at The Bowl Inn - a 1740s traditional tavern in Hastingleigh, near Ashford.
And, the trailer for a Rom Com starring Andrew Garfield that was filmed on the Kent Bexley border has been released.
The Spiderman actor was spotted with Florence Pugh shooting scenes at a Co-op in Blackfen in April last year.
You can trust this is the Kent online podcast. Nicola Everett. Hello. Hope you're OK. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast. It's Thursday, July the 11th, the day after England made it through to the final of Euro 2024. I hope you enjoyed the game if you're watching last night. Our top story today is that more than 1000 days after major work started on the redesign of the Stopry round about drivers can now use the new fly over one lane heading made stone bound opens today than a lane in the sitting born direction opens tomorrow. We're done at Robinson is from National Highways, and he's been speaking to reporter Joe Crossley from the very top of that fly over. I'm incredibly happy. It's been a long time coming and not just in construction. Obviously, you know, the public see us when we're here and we're actually on the ground, but this project has been in the making for a long time and a lot of years and is involved. A lot of people that has helped really get to this point, and I'm absolutely thrilled that we're finally here. Good. And how is it going to help motorists? Yeah, so the benefits are huge for the not only the people that live nearby, but also the people that use this junction on a daily basis. So it is one of the top national casualty hotspots in the UK. And this, what we're building here will bring a whole range of safety benefits, which is, you know, one of our, but it is our number one imperative in National Highways is to do that. So we're making it much safer for people who are travelling through, but also it's a much more reliable and quicker journey as well. Cool. You mentioned the safety part, and I don't know if you're how technical you can go with this, but what sort of parts of this scheme make it safer for people? Yeah, so a lot of safety incidents have borne out the fact that there's a lot of traffic. So what you get is you've got a lot of minor shunts and bonters, people are queuing. So just by actually making the traffic flow more reliably and smoother, actually eliminates a lot of that risk. Alongside that, we've also closed a couple of key hotspots around the junction where basically traffic is, we've been joining high speed traffic and we've made some amendments which make it much safer to actually move around the junction as well. Good. And what's been the hardest part of getting this scheme on going, I guess, in the construction phase of things? Was it kind of making sure you had enough people on the ground or making sure you got all the right road closures? What's been the hardest part there? By far, the hardest part of any scheme, particularly around here, is finding that balance between delivering at pace and delivering efficiently but also minimizing the disruption to the travelling public. As anybody who knows, this is a really congested junction, especially during peak hours. So one of our priorities is to keep people moving, which we've managed to do successfully throughout the entire duration of the scheme. So balancing that, we've actually delivering it at pace has definitely been the most difficult challenge. And how have you overcome that challenge? It's through all that sort of really direct liaison with all the local stakeholders. We've put a lot of effort into our communications into actually talking to people, actually understanding, understanding people who know these roads better and understanding the sort of nuances around what we can and can't do. We have some really amazing people behind the scenes that help plan these road closures. And also people within County Council, people within National Highways, people within Graham's are delivering partner. It's their job day today to plan this. And that's what it is. It all goes. It's all in the planning. It's cost around £92 million to do all of these improvements to that huge junction just off the M2. The whole idea is to improve journey times and safety. It can let us know what you think will improve your journey, have the three years of road works and delays that have been worth it. You can head to kentonline.co.uk to leave a comment or you can follow us on socials to comment as well. Kent Online News. Other top stories for you today and two men from Thanet have been found guilty of stabbing and seriously injuring a man near Whitstable Railway Station. They attacked waiter Modasha Hussein as he walked home from work last December. The pair tried to blame each other and have been told they'll face significant jail terms when they're sentenced in October. A suspect's been charged after a man was threatened before a mobile and tablet were taken from a property in Ramsgate. Police were called to Boundary Road in the early hours of Sunday. A 34-year-old from Westgate is also accused of having a knuckle-duster and amphetamine. Five people have been arrested after an attempted burglary in Hadlow. It's thought they were trying to break into an empty property in Maidstone Road just after 9 o'clock on Tuesday night. Police say all suspects were detained within 20 minutes. And a primary school in Chatham has been put into lockdown after intruders entered the grounds yesterday afternoon. Police were called to Phoenix Primary School on Glencoe Road just after 2 p.m., senior staff were also sent to access points. Now officers removed the trespasser from the grounds and the school has told parents at no point were the students in any danger. Kent's online reports. Next on the podcast today. A mum has praised her son for saving her from a fire at their home near Darford. The police broke out in a bedroom of the property on Capal Place in Wilmington, setting off the smoke alarms. Lauren Rinshels lived there for 16 years and initially attempted to fight the flames before being dragged to safety. She's been telling reporter Ben Austin about what happened on that day. I panicked and just all I could think was save the house. I didn't want more than that room going up. So I ran in the bathroom to try and get some water. But my eldest grabbed me as I was just before I threw the water on it, thankfully. I was just screaming like literally physically dragged me out of the house. And as we come out, I can see the dog was by the door and she wouldn't come out because she was really scared. So he put his hand over his mouth and ran back in and grabbed her luckily with her lead because she's my middle son slight. She's a German Shepherd, but he's autistic. So she's like his best mate. Well, she's to both of them, really. But he ran back in and got the dog quickly. And then as we were coming out, there was loads of explosions and well, it sounded like explosions, but I think it was the aerosols and everything going off in my son's room. And then the glass also exploded. There was loads of neighbors out on the street. Thankfully, as the fire alarms were going off before we even got out the building, one of the neighbors had already come out going for a driving license and he'd seen her smoke alarms going off and seeing smoke coming out the window and out the roof. So he was already on the fine to the fire, but it's obviously helpful because they were already kind of alerting on their way. So they put him on the fine to buy and then the next thing, and I don't know how long it took, but it felt like forever because you just see the house going up, but it was probably only 10 minutes after that. The fire brigade turned up and it was like three fire engines and I didn't see them putting the fire because all the neighbors, because I had the dog and everything. All the neighbors had put me in their back gardens because of themselves in a bit of a mess and I would like, you don't really need to see any of this. Sounds like your eldest really came to his own in the sort of the emergency situation. He's, as I say, he's neurodiverse, but when it helped neighbor before when she fell downstairs and she had an open fracture and he was the first one there and he wrapped it up and was on the fine to the ambulance, just in these emergency kind of situations. He does seem to kind of come into his own, he tends to keep a level head and he really took child, which is amazing because I was lucky at least chicken and I don't know how long I would have stayed in there trying to put it out or anything because it's just all I could think was to try and put it out. He was, he was great. He was really great. Bless him. He's definitely done. He's done. He's done. You don't know. Like you say, you don't know what the impact he's done, but he's helped out a lot. All the neighbors have said it as well. They've all been texting me and just saying how great he was. He was brilliant with the fireman and he was, he really genuinely wasn't the fact that he closed the door as well behind us and they reckon that contained it for another hour of the long, but it just bought minutes. Thanks ever so much to Lauren for sharing her story. She's currently in temporary accommodation, but friends and family have been helping to raise money for when she moves home. A dad from Deal who bombarded his ex with hundreds of texts has been banned from contacting her for two years. Aaron Gorsden from Kingshill Road sent up to 200 messages a day to the mum of his children and also turned up at her home several times. The 38-year-old's also been given a community order and must do 100 hours of unpaid work. An Ashford man's been fined after being caught on CCTV dumping a mattress and bed on land near a business park. The council's enforcement team were called to Evegate site after the waste was found at the end of a track. A 69-year-old from Kennington was interviewed on the caution and admitted doing it more than once. Ken's online reports. A former student from Kent has welcomed a ruling by the High Court as they continue to fight for compensation for disrupted learning. You may have heard that we've told you about this story on the podcast before. A group claimed they didn't receive value for money due to COVID disrupting lectures. Now it's been decided the case can proceed to trial, although that's not likely to happen until early 2026. Ellis Cochlan studied at UCL and he's been speaking to Lauren. It's good news, of course, but with all legal proceedings, it's a very long process. So it feels like we see some light at the end of the tunnel. We at least have a date set in in about 18 months. Whereas when the case went to the High Court, there was a lot of uncertainty. So it's nice to have a solid date. Obviously it's still quite a long wait. Do you feel there's still light? Ah, it's still frustrating. Well, there's, I don't think anyone was expecting a quick fix, but to know that there will be a date where, you know, and we know how we're proceeding so a certain amount of the cases will be heard. But the door is always open to settle with UCL before. So, you know, it could be 18 months. It could be more. It could be less. What were your main frustrations during the time of COVID? So it's not so much the uni life. I know a lot of people have complained about missing out on the uni life and the partying and stuff. That wasn't really my concern. My main issue was that we were paying so much, which has already been, you know, a topic of debate anyway in the country because of how much we pay for university fees and the fact that we weren't getting the full experience. We couldn't go in. Everything was online. We couldn't access the facilities. So beyond not receiving those, you know, what I've just mentioned, it just seemed common sense or fair that there would be a reduction in fees. And I remember during first year there was discussion among peers or in group chats about the potential for fees to be reduced. I think it probably was just a rumour and when our student rep came back from the uni, I think it was confirmed that that wasn't going to happen. And I was quite surprised. Maybe it was being young and naive. But I kind of expected that the university would reduce fees because it just felt right. You know, we weren't getting the same as our predecessors. This case, if you want it, it could have implications not just for you guys at UCL or who involved in UCL, but wider implications for other students who also, you know, suffered the same. Are you hoping then that this will allow compensation for all students who were affected? Yeah, yeah. So essentially this case will set the presidents for, you know, other students to come forward. There's, I think there's over 150,000 claimants in total. There's about 5,000 from UCL. But yeah, I think the outcome of this case is really significant and really important because we, you know, we weren't the only university who experienced this or the only students who experienced this. It was country-wide and it was completely unprecedented. So there wasn't, the universities didn't quite know how to deal with it and granted they did their best. And I know UCL has some great lecturers and some great staff members, but we were not given the service promise or the same service that our predecessors got. And I think that was really important for us. But it felt very transactional. Now it may not be the news that many of you want to hear about in Kent, but Operation Brock is now back in force on the M20. The traffic management system was installed between Maidstone and Ashford overnight. It's so Laurie's heading for the Port of Dover can be queued on the motorway of necessary ahead of what's expected to be an incredibly busy summer holiday period. This is one of our most red and the idea is to put panels covering an area the size of 250 football pitches around Aldington. The planning inspectorate has now agreed to review it. It finally approved. It'll power 48,000 homes a year with renewable energy. A Kent village prone to flooding will see infrastructure improvements thanks to investment from a water company. Southern water is putting more than 4 million pounds in its wastewater networks in a bid to reduce flood risks. This is just one of four places to benefit after suffering through the wettest 18 months since records began. An attempt to stop the sale of eight of Kent's windmills has been blocked despite public backlash. KCC say they can save 150,000 pounds a year by handing the buildings over to special interest groups to run and maintain them. The recommendation to keep them in council control was defeated by eight votes to six. Kent Online News. It's claimed a multi-million pound project to revitalize Sittingborne has worked with increased foot forcing plans to create a leisure quarter in the town were first unveiled a decade ago. There's now a cinema, restaurant, and a hotel. The latest figures available show a 43% rise in the number of shoppers in 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels. You can read Jo Crossley's special report today by heading to the website. A teenager from Kent has quit his politics degree to become what could be the youngest publican in the county. Hugo Willett has taken over the reins at the bowl in a 1740s traditional tavern in Hastingsley near Ashford. The 18-year-old has been speaking to reporter Millie Bowles. I grew up in a pub about three miles down the road from here. My parents or my dad has run pubs all his life pretty much. So it's sort of in the family. And for the past seven or so years I've worked in local pubs in the area, you know, front-to-fouse, back-to-fouse, a bit of cooking, a bit of our work. So I've sort of done most areas of the pub. But obviously it being in the family, it's just what I've always wanted to do, you know. About yourself, what sort of do you do outside of it? Well, I was a politics student for a year at Kent Uni as well. I'm really interested in politics and history as well. I begin to my cars, so I've got a few hobbies on the side. But mainly most of my time is taken up in the pub. So when I'm not pouring pints or checking orders and things like that, I'm working on my classic car, that kind of thing. But most of my life is a pub at the moment. Cool. And obviously, you know, some people might say that running a pub is sort of an old man's game, maybe. It's not a lot of young people coming into the industry. So do you think it's like a good thing for the pub industry that a young person might use to taking that job on? Yeah, I mean, I think it's really good for the pub industry to be having younger people coming in. Obviously, it's quite difficult for pubs in local villages and such to be making money these days. That's why you see pubs in the area closing down and things like that. And pubs being taken over by bigger breweries and such. So I think it's really good that our local village has free house and to have such a young landlord running the place. I think it's really nice just to breathe some fresh air into the community, you know, and get some younger faces in the pub definitely. And you see, it is a daunting time, as you were saying, for pubs at the moment. Is that challenge of taking on the village pub for the first time being quite young? Is it quite daunting? I mean, it's daunting from the aspect of there's a lot to do and obviously it's a big change for me coming from just working in pubs as opposed to actually being in charge. But I don't find it so daunting because I've got my parents behind me back in me 100%. And obviously they've run pubs in the past. They've got experience. They know how it all works. So to have to really experience people behind me like that is really, really helpful. It sort of takes that dauntingness away, I think. And your parents are quite involved in the moment. What kind of role are they having at the moment and how are they going to sort of step back in the future? Yeah, so basically my mum does all of the food on the weekends. We do sort of a host of sandwiches, home-made sausage rolls and cake and those kind of things. My mum does all of that on the weekends. And my dad helps me behind the bar doing the sell-a-work orders and things like that. He helps where he can. And obviously having that experience that he already has is pretty much invaluable for that. And the connections with breweries and distillers and things like that is really, really helpful. And what sort of changes have you got for the future? What sort of things are you planning on people to say? Because it's, you know, a very well-loved part, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Well, so this pub has pretty much been largely unchanged for the past 300 or so years. So I think a key aspect of running this place is maintaining that history and not bringing in masses of masses of change, keeping it how it is because, you know, it works for the local village. The local villages all absolutely love this pub. So it's about maintaining that history. But also breathing some fresh life in with people who are interested in it. So I think it's a great thing. But also breathing some fresh life in with the food offering because it hasn't been food at this pub for a good number of years now. So bringing in food for walkers and they're able to walk up and bring their dog and have a sandwich is that kind of thing. Just things like that. Slowly building up the food. And a couple of bands every now and then, that kind of thing. And regularly rotating, wine list, changing the local beers and things like that. That's the plan. Thank you. Seven million pounds is set to be spent on expanding a secondary school in Maidstone. If approved, it'll mean new line learning can welcome more students. It currently takes 180 pupils a year. But that could increase to 210 from September 2025. And the trailer for a rom-com starring Andrew Garfield that was filmed on the Kent Beksley border has been released. The Spider-Man actor was spotted with Florence Pugh shooting scenes at a co-op in Black Fenn in April last year. We live in time. It's two out in cinemas in October. Can's online sport. Cricket and Kent travel to Essex in the T20 last night. The Spitfires are just one place off the bottom of the South group with only three wins from seven games. It's not been a great campaign for them this season around. Essex are currently fourth in that table. Play is due to start at seven. We'll bring you details of the result in tomorrow's podcast. You'll also be able to hear sports updates. So for our sister radio station, KMFM. Well, that's all from us for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. It can also get details on the top stories, direct your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up to that, just head to kentonline.co.uk and watch on the site today. You can check out the latest Eat My Words food review. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
