bognor regis travel news

Recap after Bognor Regis trains cancelled due to lorry crashing onto railway

Those living in the area were evacuated due to a suspected gas leak

• Updated 20:51, 25 JUN 2023

A lorry overturned in Bognor Regis resulting in a suspected gas leak, as well as affecting Sussex rail services for most of today (Sunday). Longford Road was closed following the incident that saw the lorry involved crash through a section of boundary fencing backing onto the Bognor Regis railway.

Disruption to Southern rail services lasted until 8pm, with lines due to reopen at 7pm. Trains were unable to call at Bognor Regis, with customers affected urged to not travel.

For live updates on this ongoing situation, follow our live blog below.

• Alternative travel options 17:26
• All you need to know 11:11
• Disruption now expected until 4pm 09:45

Check before you travel warning

Passengers have been advised not to travel but if you need to make a journey, you should allow an extra 45 minutes and check if your route has been affected.

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

Alternative travel options

While there are no rail replacement buses, Southern has advised tickets will be accepted on the following for no extra cost:

• Any alternative Southern or Thameslink service via any reasonable route
• Stagecoach 700 services between Bognor Regis, Chichester and Littlehampton.

Disruption expected until 8pm

Even though lines could reopen at 7pm, Southern Rail has warned that services are expected to be disrupted until 8pm today.

Passengers have been advised not to travel and if they do so, to allow at least an extra 45 minutes to complete their journey.

Line estimated to reopen at 7pm

Here is the latest update posted on the Southern rail website:

Network Rail response teams, emergency services and specialist engineers are on site, and are working to remove the lorry safely. The lorry is now upright and has been moved away and the next step is to have the site and equipment checked for any damage. The latest estimate for the line to reopen was 7pm, further updates will be provided once available.

Longford Road to reopen by 4pm

Work to remove overturned lorry to begin, disruption until 8pm.

Here is the latest update from Southern Rail:

For journeys to/from Bognor Regis, we would strongly advise that you do not travel. Unfortunately lines are not expected to reopen until at least 7pm, and alternative journey options are very limited. Southern have not been able to source any rail replacement buses.

Fire crews remain on the scene

All you need to know.

• A lorry overturned early this morning along Longford Road and crashed through a section of boundary fencing backing onto the Bognor Regis railway
• Whilst the lorry isn't blocking the line, it is blocking access to signalling equipment
• A telegraph pole has also been damaged which risks falling if the lorry is moved
• No trains are currently able to serve Bognor Regis, with disruption expected until 4pm
• Longford Road is closed between Linden Road and the A29 (Chichester Road Roundabout) with members of the public being asked to avoid the area.
• West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is on the scene dealing with a suspected gas leak caused by the earlier crash.

Longford Road remains closed

According to travel news provider Inrix, Longford Road is closed between Linden Road and the A29 (Chichester Road Roundabout) - see the map below.

Disruption now expected until 4pm

Tickets will be accepted on the following for no extra cost:

• Stagecoach Buses 700 services between Bognor Regis, Chichester and Littlehampton.

You can check if your journey will be affected using a live route map here.

'Please stay away from the area'

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service crews are on the scene along Longford Road. They are working with engineers to isolate the gas before moving the overturned lorry.

The area is likely to remain closed for several hours. Members of the public are asked to avoid the area, and those living in the vicinity are asked to keep doors and windows closed.

Route affected - disruption until 12pm

• Between Bognor Regis and Barnham / Littlehampton / London Victoria

No trains are currently able to run to/from Bognor Regis. Services will terminate and restart at either Chichester or Barnham instead.

Southern Rail customers affected are advised to delay any travel until all lines have reopened. If you do travel now, you'll need to use an alternative route and allow at least an extra 45 minutes to complete your journey. An alternative route map can be found here.

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Traffic Bognor Regis

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• Nearby: Bognor Regis Littlehampton Arundel Chichester Bury West Dean

Current traffic around Bognor Regis

The following traffic incidents and congestion for Bognor Regis have been reported by Highways England, Traffic Scotland, Traffic Wales or Transport for London (TfL) in the last two hours:

Traffic in Nearby Villages

• Felpham (0.61mi)
• Middleton on Sea (1.22mi)
• Flansham (1.29mi)
• South Bersted (1.52mi)
• Elmer (1.79mi)
• Ancton (1.79mi)
• North Bersted (2.11mi)
• Bilsham (2.12mi)
• Shripney (2.3mi)
• Saxby (2.49mi)
• Burndell (2.49mi)
• Yapton (2.67mi)
• Aldwick (2.73mi)
• Lidsey (2.82mi)
• Climping (2.95mi)
• Horsemere Green (2.95mi)
• Atherington (2.99mi)
• Barnham (3.1mi)
• Brookpits (3.17mi)
• Colworth (3.21mi)
• Elbridge (3.21mi)
• Rose Green (3.26mi)
• Ford (3.37mi)
• Woodgate (3.38mi)

Bognor Regis

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Next Year, Brits Will Fly Abroad. For Now, It’s Bognor Bingo.

With flying discouraged, vacation spots that had been fading and unfashionable are having a moment.

The Waterloo Square Bowling Club in Bognor Regis. The town earned the title of worst U.K. seaside resort in a 2019 consumer survey. Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times

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By David Segal

• Published June 26, 2021 Updated June 28, 2021

BOGNOR REGIS, England — Little has changed in the 40 years that Jean Sheppard has been calling numbers at Crown Bingo here in the heart of Bognor Regis, one of Britain’s oldest seaside resort towns, about 60 miles south of London. The regulars still line up before the doors open at 11 a.m., hoping to nab their upholstered seat of choice in a converted cinema built in the ’30s.

When the games begin, there are no distractions.

“We had an elderly lady here once whose family came to tell her that her husband had passed away,” Ms. Sheppard recalled recently. “And this woman said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do for him now,’ and kept right on playing.”

The other constant over the years is the decline of Bognor Regis. Like most of the country’s seaside resorts, the town’s heyday in the ’50s and ’60s is the stuff of dim memories. Bognor and its many rival destinations — Brighton, Hastings, Margate, Skegness, Blackpool and others — once thronged with summer travelers who packed the beaches, seafood shacks and amusement arcades in search of a good time and, for those lucky enough to encounter a cloudless sky, a tan.

Then in the 1970s came the rise of cheap jet travel and overseas package tours. For the same price as a trip here, a family could fly to the beaches of Spain, where blazing sunshine was essentially guaranteed. The resort towns of Britain went into an economic free fall from which they have never recovered.

“Pubs have shut down, theaters have shut down, lots of buildings were knocked down,” said Ms. Sheppard, speaking after her shift on Sunday evening. “There’s been talk about regeneration for years, but nobody seems to know how to do it.”

Now, the limitations imposed by the pandemic are succeeding where all else has failed — at least for the moment. Government-imposed air travel restrictions and warnings have curbed the national appetite for overseas trips. Brits are still allowed to fly to Spain, and elsewhere in Europe, but unless you’re heading to Gibraltar — where infection rates are low — you must quarantine for 10 days after returning home and pay for two Covid-19 tests.

This past week, the British health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the policy would soon be revisited and liberalized. That good news was offset by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron of France, who on Thursday urged all countries in the European Union to require British travelers to quarantine upon arrival.

So towns like Bognor Regis are getting a second look. There were more than 180 new players last week at Crown Bingo, said Jenny Barrett, the assistant manager. And for the first time in decades, hotels here are reporting occupancy rates well above 90 percent.

“This weekend we’re at 95 percent,” said André Gonçalves, a manager at the Beachcroft Hotel. “And our prices are up about 20 to 30 percent.”

The owner of the mini golf course right next to the beach-side promenade, Paul Tiernan, is relishing the payoff from a renovation during the height of the pandemic. He refurbished and cleaned the whole course, in part because during lockdown there was nothing else to do. Lately, on weekends there has been a waiting line that extends around the corner and down the street.

“British seasides are having a massive renaissance, everywhere you go,” he said. “Everyone is just filling their boots.”

Mr. Tiernan sat in a chair near the edge of the first hole of his course, directly in the line of fire of any overzealous putters. He moved to Bognor Regis 50 years ago, as a child, which makes him just old enough to have glimpsed the last vestiges of the town’s halcyon days.

“There was a pier over there,” he said, pointing across the street. “Honest to God, it was beautiful. Right at the end there was a pavilion. And there was a theater there.”

Today, the pier is short and looks hazardous. Across a different street stands an empty lot with nothing but debris from a building that burned down four years ago under what Mr. Tiernan called dubious circumstances.

It’s all a long slide from the days when Bognor was prestigious enough to serve as a place for King George V, Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, to convalesce after lung surgery in 1929. The royal connection was memorialized when “Regis,” Latin for “of the King,” was added to the town’s name. But its most famous link to the monarchy is the story — surely as false as it is amusing — that his last words were an alliterative, impolite put-down of Bognor, uttered after aides suggested that he’d soon be well enough to return. (Polite version: “I don’t want to go to Bognor.”)

James Joyce left behind kinder impressions after a stay here in 1923. “The weather is very fine and the country here restful,” he wrote to a patron. Joyce scholars believe he picked up the improbable name of the lead character of “Finnegans Wake,” Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, from a nearby cemetery.

The flow of out-of-towners picked up when entrepreneur Billy Butlin opened his second Butlin’s Holiday Camp here in 1960, bringing his vision of a family vacation, filled with vigorous activities and all-inclusive buffets, to the south of the country. Today, the Butlin’s here is one of only three originals still in operation, and it is curiously walled off from the rest of town. A fence stands between the ocean and the Butlin’s campus, which features a gleaming, massive structure that looks like a circus tent from the future.

The logic of a beachside holiday camp with little access to the beach, designed around indoor amusements, seems baffling. Until it starts raining, which it did often last weekend. Bognor boasts that it’s the sunniest place in the United Kingdom, a title claimed by other towns as well. Even when it’s sunny, though, the beach here is not exactly inviting. It’s made of small stones, which are comfortable to lie atop only if you bring a futon.

The water rarely gets much above 60 degrees, a temperature described by the National Center for Cold Water Safety as “very dangerous.”

“We all have wet suits,” said Sara Poffenberger, a Brit who was toweling off with her son and grandson. “But lots of British people will swim without wet suits and tell you the water is boiling.”

The beaches here helped Bognor Regis earn the title of worst U.K. seaside resort in a 2019 survey of 3,000 holidaymakers. Bognor and the fellow bottom dweller Clacton-on-Sea received low ratings for their “attractions, scenery, peace and quiet and value for the money,” the publication found.

Reviews like this explain why even optimists believe Bognor’s boomlet is unlikely to last. Business owners here understand that they are banking the upsides of what could most charitably be described as exceptional circumstances. Someday soon, normal will return.

“Next year, every man and his dog will go abroad,” Mr. Tiernan said, sitting at his mini golf course. “But next year is next year, so I’m enjoying the moment.”

David Segal is a Business section reporter based in London. More about David Segal

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West Sussex County Council proposes to make a permanent Traffic Regulation Order that will introduce a loading bay for any vehicle at any time on the western side of Clarence Road in Bognor Regis, mid-way between its junctions with The Esplanade and Belmont Street.

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NYC Mayor Eric Adams charged with bribery and wire fraud in scheme spanning nearly 10 years

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been hit with five federal charges – including wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national – according to a sprawling 57-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York accuse the Democrat of seeking and accepting luxury international travel from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official for nearly a decade in exchange for official favors.

In 2017, when he was the Brooklyn Borough President, Adams accepted a heavily discounted stay at the St. Regis Istanbul owned by a businesswoman who "sought to ingratiate herself with Adams," the indictment says.

Although the Bentley Suite for two nights would have cost approximately $7,000, Adams paid less than $600, the indictment says. He also did not disclose the trip as he was required to do as an elected official.

Adams also received more than $100,000 in free or discounted travel on Turkey's national airline, free meals at high-end restaurants in Turkey and free "luxurious entertainment," according to the indictment. Prosecutors say Adams kept fake paper trails and deleted messages in order to hide his misconduct – in one instance, assuring a co-conspirator he "always" deleted her messages.

"As Adams' prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor," the indictment says. "Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received."

The alleged favors included an effort by Adams in Sept. 2021, after he became mayor, to pressure the New York City Fire Department into allowing a new Turkish consular building to open despite safety concerns, according to prosecutors.

The building would have failed an inspection, but an FDNY building safety official was told he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce to the mayor's demands. And so, the building opened as requested by a Turkish official who had plied Adams with travel benefits and other gifts, the indictment says.

In addition to the free travel and hotel rooms, Adams received illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors, including the Turkish government official, the indictment says.

"Year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark," U.S Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference. "He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them."

The Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The indictment was made public hours after the embattled mayor vowed to “fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit" – and a growing number of prominent politicians called for his resignation.

The details of the criminal case come at a time of extraordinary turmoil for the Adams administration. In the past two weeks alone, the city's police commissioner, top lawyer and schools chancellor have announced their resignations.

The mayor has been dogged for months by questions about the four federal probes targeting his administration.

“We are not surprised. We expected this," Adams said in a press conference shortly after the indictment was unsealed. "I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments."

He said the charges amounted to an "unfortunate" and "painful" day. "But in spite of all of that, it's a day that will finally reveal why for 10 months I have gone through this," he said. "I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city."

The indictment was unsealed hours after FBI agents searched Adams' home, Gracie Mansion, early Thursday and seized his phone for the second time, according to his lawyer.

Rep.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Wednesday became the highest profile politician to call for Adams to resign . Several others have followed, including city comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. John Liu, D-Queens.

But the most powerful political figures in New York – Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul – did not immediately join the others in calling for Adams to step down.

In a statement early Thursday, a spokesman for Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, described the news reports as "concerning" but declined to comment further "until the matter is confirmed by law enforcement."

Last November, FBI agents seized phones and an iPad belonging to Adams amid an ongoing investigation into his campaign fundraising. The investigation is believed to be focused in part on whether Adams’ mayoral campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.

Then earlier this month, federal investigators working a separate probe searched homes and seized phones belonging to multiple top officials close to Adams. Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who was among those whose phone was seized,  resigned  on Sept. 12. 

Authorities also seized the phone of Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former police officer who owns a nightclub security business. Federal investigators were looking into whether bars and clubs in midtown Manhattan and Queens paid James Caban to act as a police liaison and whether those clubs were then afforded special treatment by local precincts, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The Adams administration has also been facing a  public corruption investigation  and another federal probe that resulted in a search of homes belonging to  Adams’ former director of Asian affairs . 

Adams has repeatedly said that his administration is cooperating in the investigations and he's focused on his work as mayor.

In a videotaped statement he released late Wednesday, Adams remained defiant, saying any charges against him would be “entirely false, based on lies.”

“Make no mistake,” Adams added, “you elected me to lead this city and lead it I will."

Jonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Rich Schapiro is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.