Designated drivers in East Grinstead will be offered free soft drinks this Christmas.  

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in partnership with The Rotary Club of East Grinstead Meridian, is offering the free soft drinks as part of their Under the Influence campaign to tackle drink driving.  Wristbands will entitle a designated driver to one free soft drink for every round their group buys at participating establishments from now until 1st January.  

Wristbands are available from the following participating pubs and bars:

• The Crown Inn
• Bridge Bar
• The Railway Tavern
• The Dorset Arms
• The Crow’s Nest
• The Ounce & Ivy Bush
• The Old Dunnings Mill
• Poison Ivy

A man who caused an 8 hour armed police siege in Smallfield has been sentenced to three years in prison.  

Paul Hodge of Careys Wood was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear.  

Hodge was wanted by police after he pointed a gun at officers following a pre-planned drugs warrant at a property in July.  The warrant was one of a series of early morning raids carried out across East Surrey and Croydon as part of a wider scale operation named Operation Aragon, to dismantle a network of suspected drug dealers operating in the county.

A student from Horley has won the title of European Landscape Gardener of the Year.  

Will Burburry who studies at Merrist Wood College in Guildford, and his team mate Adam Ferguson, took gold at Euroskills 2016 in Gothenburg – the equivalent of the Olympics for landscaping.  

Will spoke to BBC Surrey’s Edward Sault about the award.

A woman from Crawley Down has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for perverting the course of justice.

 Her lies to the police led to an innocent man spending five months on remand in prison.  Twenty three year old Hayley Carter was sentenced following a hearing at the Court of Appeal last Thursday.  Hayley Carter made a statement to police which further incriminated a man and led to the case against another man being dropped as a direct result.  

She had previously been given an 18 month community order at Hove Crown Court but the Crown Prosecution Service appealed against the sentence as being unduly lenient.  This led to the Court of Appeal hearing which replaced it with a prison sentence.