A man who left a restaurant at Crawley Leisure Park without paying his bill has instead paid a very hefty price.

Amit Naithani was challenged to pay his £20 bill as he exited Frankie and Benny’s.  He claimed the money was in his car but once he entered the vehicle he drove off.

The car turned out to be a stolen vehicle and the 30 year-old reversed into another vehicle whilst making his escape.

Police attempted to stop him but Naithani drove off at speed, breaking red lights and overtaking other cars before crashing on Three Bridges Road.

He was arrested whilst attempting to flee the scene.

Naithani pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, fraud by false representation, failing to stop, driving whilst disqualified, having no insurance and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

He has been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, disqualified from driving for a further 4 years, ordered to pay a criminal courts charge of £900 and a victim surcharge of £100.

A team from East Surrey Hospital has been shortlisted for a national award.

The group working with children’s diabetes at the hospital in Redhill is nominated for the Quality in Care Award in the Best Initiative in Specialised Care.

Over 250 children and young people with diabetes are cared for at the hospital every year.  The paediatric diabetes doctors and nurses, along with the dietician and psychologist, have been praised for their work in supporting and teaching these children to make the most of using technology in their day to day care.

The winners of the awards will be announced at a ceremony in October.

Jewellery and cash were stolen during a burglary in East Grinstead.

The offender broke into the property on Holtye Road through the front door and made an untidy search before taking the items.

The incident occurred between 8.45 and midday Saturday morning.  Police are asking for anyone with information to come forward.

From the end of this month some Surrey residents will see changes to their local bus services.

Routes overseen by Arriva, Abellio, Carlone, Metrobus and Southdown all face alterations.

Highlighting some of these changes:

Route 22 through Newdigate and Dorking will lose it’s Saturday service from Metrobus but towns will be incorporated by Buses4U.

The 526/527 is being renumbered; generally running every 90 minutes and will not service Gatwick Airport.  Oakwood School journeys will be split between Metrobus and Southdown.

The 540 service is being withdrawn in it’s current form, with other providers incorporating the towns.

357 will see extra buses between Caterham and St. Bede’s School in Redhill, also supplementing changes to route 424 where an hourly service timetable will run between Redhill and Crawley.

To see all the changes view the leaflet on the Surrey County Council website. 

Investigations are underway following two suspicious incidents in Redhill.

On both occasions young girls were indecently touched.

The first occurred outside Tesco in Holmethorpe shortly after 6.30 the afternoon of July 29th.

The second happened the following day shortly after 2 o’clock in the afternoon off London Road near Sainbury’s.

In each case a man is said to have approached the girls and indecently touched them before running away.