Taliban cut internet for whole country as Afghanistan ‘dragged into abyss’

The Taliban suspended internet services across Afghanistan on Monday, cutting off millions of people from the outside world.

Afghan media reported that the restriction was in line with the Taliban leadership’s decree from earlier this month to tackle online “immorality”.

The ban blocked mobile and broadband internet services, disrupted satellite television, and even affected flight operations. Flightradar24 showed that at least five flights scheduled to arrive at or depart from Kabul airport on Tuesday were cancelled.

The shutdown reportedly also affected the satellite TV broadcasts of Afghan media outlets like Kabul-based Tolo News and London-based Afghanistan International, as well as services in hospitals and government and private offices.

This is the first time that all of Afghanistan is facing a blackout of internet services under the hardline Islamist government.

Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered a “complete internet ban” earlier this month, starting disruption in services from smaller provinces like Balkh.

“This measure was taken to prevent immorality and an alternative will be built within the country for necessities,” Haji Attaullah Zaid, a spokesperson for the Balkh provincial administration, said at the time.

The Independent made multiple WhatsApp and Telegram calls to contacts in Kabul and other cities on Monday and Tuesday morning, but was unable to get through. Messages sent on WhatsApp were not delivered either.

The Associated Press news agency reported that it was unable to contact its bureau in Kabul.

“No notice was given today, but sporadic bans here and there were rolling out over the past few weeks in parts of the country,” a UN official in Kabul told The Independent on the condition of anonymity.

“The aim, according to the de facto authorities, is to prevent vice.”

Mahbob Shah Mahbob, an Afghan journalist in exile, said there was “concern about people accessing pornographic content inside Afghanistan”, which sparked a call by senior Taliban leaders to shut down the internet to prevent “immorality”.

“They’re also concerned about how their extremist rule inside Afghanistan is being perceived by the outside world and the bad publicity,” Mr Mahbob added.

Advocacy group Netblocks said Afghanistan was now experiencing a “total internet blackout”.

The watchdog’s live metrics showed that internet connectivity had collapsed to 14 per cent. “Afghanistan is now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through the morning in a stepwise manner. Telephone services are currently also impacted,” it said.

“The incident is likely to severely limit the public’s ability to contact the outside world.”

The shutdown would last until further notice, an unnamed Taliban official told the BBC.

“The Taliban’s internet ban is dragging Afghanistan into the abyss. A pariah regime has severed 40 million lives from the world, with catastrophic consequences, crushing daily life, and suffocating women most of all,” Habib Khan, founder of Afghan Peace Watch, said.

Emmanuel Sonubi on nearly dying on stage: ‘I felt something was wrong’

All comedians talk about how many times they’ve died on stage,” says Emmanuel Sonubi. “But because it had never happened to me, I had this big fear that it would.” It was the late 2010s, and the London-born comedian was having a moment. He was gigging constantly at increasingly high-profile venues, and as a result the fear became bigger. “Dying on stage, on an open mic in some random pub, no one cares about. Doing it on Live at the Apollo is terrifying.” Then, in 2019, Sonubi did nearly die – actually die – going into heart failure during a gig in Dubai. “After you’ve experienced the worst, telling a bad joke isn’t that bad,” he says.

After six years and plenty of emotional processing, Sonubi has mined his brush with oblivion for seriocomic detail in his new standup show Life After Near Death. It was one of the big hits of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival – a roundly well-reviewed show that juggles punchlines and pathos to cement Sonubi’s growing reputation as one of the country’s most reliable up-and-coming stand-ups. Now Sonubi is touring it around the UK. Speaking today over video from his home in North London, the 44-year-old comic is in good form. We were supposed to have done this in person a week or two prior, but for a bout of Covid on my end. (“I have held it against you,” he says, straight-faced, “and you are now my nemesis.”) Yet even over Zoom Sonubi radiates easygoing charm: it’s easy to see what’s made him such a popular performer on stage.

Sonubi grew up in Enfield, the youngest of six children, and the only boy. “My childhood was a lot of extremes,” he says. “I remember a lot of laughing, a lot of fun – but, looking back now, a lot of trauma. I didn’t have much of a relationship at all with my dad, and the parts that were there weren’t great at all.” When it came to his mother and sisters, however, he was “was very well loved, and it took me a long time to really realise that”.

His teenage years, however, were, he says, “absolutely feral”. He speaks onstage about his past drug use, his repressed internal struggles. “I became a bit of a chameleon,” he says. “I didn’t know who I was meant to be, where I fit in… especially growing up in Enfield in the 1980s, we were the only Black family on the street at first. I didn’t know where I was meant to sit, so I tried to kind of fit in everywhere.”

Becoming a standup was, says Sonubi, something that “happened by accident”. He had always liked comedy, and tried for years writing sitcom scripts with friends of his, projects that would ultimately “just fall by the wayside”. He made some inroads in musical theatre, earning a prominent role in the 2006 stage musical Daddy Cool, adapted from the work of Boney M. Around this time, he also worked as a dance teacher. When his first child came along, however, he decided to quit entertainment – “because I decided that my child needed stability,” Sonubi says. “He wasn’t going to grow up in the same way I grew up. Because I’ve always worked, mainly because when I was young there were so many of us, and we didn’t have loads. And I wanted my child to just enjoy being a child. That to me was the best gift I could give.”

Yet the instinct in him to get up on stage still niggled. After a period spent working in IT, Sonubi was lured into stand-up by a comedian friend. “I remember watching her perform at a comedy venue in London and thinking, ‘I know how to do this. You just tell the story.’ And because I’d always performed, I know what a performance should look and feel like.”

Finding his niche was another matter. He recalls an early gig, in which he was one of a run of comedians performing 10-minute slots. “I’d never met the act the went on before me, but he basically went on and did the exact same set I was about to do,” he recalls, wincing slightly. “Not necessarily the same jokes, but all of the topics in the same order. And then I realised, you’ve got to find the thing that only you can say. It’s like post-Covid… you went to every comedy club and every comic had a set on Covid, on banana bread, on walks, on distancing… and everyone got really bored of it very, very, quickly.”

For a while, Sonubi’s persona was one of his past lives as a doorman. “I was watching Al Murray on TV. And I realised, you say ‘Al Murray’, you hear ‘Pub Landlord’. It’s so easy to remember. And so I thought of all the jobs I’d ever done, and chose the one that has always been a throughline, on weekends, regardless of my day job. That became the glue that held the comedy together. ‘Just go on stage and be the bouncer. And then everybody would go, ‘Oh, Emmanuel? He’s the bouncer.’”

By 2019, Sonubi had been gigging as a comedian for around four years, although professionally for only a couple, and had got to a point where he was performing every weekend from Thursday to Sunday. He had nailed down a style – anecdotal, observational, with a hint of gleeful London bolshiness.

But physically, something was going awry. “There was a point where I started to just put on weight,” he recalls, “and no matter how much I worked out, it wouldn’t go. But then I was also eating crap and drinking every weekend. And I just felt like something was wrong.”

A few days before jetting out to Dubai to perform, Sonubi went to A&E. He didn’t have any of the normal symptoms of heart disease, and left with the diagnosis of a throat infection. “That throat infection then spread and hit my chest, then my lungs, and it filled my lungs up with fluid. And then, from there, that triggered cardiomyopathy,” he says. (Dilated cardiomyopathy is a form of heart disease in which the heart doesn’t pump sufficient oxygen around the body.) “And it just got worse and worse to the point where it felt like I was inhaling glass.”

He was on stage when his heart “just went”. At first he thought he was suffering an asthma attack. “All I could think of was ‘I want to go home. I just need to get home,’” he says. “But subconsciously, your brain goes, ‘you’re dying’. I thought it was lung cancer, because I was coughing up blood. They took me to the ICU, and it was the worst few days of my life.”

Now, six years later, Sonubi is out of the proverbial woods, taking medication and living a radically healthier lifestyle. His career has picked up where it left off and continued rising: since the pandemic, he’s hosted Live at the Apollo, and been nominated for Best Newcomer and Best Show at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards. But it took him time to be able to talk about what had happened on stage – not just to joke about it, but to treat it with the gravity the experience demanded.

“I was reading back through my show, and I was like, ‘You’re still not being honest… There’s so much stuff that you’ve left out,’” he recalls. “And you know why you’ve left it out: because it hurts.
And it’s because you don’t want to say it, because you don’t want to admit to the things that you did.” So he re-wrote, went deeper – closer to the bone.

“Once I started to rewrite it, I started to love it – because there was honesty in it,” he adds. “And there are still parts of this I still find really difficult to say.” In other words, Sonubi hasn’t just shed his fear of dying on stage. He’s conquered his fear of living on it.

Emmanuel Sonubi will be on tour with ‘Life After Near Death’ until 31st March 2026. Tickets are on sale now and are available from www.emmanuelstandup.com

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban separate after nearly 20 years of marriage

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have separated after being married for nearly 20 years.

The two married in 2006 and share daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.

According to a TMZ report, the couple have been living separately “since the beginning of summer”.

The decision was made by the “Break on Me” singer as the Babygirl actor, 58, takes care of their children and is “holding the family together through this difficult time since Keith has been gone”.

A source told the outlet that Kidman did not want the initial separation and had been attempting to preserve their marriage.

“Keith has acquired his own residence in Nashville and has moved out of their family home,” they said, while the couple’s family home is also located in Nashville.

The Independent has contacted Urban’s representatives for comment.

Kidman and Urban were last photographed together in June while attending the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group D match between Los Angeles Football Club and Esperance de Tunis at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee.

In addition to her children with Urban, Kidman also has two adult children, Bella, 32, and Connor, 30, with her ex-husband Tom Cruise.

The couple’s separation comes after the musician avoided answering a question about his wife’s sex scenes in films.

In July, the 57-year-old singer called in as a guest on Mix 102.3’s Hayley & Max in the Morning to discuss his upcoming High and Alive world tour. During the interview, hosts Hayley Peterson and Max Burford introduced a game called Wall of Truth.

“We often get put into this situation where we have to answer a very tricky question, deeply personal question,” Peterson said. “I get really uncomfortable, to be honest, asking our beautiful guests something they might be uncomfortable [answering].”

However, the conversation took a turn when Burford asked Urban a question about Kidman’s 2024 Netflix movie, A Family Affair, where her character enters a relationship with a young actor, portrayed by Zac Efron.

“I thought, ‘What does Keith Urban think when he sees his beautiful wife with beautiful younger men like Zac Efron having these beautiful love scenes on TV?’” Burford asked.

However, the question went unanswered, with a producer informing the hosts that Urban had “disconnected from” the Zoom call.

“I think his team hung up on us because they didn’t want us to ask that question,” the producer explained.

“Oh my God. I knew that would happen,” Peterson said. “We’ve upset him! He’s gone.”

Burford said that Urban “was smiling” during the interview and felt like the singer was “vibing”. However, Peterson claimed that Urban doesn’t like answering questions about his famous spouse: “He doesn’t like talking about his wife.”

“Does Keith Urban hate us? Do we have beef with Keith Urban?” Burford jokingly asked at the time.

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball is the concert of the year

Thank God for the drama class kids. Many of them are unbearable, of course, but sometimes they grow up to be Lady Gaga. The Mayhem Ball, which last night stormed London’s O2 for the first of four dates in the capital, is an outsized throwback to the performer’s pop roots, as well as a testament to her love of deeply serious world-building.

Framed around a battle between a flamboyant super-villain with a cane (played by Gaga herself) and a virginal naif in white (also Gaga), both of whom represent the creative chaos within her (or something), this is an absolute howler of a show. You haven’t quite lived until you’ve seen “Shallow” from A Star Is Born being sung by Gaga to her evil twin while the pair are hauled across the stage on a tiny tugboat lit by a ye olde lamp. Yet The Mayhem Ball is also so impeccably put together – with bombast, speed, costume changes, explosions and such lovely sincerity from its headliner – that it quickly becomes clear that you are watching the concert of the year.

It arrives at an interesting moment for the star. Gaga’s relationship to her music has fluctuated in recent years. She’s acted to great acclaim, released a makeup line, plugged an inexplicable amount of migraine medication, and become seemingly more comfortable performing lounge-bar ditties and duets with the elderly than anything that could truly make your ears perk up. Then in March she released Mayhem, a mixed bag of a record that nevertheless contained enough glorious industrial rock and synth-pop to suggest she wasn’t eager to throw in the towel just yet.

The Mayhem Ball follows suit, with a setlist made up of (almost) wall-to-wall bangers, and Gaga back to stomping and air-clawing her way through intricate choreography while surrounded by a sea of dancers – I counted 22 of them, though there could easily have been 50, for all I know. We first glimpse Gaga atop a cage concealed by a 25-foot Tudor gown, thrashing her arms about to “Bloody Mary” – a song repopularised by a TikTok trend – and then “Abracadabra”, a Mayhem single awash in lyrical gobbledygook.

Everything after that resembles the dreamscape of an outrageously creative homosexual with infinite sums of money at his disposal. Gaga performs some Nine Inch Nails cosplay while cavorting with a skeleton in a box that resembles a giant cat litter tray. Then she engages in a drag-down fight with her masked doppelganger in said cat litter tray. Then she throws on a Donatella Versace wig and some cyborgian crutches to sing her dreamy classic “Paparazzi”. Then she begs for mercy while being dragged backwards into a hole by an enormous veil coloured like the Pride flag. All of this is, give or take, about 25 minutes into the two-and-a-half-hour-long show.

For Gaga, no set piece is too elaborate, no framing device too ludicrous (“Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart” is the title of the show’s fifth act, naturally). “Born This Way”, performed with original choreography plus lots of bonus vogueing, remains a potent celebration of joy and defiance. There is a lovely comeback for her very Gwen Stefani-coded “Summerboy”, from her debut record The Fame, which is sung in what resembles a nightclub space by way of a subway train. And the now Gaga-standard “sitdown at the piano” section – which tonight includes her smash-hit duet with Bruno Mars, “Die with a Smile”, as well as long-dormant ballad “Speechless” and a stripped-back “The Edge of Glory” – sees her become visibly moved, as she wipes away tears while celebrating nearly 20 years in pop.

And then it all rounds off with an encore that is strikingly ordinary: a live feed from backstage projected onto the screen, Gaga launching into her sherberty love song “How Bad Do U Want Me” while wiping away her makeup and throwing on an oversized sweater and beanie before returning to the main arena. After two hours of spectacular insanity, a reminder, then, of the tiny, emotional, blushing New York theatre kid responsible for it.

London high street shut down after huge fire by Odeon cinema

Firefighters are responding to a large blaze in Beckenham, with thick plumes of smoke visible from miles away.

Ten fire engines and 70 firefighters were called to a fire in a disused kebab shop building next to the Odeon cinema on Beckenham High Street.

Drivers are urged to avoid the area as roads nearby have been affected by major disruption during rush hour.

A spokesperson for London Fire Brigade (LFB) said: “As of 9.20am, half of the roof of a mixed-use building, currently under refurbishment, remains alight. The second and first floors of the building are also partially alight.

“Firefighters are working hard to prevent the spread of the fire to adjoining buildings, including a cinema. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. The fire is producing a significant amount of smoke and we are advising people in the area to keep their windows and doors closed at this time.

“The incident is causing major traffic disruption in Beckenham and we are asking people to avoid travelling through the area whilst the incident remains ongoing, as road closures are in place.”

Councillor Chloe-Jane Ross, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Bromley Council, said: “Seeing a fire so close to the Beckenham Odeon is heartbreaking for the whole community. We are thankful to the firefighters for their swift response and sincerely hope no one has been injured.”

LFB received the first of 18 calls at 7.59am and crews were sent from Beckenham, Bromley, Woodside, Forest Hill and surrounding fire stations to the scene. They also brought a 32-metre turntable ladder from Forest Hill.

Eats, Beats and Storied Streets: A journey through Louisiana

Few places in America are as spellbinding as Louisiana. Streets are alive with music, every table groans with food that tells a story, and every river bend reveals landscapes as mysterious as they are beautiful. Whether you’re dancing to zydeco in Lafayette, devouring beignets in the French Quarter, or gliding through the Atchafalaya swamps in search of alligators, this is a destination which offers travellers an unforgettable blend of rhythm, flavour and culture.

Music that Moves You

A seemingly never-ending party, a stroll through the bouncing streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter is one of America’s most thrilling sensory experiences. Guitars crunch, symbols crash and horns howl on every street corner, from Bourbon Street to Frenchmen Street. This Cajun corner of the US has a deep heritage too, and the Preservation Hall – dating back to 1961 – is an essential stop. With its intimate time-worn walls and wooden chairs facing the small stage, it’s a shrine to New Orleans jazz and every note should be savoured.

But Louisiana’s music tradition goes far beyond the Big Easy. Beginning in 1981, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival is one of the country’s oldest blues festivals and the state capital is a haven of Cajun music. It’s also the home of the swamp blues, so to hear the best of these laid-back rhythms, spend a foot-tapping night at Phil Brady’s Bar & Grill or Henry Turner Jr’s Listening Room. And for a little backyard boogie from local Louisiana musicians, try and hit the wonderfully chilled out Bee Nice Concert Series.

One of the more niche regional sounds is zydeco, and these infectious beats driven by accordions and washboards are perfect for dancing the night away. Over in Lafayette, the lush outdoor Hideaway on Lee and the charming Blue Moon Saloon host high-energy zydeco and Cajun jams. For a deeper dive into this unique music of the swamp, drop by the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles for three glorious days of Cajun, Creole, and zydeco sounds.

Flavours to Savour

Louisiana has one of America’s most distinct food cultures, with Creole dishes like gumbo and jambalaya not found anywhere else. Needless to say, the fiery flavours found in these creations are sublime and it’s no surprise that 2025 is Louisiana’s Year of Food.

With its rich broth, often featuring a roux base and embellished by juicy shrimp and thick sausage, gumbo is arguably the quintessential Creole dish. If you’re in New Orleans, look no further than no–frills downtown spots like Coop’s Place or head out to neighbourhood joints like the upscale Gabrielle Restaurant who serve a smoky take on Cajun-style gumbo or the dense dishes plated up at Liuzza’s by the Track. And if you’re so enraptured by this unique stew, then learn how to make it at home at the New Orleans School of Cooking.

A Cajun rice dish that originated in southern Louisiana in the 18th Century, Jambalaya is also iconic down here and can include meats, vegetables, seafood and spices in its mouthwatering mix. The Jambalaya Shoppe is dotted all around southern Louisiana and is a good place to start, though make time to visit Gonzales – the ‘Jambalaya Capital of the World. It even has its own Jambalaya Festival every spring.

Remember to make time for sweet treats though, as Louisiana’s beignets are something special. Warm, deep-fried pastries dusted with powdered sugar, these gentle delights are the perfect cafe snack. Open since 1862, the Cafe du Monde is an iconic French Quarter spot to watch the world go by with a beignet and café au lait.

And if you’re here for Mardi Gras, make sure to sample the sweet colourful King Cake as the jaunty floats pass by.

Culture and the Great Outdoors

Louisiana’s diverse cultural heritage is as unique as its landscape. French, Spanish, African, Caribbean and native influences all converge into Cajun and Creole identities and that’s most famously reflected in the state’s sublime cuisine. But don’t miss the great outdoors, as Louisiana’s biodiversity is enchanting too.

Acadiana’s humid moss-cloaked swamps and bayous are one of America’s last wildernesses, and boat tours of these serene and ethereal landscapes are unforgettable, especially if you spot wildlife like American Alligators, beavers, herons, eagles and white tail deer. The Atchafalaya Basin, just east of Lafayette, is a particular haven and several airboat tours depart from here, including McGee’s Swamp Tours and Last Wilderness Swamp Tours.

Road trails through these bayous can be just as inspiring, and the Bayou Teche National Byway tells stories. Running for 183 miles from Arnaudville down to Morgan City, this serpentine route passes by ornate antebellum homes like Shadows-on-the-Teche, tranquil fields of sugar cane, breezy swamps and historic towns packed with friendly cafes, zydeco dancehalls and local museums.

Look out for the region’s lively 400+ festivals too, which often celebrate Louisiana’s local culture. The Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette celebrates the links between Acadiana and the Francophone world, through music, art and food, while the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Opelousas aims to preserve Louisiana’s most gleeful music genre. And there’s no better way of learning about the state’s people and heritage than at the various tours, concerts, talks and cultural events held in Vermillionville in Lafayette.

PE teacher sent topless Snapchat pictures to student

A PE teacher who asked a pupil if they were wearing a ‘lucky thong’ and sent topless pictures to another has been banned from teaching indefinitely.

Joshua Roper, who was the head of PE at Sheringham Community Primary School in Norfolk, was accused of sending inappropriate messages, touching a child’s bottom and referring to one child as “babe”.

A panel found the 30-year-old guilty of failing to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.

In July 2022, one child raised concerns about Roper to a manager at a football club after he sent inappropriate messages. Two more children also came forward with similar concerns which were reported to the Football Association on 25 August 2022.

One alleged that Roper had engaged in conversations with her about her outfits and appearance and put “kisses” at the end of his messages. She also said he had touched her bottom on several occasions while they were setting up for training sessions.

Roper admitted he commented on her appearance but said this was “banter” or a “joke”.

The child explained that while she was walking her dogs Roper messaged her to tell her that she looked good in short shorts, and that he had looked at her bottom. She stated that there was another time where Roper asked her if she was wearing a bikini to the beach.

It was raised that Roper also called her “babe”, which he suggested was a “genuine slip of the tongue”.

He explained that another person was also training and he simply asked them to “please pick up the cones babe”, but that he did not realise the child was behind him. He said at the time they both found it funny, and also embarrassing. But the panel found this use of language inappropriate.

Another child reported Roper had invited three of the players, including herself, to be friends on Snapchat. She said at first they would send each other images of their pets and talk about football – but she said this progressed to Roper sending images of himself topless which showed his underwear.

In a statement the child explained she sent him some pictures of her pet, with him doing the same in return. However, these images got “progressively odd”. Roper would send her pictures of his pet but he would be topless in the background, he then started sending her pictures of just him topless and in his underwear, and sometimes his pet would be somewhere in the picture.

A child who also received messages on Snapchat from Roper said some of the messages were sexually based, such as, “guess you must’ve been wearing a lucky thong today” and “next time you tie up your laces just bend over in front of me.”

Roper stated that he has taken many hours for self-reflection to try and understand how his good intentions went wrong. He apologised for his short fallings as a coach and stated that he has removed himself from social media and no longer uses it for messaging.

Sarah Buxcey, acting on behalf of the secretary of state, concluded in the report: “Mr Joshua Roper is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Roper shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”

The Independent has contacted Sheringham Community Primary School for comment.

Pensioner found dead after huge search at popular beach

A search operation has recovered the body of an elderly man from a popular tourist beach in Devon.

Devon and Cornwall Police responded to concerns for the welfare of a man on the rocks of Ladram Bay in Sidmouth on Monday morning at 7.25am.

The Exmouth and Beer coastguard search and rescue teams, Sidmouth independent lifeboat, coastguard helicopter and South West Ambulance Service attended the incident at Big Picket Rock, between Ladram Bay and Jacobs Ladder beach, where they found a man in his eighties.

The lifeboat brought him to the beach, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His family have been informed and the death is not being treated as suspicious. A file is being prepared for the coroner.

The popular seafront experienced short closures as emergency vehicles attended the scene in Sidmouth.

Exmouth Police shared a statement on social media: “This morning officers from Exmouth patrol and rural east Devon patrol supported Exmouth and Beer coastguard search and rescue teams, Sidmouth independent lifeboat, the coastguard helicopter and South West Ambulance Service, with an incident at Big Picket Rock under High Peak between Ladram Bay and Jacobs Ladder beach at Sidmouth (this area comes under the Exmouth policing area).

“A person was recovered by Sidmouth’s ‘Speedy Sid’ inshore lifeboat and was conveyed to Sidmouth beach, but unfortunately had passed away. The family have been informed and our collective thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

“Whilst eventually it finalised in Sidmouth, thank you for your patience and understanding around short closures and emergency vehicle obstructions on Sidmouth seafront as well as the CG helicopter landing on the seafront.”

Ladram Bay is a secluded pebble beach between Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, which has become a popular holiday destination with caravan and holiday parks nearby.