Cases dealt with at Leicester Magistrates' Court include:

Mohammed Alqahtani (38), of Stanmore Mount, Leeds, was found guilty in his absence of failing to give information about the identity of a driver alleged to have been guilty of an offence at Leicester on April 15. He was fined £600 with £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge. His driving licence was endorsed with six penalty points.

James Edward Charles Jennings (26), of Colts Croft, Royston, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a traffic light signal at Lubbesthorpe Way, Enderby, on October 6.

He was fined £35 with £85 costs, ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge and his driving licence was endorsed with three penalty points.

Graham David Jones (53), of Oldwood Yard, Hathern, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a traffic light signal at Soar Valley Way, Enderby, on December 3. He was fined £100 with £85 costs, ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge and three penalty points were put on his driving licence.

Martin Krajcovic (29), of Farrier Lane, East Goscote, was fined £600 after being found guilty of failing to give information about the identity of a driver believed to have committed an offence on March 14. He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

Michael Latham (35), of Timble Road, Hamilton, Leicester, was found guilty in his absence of using a vehicle without third party insurance at East Park Road, Leicester, on November 30. He was fined £600 with £85 costs and ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge.

His driving licence was endorsed with six penalty points.

Gurbaksh Matharu (48), of Alder Hill Grove, Meanwood, Leeds, pleaded guilty to driving on the M1 between Leicester Forest East Services and Junction 21 on November 12 without third party insurance.

She was fined £220 with £85 costs, a £22 victim surcharge and her driving licence was endorsed with eight penalty points.

A traffic census that has been causing long delays on Leicestershire's roads for the past two months cost more than £500,000, it has been revealed.

County Hall officials and the police have been pulling drivers over at 110 locations to ask them questions about their journey.

The eight-week programme, which has caused major disruption at busy spots like Fosse Park, is almost complete.

The council has revealed the full cost of the exercise is £550,000, which is part of a wider £1.86 million project to plan for future traffic increases in the county.

Leicester City Council has contributed £137,500 to the census.

Some drivers have said the money would have been better spent on repairing damaged roads rather than bringing them to a standstill.

However, the county council has insisted the information it is collecting is essential for future planning.

Officers have apologised for any disruption caused but said their methods are the best available.

A County Hall spokesman said: "The surveys will enable the city and county councils to understand the demands on the road network so that we can plan to deal with any future increases in traffic.

"We use this information to create our transport strategy and so far the current model has helped to secure £27 million in funding for schemes.

"We have a duty to effectively maintain our roads such as filling potholes, but we also have to think about the future and plan for it."

The council said such surveys would normally cost £7,500 per site, but the cost had been brought down to around £5,000.

The spokesman said: "The cost for each site takes into account staff hire, the police's time to manage the traffic and keep the surveyors safe while they work on the roadside as well as the time it takes to analyse the information."

Motorist Ian Clark, 40, from Enderby, said: "I don't understand how or why they would spend more than half-a-million quid to ask drivers a few questions and bring the roads to a standstill in the process.

"I'm sure they could have done it cheaper and put some of that cash into repairing the holes and cracks in the road."

Jon Keane, 26, from Hinckley, said: "It just seems like a waste to me when the council's cutting back its transport budget."

County Hall's opposition Liberal Democrat group leader councillor Simon Galton said: "Normally traffic surveys are done using strips across the road to electronically count the cars but we have been told that will not give us enough information so we need to stop people and get them to give details about their journeys."

There will be two more traffic surveys next week but the authority is not saying when or where they will be because it does not want drivers to deliberately avoid the area.

A man in his 70s is in a serious condition in hospital after falling out of an 18ft-high tree.

The incident happened at about 11.30am today in Syston Road, Cossington.

Fire crews were called to the scene to release the man from branches in which he was entangled at the bottom of the tree.

He was then airlifted to the Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham. 

A 20-year-old man sustained head and chest injuries in a motorcycle accident this morning.

The man lost control of his scooter in Hall Lane, Whitwick, north west Leicestershire, and was airlifted to hospital shortly after 11am.

A spokesman from Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance said: "The patient was immobilised and given advanced pain relief and was treated for breathing difficulties.

"He was flown to the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire for treatment."

East Midlands Ambulance Service and Leicestershire Police were also on the scene.

A gruelling 900km of racing lies ahead for Lucy Garner starting on Friday in southern Italy.

The Cosby teenager has been named in Team Giant-Shimano's squad for the Giro Rosa, a 10-day stage race – the women's version of the Giro d'Italia.

It gives the 19-year-old Great Britain rider an immediate chance to put out of her mind the disappointment of Sunday's National Championships in Wales, where she suffered a rare off-day and was never in contention, finishing 25th in the road race.

"I wasn't happy at all, really disappointed," said Garner, who did not get to grips with the hilly nature of the course around Abergavenny.

She will face more severe climbs in the Giro, which begins with a 2.5km prologue time-trial, in Caserta, on Friday evening.

However, in the mountain stages, her task is more likely one of supporting German team-mate Claudia Lichtenberg, a past winner of the Giro and third-placed finisher last year.

It is not all uphill, though, and the early stages of the race could give Garner a chance of getting involved in the sprint action.

"I've no idea what to expect," said the Sky Academy scholar.

"I think I will have to ride my own pace on the climbs. Anyway, it will all be good training for the rest of the season.

"I've felt that I've been in really good form recently. It is nice that the team have given me this opportunity.

"There are flat stages early on in the race and my coach says that I have a chance of sprinting in them.

"We've got a good team and Claudia is a strong climber.

"She can do really well in the General Classification so we will all be working for her. If I can last the 10 days that would be success for me. I don't know if that is realistic because it is really hard – it's not like stage races in Holland that I have done where it isn't hilly.

"That makes such a difference over a long period of time. But maybe I can get a result somewhere along the line."

Charlotte Broughton celebrated victory alongside Lichfield's Sophie Capewell and Welsh prospect Megan Chard at the Herne Hill Youth Team championships.

The trio dominated the event with MG Décor's Broughton in sparkling form for the endurance events following a week of training with the British Cycling Talent Team in Scotland.

The Countesthorpe girl hit top form in the 2km pursuit, where she clocked a track record 2min 23sec, beating the previous mark by 1.5sec.

James Garratt won the third of Ratae Road Club's evening time-trials on the 8.75-mile Gilmorton circuit.

The Welland Valley rider posted 20.06 to finish 25 seconds clear of Leicester Forest's Chris Sprott.

Alex Hewins (20.11) was best of the promoting club riders in sixth.

The fourth in the six-round series is at Gilmorton on July 9, first rider off at 7pm.

Leicester City are in good shape ahead of their Premier League challenge.

That was the verdict after yesterday's pre-season testing at Belvoir Drive.

City's first-team squad returned after their summer break to undergo a range of tests to check their fitness level ahead of the official first day of pre-season training on Monday.

The players underwent tests at the end of their title-winning campaign, and were tested again in the same areas yesterday – with all the squad passing.

The players were put through their paces with physical examinations, strength and power tests, and a running test by the club's medical team and sports scientists.

If any had failed, they would have been called back in for some conditioning training for the rest of this week to get them up to speed with the rest of the squad.

The only absentees were Riyad Mahrez, captain Wes Morgan, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defender Liam Moore and Jeff Schlupp, who were given extra time off after their international duties earlier this summer.

Midfielder Mahrez will be given several weeks off and will join pre-season later in the month after Algeria were knocked out of the World Cup on Monday night by Germany.

All of City's new boys, goalkeeper Ben Hamer, defender Matt Upson and midfielder Marc Albrighton, met up with their new team-mates for the first time. City striker David Nugent, who is now out of contract, was also in attendance as he is set to agree a new deal with the club.

The squad will travel to Austria for a pre-season training camp a week on Sunday, returning to take on Ilkeston in their opening pre-season friendly on Tuesday, July 22.

Meanwhile, City have completed the signing of young defender Joe Davis from Port Vale.

The 20-year-old centre-back has turned down a new deal at Vale Park in favour of joining City's ranks.

Although he has made 31 appearances in the first team for Vale, Davis is considered one for the future and will initially line up with the development squad.

"Can't wait to get started at Leicester City," tweeted Davis, the son of Crewe boss Steve Davis.

The parents of a biker who suffered horrific injuries in a crash say they are desperate to thank the quick-thinking medics who saved his life.

Leigh Gould fractured his skull, punctured a lung and broke both arms, his right leg and his ribs when he hit the central reservation of the A563 Soar Valley Way, near Fosse Park, on June 20.

The father-of-two was on his way home to Market Bosworth when the crash happened.

Paramedics were at the scene within five minutes, with the ambulance and doctor arriving a short time later.

Firefighters and police cordoned off a large section of the road while the doctor worked to stem the bleeding and release air from his chest cavity.

The 40-year-old was taken to hospital, where he remains in intensive care.

His parents, Norman and Brenda, said they wanted to thank the medical team for providing the vital first aid which saved their son's life.

Mr Gould, 67, said: "By the time he got to the hospital he only had four units [about four pints] of blood left.

"The doctors said if someone hadn't stopped the bleeding, he would have died.

"Whoever helped him was like an angel. I can't describe the gratitude we feel.

"No matter what we say, we'll never be able to express how grateful we are.

"Leigh would have died if it wasn't for them."

Mr Gould said his son was still in a lot of pain, but "a lot better than he was".

The couple do not know the full details of how the accident happened, as Leigh has no memory of the collision.

"He's on a lot of drugs at the minute and can't remember anything that happened before or after the accident," said Mr Gould.

"But I told him to look on the bright side – there were people at Glastonbury who would pay a lot of money for the kind of things he's on."

He said doctors expected Leigh to remain in intensive care for about a month before he is discharged and given extensive physiotherapy.

Mr Gould said his son worked in a mouldings factory in Barton in the Beans and was a keen athlete, who competes in tough guy competitions.

"He loves doing the tough guy races – he's done five or six in the past few years.

"The last one he did, 600 people were treated for hypothermia – and only 2,000 entered.

"I don't know what the accident means for the future but I know how determined he is and that he'll want to compete again.

"I want to say a big thank you to everyone who helped save his life."

Mrs Gould, 65, said she hoped to meet the doctor who was sent to the scene of the accident.

"I have no idea what I'd say to him and I only think I'll know once I meet him face to face," she said. "But he did an amazing thing."

East Midlands Ambulance Service said it was trying to track down all the staff who helped at the scene.

A spokeswoman said the first response vehicle was on the scene within five minutes, while the ambulance and doctor arrived eight minutes later.

A teenager spat at a supermarket security guard and told him: "If I ever see you out of work, you'll be dead."

Elliot Hurst (18) vented his anger towards the employee at Asda, Hinckley, on June 17.

The guard had told him off for drinking a milkshake inside the store before he had paid for it, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Hurst, of Cromarty Drive, Hinckley, admitted common assault by spitting on the guard's arm.

He accepted the offence put him in breach of a suspended detention sentence, which the judge decided not to activate.

Hurst was given a two-year community order, with supervision, and a six-month drug rehabilitation requirement.

Judge Nicholas Dean said: "Although it may seem a lenient course to you, I'm doing this because it has the prospect of benefiting others, to avoid you committing further offences in the future.

"The court's patience is limited and it will come to an end if you don't take this chance."

From studying and homesickness to binge-drinking and one-night-stands – a new documentary series is set to reveal the secrets of undergraduate life.

The four-part series follows a group of 12 University of Leicester freshers for three-months, showcasing the highs and lows of starting university.

With their phones monitored, the students' texts, phone calls, tweets and Facebook status updates appear on screen as they go about daily student life.

Budding medic Ben, 19, who is studying biological sciences, said he enjoyed taking part.

"I wanted to do another term after it was finished," he said.

Ben said that he "never forgot" that his phone was being monitored.

"We got more comfortable as time went on," he added. "I'm really nervous about watching it back. I don't think anyone's done anything wrong, people have a general idea of what goes on as a fresher."

In the first episode, which airs tomorrow night, the audience will see how the students cope with their first term.

They have to deal with being away from home comforts and leaving old friends.

The University of Leicester, which was ranked 13th in the league table this year, was chosen above a "large number" of other universities who were interested in taking part.

Executive producer Dimitri Doganis, of Raw TV, said: "We ultimately chose Leicester because it had a great campus, a diverse student population, and academically is ranked as one of the top universities in Britain – so we knew we'd be getting intelligent, articulate undergraduates.

"We wanted to have contributors who felt representative of the wider student population, rather than on one extreme to another."

More than 20 per cent of the university's 2013/14 intake applied to take part. Raw TV said the 12 were selected as they represented a diverse range of aspirations, backgrounds and academic interests.

University of Leicester registrar and secretary Dave Hall said: "We were surprised by the level of interest and competition to be involved.

"The programme offers a warts and all insight into the highs and lows of student life in general, and the experience of first year students at Leicester in particular.

"We worked closely with students, staff and the production team to help facilitate an open and honest portrayal of student life."

Watch the first episode at 10pm on Channel 4 tomorrow.

Leicestershire Foxes were unable to make it back-to-back victories in the Natwest T20 Blast as they suffered a 14-run defeat at Yorkshire Vikings.

Greg Smith made 56 for the Foxes at Headingley but he was unable to see his side home as a middle-order collapse saw Foxes fall short of their target of 169.

Foxes had looked comfortable in their run chase until a flurry of wickets left them requiring 27 from the last two overs.

Unlike at Chester-le-Street against Durham, Foxes could not rely on the firepower of Tom Wells to smash them over the line, after Ben Raine had taken 3-25 to restrict Vikings to 168-5.

Foxes will now probably need to win at least five of their last six games to stand any chance of qualification for the knock-out stages.

Foxes faced a daunting prospect, after winning the toss and electing to field, with the world's No.1 ranked T20 batsman, Aaron Finch, at the top of the Vikings order.

But it was his partner and captain Andrew Gale who made the immediate impact, hitting Charlie Shreck for consecutive boundaries in the first over. Finch, meanwhile, scored just a single run of the Vikings' first 32.

Gale was handed a lifeline on 25 when his thick edge off Shreck failed to stick in the palm of the diving Ned Eckersley behind the stumps.

It was not long until Foxes finally had their breakthrough, though, as seamer Ben Raine took two wickets in two balls to reduce Vikings to 41-2.

First to go was Finch, bowled for a very scratchy five from 13 balls, giving himself some room to hit through the off side. He was followed by Alex Lees, trapped lbw.

Spinners Jigar Naik and Cobb bowled tightly, conceding few boundaries, and at the halfway stage Vikings were 70-2.

The first six of the innings came in the 13th over as Jonny Bairstow smashed Naik over long on but the off-spinner had his man two balls later, having him caught by Greg Smith in the deep.

Gale, on 49, was given a second life the very next ball, chipping a leading edge to Cobb at short midwicket, but the Foxes captain shelled the chance diving forward.

The mistake would not prove too costly as Cobb had him stumped for 55 before Raine bagged his third wicket, having Adam Lyth caught in the deep.

Eckersley's evening would get worse, though. The keeper conceded 12 byes in the innings before letting a top edge from Richard Pyrah drop straight between his gloves.

A flurry of late boundaries – three fours in the penultimate over and two sixes in the last – saw Vikings close on 168-5.

Cobb and Smith set an emphatic tone to the Foxes' reply, both finding the boundary with frequent regularity, the former launching Tim Bresnan over his head for six, as they brought up the 50 partnership up in just the sixth over.

It took a moment of absolute brilliance to dismiss the Foxes skipper.

Cobb launched leg-spinner Adil Rashid down the ground, only for Adam Lyth to jump into the air behind the boundary, flick the ball back to Finch inside the rope, who took the return catch one-handed diving forward.

Eckersley was soon to depart, too, stumped by Bairstow off Rashid just two balls after being saved by the third umpire on a close run-out call.

At the halfway stage, Foxes were cantering at 85-2. Smith and Matt Boyce kept the run-rate ticking over but their partnership ended in catastrophe as a mix-up left Boyce stranded.

Scott Styris's return to the side was brought to a premature end as he was given out caught behind off Azeem Rafiq despite the ball looking to come off his forearm.

Smith brought up his 50 off 46 balls, edging Bresnan through third man for four, before needlessly giving his wicket away moments later, caught trying to shovel the ball over fine leg off Bresnan.

That triggered the collapse as Foxes tumbled from 125-4 to 128-7.

Durham hero Wells, who had hit 24 off the penultimate over in his side's victory over the Jets, could not repeat his performance and smashed the first ball of the penultimate over straight down long-on's throat, all but ending Foxes' hopes.

Cases dealt with at Leicester Magistrates' Court include:

Harpreet Singh (30), of Margaret Road, North Evington, pleaded guilty to stealing four bottles of Smirnoff vodka, worth £64, on December 10 from Morrisons, Counting House Road, Leicester. He was given a 12-month community order including six months of non-residential drug dependency treatment and attending probation appointments. He also admitted stealing two bottles of whisky, worth £34, from the same shop and obstructing a police officer by giving him false details on May 10.

John David Carroll (64), of Lutterworth Road, Aylestone, was committed to prison for 16 weeks for assault by beating on April 7. He was also committed to 12 weeks in prison – to run concurrently – for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress on the same day. Carroll denied both offences. The court decided that custody was necessary because of the length of the incident, the fact that the assault was committed while Carroll was under the influence of alcohol, the victim was in poor health and Carroll had previous convictions and showed no remorse.

Nordin Akajoo (40), of Kingston Road, Evington, pleaded guilty to exceeding the 30mph speed limit on London Road, Leicester, on December 5. He was fined £130 with £85 costs, a £20 victim surcharge and three penalty points on his licence.

A racing boss giving evidence about an accident at Mallory Park that cost a spectator the use of his left eye has told a court he believes appropriate precautions were taken.

John Symes, technical director of the Motor Sports Association (MSA), told Leicester Magistrates' Court yesterday that he had conducted an investigation into the incident, which happened in August 2010.

Spectator David Matthews, 56, was hit by a small stone sent flying by a car wheel.

Alleged event organiser Lydden Hill Racing Circuit Ltd and its managing director are on trial for three breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

As the defence case began yesterday, Mr Symes said he believed the appropriate precautions had been taken before the event.

The court was previously told Mr Matthews was about 10 metres away from a section of loose rally track and standing behind a one-metre high fence when he was struck.

Mr Symes told the court: "There's an inherent risk that material may be ejected from the surface and that's why there's management, such as fitting mudflaps to cars.

"It was judged that the separation of the spectators from the track was sufficient.

"You manage risk and it can always be argued that a one-metre barrier should be a one-and-a-half-metre barrier.

"There's no such thing as no risk. It comes down to what's reasonable, what's practical and what's realistic.

"I'm not aware of any other flying debris incidents from the past 30 years."

An issue in the trial is whether Lydden Hill Racing Circuit Ltd was the event organiser and had any duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Mallory Park Motorsport Ltd, which runs the track, near Hinckley, has already pleaded guilty to one breach of the act.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Adam Farrer, Mr Symes was asked whether he thought Mallory Park Motorsport Ltd had been wrong to plead guilty to the charge if everything had been done properly. He declined to comment.

Mr Symes also said during his evidence that Lydden Hill Motorsport Club – rather than Lydden Hill Racing Circuit Ltd – had been the permit holder for the August 2010 rallycross event.

The club had originally faced the same charges as the company but district judge John Temperley ordered on Monday that the charges against the club be dropped because the Health and Safety at Work Act did not apply to a club, which is not an employer.

Mr Symes told the hearing that the world of motor racing was mostly not subject to the act.

The trial continues.