THOUSANDS of local families faced holiday headaches caused by a clash of classroom and shop floor summer break dates. A big employer of local labour at Longbridge, British Leyland's summer holidays broke into the last two weeks of the schools' summer term. George Foster, head of Catshill Middle School, calculated a quarter of his pupils would be absent.

TESCO vigorously denied rumours it was planning to pull out of its store in Bromsgrove High Street. The company agreed trade had not been brisk, but had now picked up, And Wimbush too scotched talk it was about to close its two cake shops.