THE recent hot spell which has seen temperatures exceed 30C in Wyre Forest has seen many people running for the shade.

The number of visitors to Severn Valley Railway has dropped in the last two weeks, with the warm weather believed to be the cause.

Marketing manager, John Leach, said: "A lot of people are not coming out. They are staying inside or going to the coast, so our numbers are down a bit."

Elsewhere in the district, Janet-Marie Clark, spokeswoman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said there has not been an increase in the number of sunburn cases treated at Kidderminster's Minor Injury Unit.

Firefighters have been called out to several grass fires around Wyre Forest during the past week and a spokesman for Kidderminster Fire Station said the hot weather could be to blame.