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Breaking: All lines are blocked and passengers have been left stranded

Here are some of the stories leading our website this evening:

Drivers are being warned of a “sudden surge” in traffic on the roads over the bank holiday weekend as temperatures hot up.

Some 10.8 million leisure car journeys are expected to take place over the long weekend, according to research from the RAC, which could clog up major routes.

Traffic is expected to peak on Saturday and Monday, but the weather could play a part in just how busy the roads get.

Forecasters are predicting temperatures of 20C (68F) across parts of the UK on Saturday, while by Monday the mercury could hit 25C (77F) in west London, 21C (70F) in Leeds and 22C (72F) in Newcastle.

Ben Aldous, from the RAC, said: “Our research points to Saturday and Monday being the busiest days, but in reality there’s a good chance the weather will have the final say as to how busy the roads get.

“A return to more typical late May temperatures and an end to the recent wind and rain could spark a sudden surge in journeys and mean some routes – especially those to the coasts and hills – start to clog up.”

Data from a survey of 1,100 UK drivers’ travel plans, conducted by the RAC between May 17 and 24, suggests there are approximately 7.2 million firm trips planned for over the bank holiday, and an additional 3.6 million due to be taken depending on the weather forecast.

Police are investigating after a man touched himself inappropriately while staring at a woman on a train in Leeds.

It happened on a service from London King’s Cross station to Leeds on the evening of Friday, May 7.

This is the man that British Transport Police say they now want to identify.

Read more: Investigation after man touched himself inappropriately while staring at woman on train from London to Leeds

A woman has been taken to hospital after an incident in the Richmond Hill area of Leeds.

Police were called to Upper Accommodation Road at about 10.03am on Friday, May 28.

Officers attended and a woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances of the incident.

West Yorkshire Police have issued appeals in relation to two separate missing persons investigations.

They say the disappearance Zhai Ming Zhang is out of character. The 47-year-old was last seen leaving his home address yesterday evening between 7pm and 8pm in the Armley area of Leeds.

Here’s the image released that was released as part of their appeal for information.

And officers are also searching for a 15-year-old boy last seen on Elland Road at around 4.30pm yesterday.

Here’s the image released of Kaiden Hinds, who is believed to be wearing a grey Nike hoodie, black Berghaus coat, dark baseball cap, black Puma tracksuit bottoms and black Nike trainers.

The full details of that appeal are here: Police concerns for welfare of missing Leeds teenager last seen on Elland Road

Former MP and veteran campaigner George Galloway has announced he is running in the forthcoming Batley and Spen by-election with the explicit aim of ousting Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party.

Mr Galloway, who was expelled from Labour in 2003, said he is standing as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain in the poll on July 1.

In a video posted on his social media feeds, filmed at Batley bus station, he said: “I’m standing against Keir Starmer.

“If Keir Starmer loses this by-election, it’s curtains for Keir Starmer.”

Read the full story here: George Galloway announces he is standing in Batley and Spen by-election

photo credit: Danny Stotty

It is thought by people nearby that the cordon is in place after someone was ‘knocked down’.

This has not been confirmed by West Yorkshire Police and we are awaiting information about the incident from the force.

The YEP has asked West Yorkshire Police for more information.

photo credit: John Tillotson

AA traffic news said: “Road closed due to police incident on Beckett Street both ways from Accommodation Road to Granville Road.

“Traffic is coping well.

“Bus services diverting via Stoney Rock Lane, Nippet Lane and Accomodation Road in both directions.”

Cases of the Indian variant have doubled in a week leading to fresh doubts over the ending of Covid restrictions in England next month.

Boris Johnson warned that freedom from restrictions on June 21 may have to wait as it emerged three-quarters of new cases are now the Indian mutation.

Ministers are remaining cautious on the prospect of all measures being scrapped in England on June 21, as set out in the Prime Minister’s road map, although hospital admissions remain flat.

Officials are examining the data after confirmed cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 reached almost 7,000. It is now the dominant strain in the UK, one expert said.

Epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson said the planned unlocking next month now “hangs in the balance” due to the growth of the variant of concern.

The Prime Minister told reporters on Thursday he “didn’t see anything currently in the data” to divert from next month’s target, adding: “But we may need to wait.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at a press briefing on Thursday “as many as three-quarters” of all new cases are now of the Indian variant, and urged vigilance.

The Cabinet minister also told MPs it was too early to say whether the full lifting of restrictions will go ahead as the Government waits to see what happens with hospital admissions.

Public Health England (PHE) put the hospital admission rate for Covid-19 at 0.79 per 100,000 people in the week to May 23, compared to 0.75 per 100,000 in the previous week.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, said that, while Covid infection rates had risen across most age groups and regions, “encouragingly the number in hospitals across the country remains low”.

Mr Hancock said there were “early signs” that coronavirus rates in Indian variant hotspot town Bolton were starting to “cap out”, sparking hope that efforts to surge test and vaccinate were having an impact.

It comes after Imperial College London’s Prof Ferguson, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020, said the B.1.617 mutation from south-east Asia was now “the dominant strain” in the UK and that the full reopening of society on June 21 “hangs in the balance”.

Epidemiologist and Government adviser Professor John Edmunds also warned on ITV’s Peston this week that it looked “a little bit risky” to be relaxing all restrictions in just over three weeks time.

Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said she agreed with Prof Ferguson’s reading of the situation and admitted the numbers had become “quite worrying”.

“If you just look at the pure data which is out today it looks quite worrying,” she told a Downing Street press conference.

“We had 3,535 cases of the 617.2 last week, and we have just about double that, 6,959, now.”

She said it was “on the cusp at the moment” over whether rising cases reflected the variant taking off or whether there was a rise because more cases are being hunted for and detected, with more socialising also now permitted.

“The good news, of course, is we are not seeing that generally translate into increased cases of hospitalisation and definitely not into deaths,” Dr Harries added.

“So the key message there is … if we can hold it while the vaccination programme gets rolled out, we stand a much better chance of getting through this session.”

In England, 6,180 cases of the Indian variant have been confirmed, along with 702 in Scotland, 58 in Wales and 19 in Northern Ireland.

Mr Hancock said the increase in cases of the Indian variant remained focused in “hotspots” where surge testing and vaccinations were taking place.

He added that of the 49 people in hospital with coronavirus in Bolton, only five have had both doses of vaccine.

“So when you get the call, get the jab, and make sure you come forward for your second doses so you can get the maximum possible protection,” he said.

“The vaccine is severing the link between cases and hospitalisations and deaths from coronavirus.”