A Westport driver caught driving while disqualified for the 15th time has been sentenced to Community detention, supervision and community work in lieu of disqualification.

The skipper of a commercial fishing boat admitted failing to scare seabirds away and may have cost his employer his vessel.

A family escaped a blaze in their two-storey Greymouth home.

A West Coast cage fighter who was arrested for assault and then left in handcuffs for more than eight hours was not treated with humanity, the police watchdog has found.

A house fire in Franklin St yesterday afternoon, caused by a faulty washing machine, would have been far worse were it not for working smoke alarms.

A Government-initiated study has recommended fuller investigation "to clarify once and for all" if the Haast to Hollyford Road is viable.

A French hitchhiker who spent four days trying to get a lift out of the West Coast without success plead guilty to damaging road signs.

A Frenchman whose attempts to hitch-hike out of the West Coast landed him in court says New Zealand should be renamed "Nazi Zealand". Cedric

Frustrated French hitchhiker ended up in handcuffs after road signs were hurled into the Punakaiki River and locals were abused.

A West Coast woman convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old boy and jailed for three years can now be named.

Passengers on both the Tranz Alpine and the visiting Silver Fern railcar faced travel disruptions today after a derailment at Omoto early this morning.

Charges stem from an incident involving two people who were collecting pounamu from the bed of the Arahura River, near man's home at Milltown.

It was slim pickings for Greymouth whitebaiter Peter Almond on the Grey River this morning.

Police on lookout for cheeky criminals who took DIY to the next level .

A fire fighter was lowered into the natural limestone shaft - just 40cm wide - to rescue Middy who had been missing since Saturday.

Challenges facing the dairy industry are taking their toll on farmers, Federated Farmers West Coast provincial president Peter Langford says.

A Government-led bid to free New Zealand of predators by 2050 was repudiated today by the Ban 1080 Party as "justification for another 34 years of spreading 1080".

Wild weather yesterday aggravated coastal erosion at Cobden, with the car park at Jellyman Park now closed as a precaution due to the encroaching sea.

Pokemon players could provide the police with vital information after a robbery in central Greymouth.

DOC had to shoot a fur seal pup after someone put it on the back of a motorbike while skylarking on the Hokitika beach

The first six months of 2016 were set to be the warmest start to the year yet, based on data from seven weather stations, including Hokitika.

Andrew Durant was convicted of a charge of procuring other drugs, after being caught fossicking for magic mushrooms.

A witness to a shooting that shattered the Sunday afternoon peace described the surreal scene unfolding before his eyes as almost unbelievable.

A man whose alcohol addiction had "overwhelmed him" since the death of his wife, fell asleep drunk in the back of the Greymouth District Court

Man's sentencing completed after he had a chance to "sleep things off" during a night in the cells.

Advertisement in today's Greymouth Star states the Grey District Council "formally apologises" to Evan Jones Construction Ltd "for any distress it has caused".

A woman working on a farm owned by her father and stepmother was forced to leave after a heated argument.

A vicious dog bit a chunk out of a mother's arm to the bone as she stepped in to save her two young children.

Conditions on the West Coast are set to worsen over the weekend and teams would resume looking for Emily on Monday, if they could.

The search for two people whose vehicle plunged into a river near Hari Hari on the West Coast was suspended last night due to poor weather.