Sophie Swain
Sophie Swain is a reporter for News & Star whose coverage follows how transport, community campaigns and everyday businesses shape life across Cumbria. Her reporting often treats traffic, road safety and local infrastructure as part of wider stories about residents, charities and education rather than as standalone transport issues.
Traffic and road safety coverage
Swain reports on road safety and traffic management, including village speed concerns and major route closures. Her coverage of a speed indicator device installed after numerous complaints about drivers in a village focuses on how enforcement technology responds to long-running resident worries. She also writes straight news pieces on serious collisions, such as a crash that closed the A66 in both directions at Warcop, where the emphasis is on disruption, emergency response and clear information for drivers.
The automobile angle in her work is rooted in how road conditions, signage and safety measures affect communities, rather than in the automotive industry itself.
Community campaigns and mental health support
Swain is a recurring byline on News & Star’s coverage of the Happy Mums Foundation, a mental health charity supporting mothers.
Her feature on the foundation giving young mothers a safe space highlights practical services and personal stories, positioning the charity as a core part of local support networks. In reporting on an emergency fundraising drive to secure £25,000 so the foundation can continue its work, she tracks both the campaign mechanics and the stakes for mothers who rely on the service.
Her piece on a Workington mother who fears others will be left without support if the foundation closes brings the funding story down to an individual level, using one family’s experience to illustrate the potential impact of a shutdown. Across these articles she writes with a community focus, connecting organisational challenges, donor appeals and lived experience into a single narrative about access to care.
Education, STEM and next-generation skills
Education and STEM outreach form another strand of Swain’s reporting, often linked to engineering and future skills. Her coverage of a partnership bringing hands-on STEM activities to almost 100 pupils across several primary schools in Cumbria details how a collaboration between the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Solway STEM Academy is reaching classrooms, including the number of pupils and schools involved.
In a separate piece on chartered engineer Alyx Murdock being named a Changemaker at the STEAM Awards, she profiles an individual champion for engineering education and explains how their work inspires the next generation. These stories show her interest in how technical subjects and outreach programmes are delivered on the ground, and how they connect local schools to broader engineering and science agendas.
Beyond News & Star, she has written explanatory work on global financial and technology trends, such as an article asking whether China is primed to become the first cashless society, which demonstrates her ability to handle broader economic and digital themes alongside local reporting.
Business, retail and culture stories
Swain’s patch also includes local business, retail and cultural events, often framed around the customer or audience experience.
Her story on Joma Jewellery launching a Design Bar in The Lanes Shopping Centre describes an interactive retail concept that lets shoppers create personalised bracelets, focusing on how the offer works and what it brings to the city centre. In arts and entertainment, she has reported on Robert Arkins, star of the 1990s film The Commitments, marking the film’s anniversary with a gig at a Carlisle venue, setting out the event details and wider tour plans.
Listings and property coverage associated with her name include work on city centre hotels coming to market as part of multi-property sell-offs, indicating regular engagement with the local commercial landscape. Taken together, these pieces show a reporter who moves easily between transport, charity campaigns, education initiatives and business or cultural stories, with a consistent focus on how developments affect residents’ daily lives.
4 more automobile journalists.
Adrian Leung
Adrian Leung is a writer at Car News China who applies an electrical and computer engineering background to technically dense coverage of China’s fast-moving electric vehicle market. He focuses on new-energy models, from mainstream family EVs to concept cars, explaining battery systems, drivetrains, and on-board technology with clear numbers and straightforward descriptions. His Sunday China Drive columns look at how specific models fit real-world motoring and household budgets, balancing space, comfort, and affordability. Across launch and revision stories, he tracks BEV and EREV variants, exact dates, horsepower, range, and pricing to show where each EV sits in the broader market. He brings the same detailed focus to concept vehicles, using battery and range data plus component-level and chassis detail to treat them as complete engineering objects.
Alan Dowds
Alan Dowds is a motorcycle journalist focused on practical riding, workshop know-how and real-world bike testing. He runs Visordown while writing guides, advanced riding features and first ride reviews for road and track riders. He has more than two decades of experience, including staff roles at dedicated bike magazines, before moving into freelance work across multiple outlets. His beat covers recovery after crashes, knee-down technique, filtering, city traffic, green-laning, learner training and track riding. He also reports on production, pricing and new adventure bikes such as the Norton Atlas made in India. His workshop coverage includes puncture repairs, winter storage, chain care, engine bearings, case covers and caliper seals. He writes in direct, methodical language, using step-by-step guidance, practical testing and photos to help riders become safer, faster and more mechanically confident.
Alan Feldberg
Alan Feldberg is a fact-led automotive trade reporter who tracks how manufacturers, fleets, mobility providers and repair networks are reshaping the modern motor industry, with a particular focus on the UK car market and its supply chain. He writes concise, data-driven news for Bodyshop Magazine, having been part of its editorial team for years, including a period as Middle East editor. He covers the rise of Chinese vehicle makers, named models and market share, dealer and fleet technology, online retail platforms, leasing, remarketing and mobility networks. He also reports on repair groups, parts distributors, OEM approvals, fuel prices, employment and wider industry pressures. His pieces turn corporate announcements and market reports into clear signals for garages, bodyshops, fleets, dealers and mobility providers.
Alastair Crooks
Alastair Crooks is a senior news reporter at Auto Express who covers both new cars and the infrastructure that will support them, tying factory-scale developments to driveway-level reviews. He focuses on electric cars, mainstream launches and UK pricing, reporting on new and electrified models entering the market, their spec, positioning and what they change for buyers. His road tests of SUVs and saloons assess ride, range, interior space, value and running costs, with clear, sometimes blunt verdicts backed by specifics rather than general impressions. He writes news, reviews, features and occasional opinion columns on driving behaviour and in-car tech, drawing on his background as a car salesman, his degree in journalism and his enthusiast experience at car shows and track days. Some of his work also appears in magazine-style formats.