you want the bbc to cover, and time and again, housing came up. peter felix, who lives locally, was one of the many who contacted us through your voice, your vote. he and his partner are both in their 40s. they would love to buy a home together, but can t get onto the housing ladder. the average price paid by a first time buyer in the uk last year was just over quarter of a million pounds. that s up from £109,000 20 years earlier. the average age of a first time buyer in the uk is now 33. at the same time, private rental costs have gone up more than 9% in just the last year. so tonight, we re here in the black country to the west of birmingham, where peter now lives with his partner rebecca. 0ur midlands correspondent navtej johal has been to meet them. there s nothing, there s no help. we just want a home. we just want to have our own home. that s what we d probably like. peter paints and decorates homes. do you want to hand, pete? please. but he and his partner rebecca are
a year ago theatres in england closed their doors because of the pandemic. in that time the theatre world has lost income of around 200 million pounds. many theatre workers are freelancers and a quarter of them have gone out of business. our arts editor will gompertz has spoken to four performers who ve had to change jobs to make ends meet. music: there s no business like showbusiness theatre, one of the great success stories of britain s creative industries but this time last year the bright lights of the west end went dark. theatreland s professionals suddenly found themselves unemployed and needing a plan b. i am a freelance and as well as the show, i also do a range of other kinds of playing such as concerts and recording sessions and tourism things like that. as well as the show closing, all of that went up in smoke. so all of your income has disappeared? yes, exactly. these guys here were looking for an extra pair of hands and they kindly agreed to take me on. in fact
petrol or diesel car, would you be prepared to swap it for a bike or take the bus instead 7 a scheme s begun in coventry where people can hand their vehicles over to be recycled in exchange for credit to spend on more sustainable modes of transport. our business correspondent katy austin has the details. it s the end of the road for this car. it was sent here deliberately by its former owner. but why? let s reverse a few days. we met mohammed, who owned that 15 year old diesel for four years. after, you know, the lockdown has kicked in, i have been mainly working from home, five days a week. so, i m not using the car as much. he decided tojoin a trial in coventry. owners of cars over ten years old can give them up and get cash for other forms of travel. they are offering £3000 worth of credits, which you can use to travel by bus, train, taxi. authorities in the west midlands are behind this scheme, using funding from a government grant. the idea is to get 250 cars off the