内容摘要：It is one of the region's largest oaks and a vital ecosystem for rare lichens like the black-eyed Susan.

It is one of the region's largest oaks and a vital ecosystem for rare lichens like the black-eyed Susan.

The A24 northbound remains closed from Rusper Road, Capel to the B2122 Epsom Road, Leatherhead, according to traffic monitoring site Inrix.Surrey Highways, which is leading on the clean up and resurfacing, said: "We're starting works at the southern end of the A24 (Beare Green) so that the communities that are currently isolated can get out and about."

The authority said on Wednesday the road between the Beare Green roundabout and Old Horsham Road had been repaired with 400 tonnes of tarmac.It said further testing had been carried out "to fully understand the extent of the damage and prioritise further action".Work will also continue at the northern end of the closure, at junction nine of the M25, with the third full closure of the M25 planned between junctions 10 and 11 from Friday.

Matt Furniss, cabinet member for highways at Surrey County Council, said despite initial estimates of 16,000 litre (3,520 gallons) of fuel being spilled, the authority now thought it was more like 400 litres.He told BBC Radio Surrey on Tuesday that 10 miles of road would need to be resurfaced and teams would be working 24/7 to get it reopened.

Mr Furniss added: "It has been a bit of a challenge but we are

He said the council would attempt to claim money back on the driver's insurance."We talk about the impact of heavy casualties on the

[units comprising men for the same area, workplace or social group] but the fall of Singapore was just as devastating on these communities," he said."It's beyond imagination, really, because everybody's gone in the battalion at the same time, down to the lowest private, and there's a lack of information and clarity about what's happened to them for months and, in some cases, years."

Many of those who survived - like Tom Allard from Swaffham, Norfolk - could never bring themselves to talk about their treatment at the hands of the Japanese army, according to Swaffham Museum archivist Sue Gattuso.Conscripted into the Suffolk Regiment, Mr Allard "described how he was captured and marched to Changi Prison with the shells falling all around them", she said.