Melbourne Express: Monday, March 27, 2017

That's it for Express for today. Thanks for reading. Get your entries into our movie ticket giveaway for A Man Called Ove by midday. We have six double passes to giveaway. Send your name and phone number in via email to have a chance to win.

Check in tomorrow for more news headlines, transport updates and weather. We will leave you with a great photograph of a rainbow from this morning by Age picture editor Leigh Henningham. Try not to get blown away this arvo.

Rainbow over Port Phillip Bay this morning. Photo: Leigh Henningham.

Updating the headlines: Support for the Turnbull government has crashed, and if an election were held on Saturday, a new poll predicts the Coalition would lose 24 seats including those of cabinet ministers Peter Dutton and Christian Porter; millions of Australians are being underpaid their superannuation and some may never recover it; and a hospital is being investigated for breaching the privacy of dozens of patients after medical records revealing a "swollen penis" and mental illnesses among other things, were found in a Coburg street.

John Fawkner Private Hospital. Photo: Chris Hopkins

Here is our update on Cyclone Debbie.

It was a tragic weekend on Victoria's roads - six men died from car crashes between Friday and Saturday, reports Emily Woods.

Early Friday morning, about 3.30am, a 27-year-old Warranwood man driving a Holden Commodore in Berwick, when he lost control of the car and it hit a tree. He later died in hospital.

Then on Friday at 8am a 39-year-old South Australian man died after his car struck a tree in Casterton.

Half an hour later, a ute collided with a truck in Beaufort, killing the 27-year-old male driver and injuring his 24-year-old male passenger.

At 4.30pm on Friday a 66-year-old cyclist was killed when he was hit by a car in Devenish.

Then about 2am Saturday a male passenger, aged in his 20s, died when the ute he was in hit a tree in Bacchus Marsh. The driver was taken to hospital.

Lastly, two hours later, about 4.15am in Newhaven, a man aged in his 20s died after he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree.

News elsewhere: 

• Rubbish trucks are increasingly hitting cars and even houses, reports News Ltd. Port Phillip Council's insurance has paid out almost $50,000 from 39 incidents but Brimbank council has paid out more nearly $90,000 for 27 incidents.
• A founding member of the Thai chapter of the Hells Angels has alleged he was bashed by three Australians in a bikie punch on, the ABC is reporting.
• The state Coalition is planning to go to the next election promising more frequent trains at weekends particularly in Melbourne's north and west, Channel 9 is reporting.

  FIRST ON 9: The Coalition will go to next year's state election with a policy to increase Melbourne's train frequency. @andrew_lund #9News pic.twitter.com/kTsnGTvILQ

  — Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) March 26, 2017

  

Winners are grinners on Monday morning: Richmond, Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Brisbane, West Coast, Adelaide and Geelong. My team, North Melbourne, were rubbish. Less said about that performance the better.

Here are some highlights and The Last Word from Rohan Connolly.

Two trucks have broken down on the Western Ring Road in two different locations.

A truck has broken down near the Tullamarine Freeway closing the second left lane Altona-bound.  

A second truck on the Western Ring Road has broken down near Sydney Road, Fawkner closing the right lane Greensborough-bound. 

The Craigieburn line has delays of five to 10 minutes.

And here is Ronaldo at the store in 2015.

Cristiano Ronaldo (centre) at the Culture Kings store in Queen Street in 2015. Photo: supplied

Recapping our headline story.

High-end streetwear store Culture Kings was broken into by a thief in a smash and grab at the Queen Street store around 5am this morning.

The owners of the store are in Perth but were alerted to the break in when the thief triggered the security alarm. The owners watched as a thief made his way around the store. They called police and about a dozen police showed to up in force to try to nab the thief. He got away, with some clothing. Police are investigating this morning.

Smash and grab raid on Culture Kings in Queen Street. Photo: Justin McManus

Channel 9 reports that the high end clothing store, Culture Kings robbed this morning has some well known wearers of its apparel. Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo was at the store a couple of years ago.

​Our photographer is at the store this morning.

Not so great on the Craigieburn line. The 7.25am to Flinders Street service has been cancelled due to a train fault, with the next one at 7.31am.

The 6.31am and the 6.46am Pakenham to Flinders Street will run direct from Richmond, not via the City Loop.

Anne Vrasian reminds us it's the tradies rostered day off today and quieter roads means a better commute on the roads. And school holidays start next week. Smooth driving.

Melbourne will do that huge temperature drop thing it does sometimes when we all breathe a sigh of relief after a hot night and day.

Emily Woods reports the temperature will plummet by about 10 degrees in an hour this afternoon, as fierce winds bring a cool change to the city.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said Melbourne will reach its top of 32 degrees by about 1pm, and by 2pm that temperature will drop down to about 22 degrees.

He said there will be wind gusts of up to 100km/h in the city, which could cause some damage. There may also be thunderstorms this afternoon, which could occur anywhere in the city, central, or eastern Victoria.

Tonight will be much cooler than last night, dropping down to a low of 14 degrees.

In the words of Jack Thompson in the Clayton's ad from the 1970s, "now we can all get some sleep".

And here is 3AW's interview with Peter the truckie.

A hero truckie and his son have intervened with a crow bar to stop a violent robber after they noticed he ram raided a 7-11 in Yarraville in Melbourne's west.

Video footage obtained by 7 News shows a white ute ram raiding the doors of the 7-11 service station, later smashing the doors with a type of hammer and then resorting to prying it open with a crowbar. 

A truck, Peter, saw the smashed doors and then took after the thief with a crowbar while the terrified service station attendant hid in a back room.

Police arrived but the thief fought them off before fleeing in his stolen ute. Police were on foot and truckie Peter and his son followed police and the thief in the divvy van.

The thief was caught and remains in custody.

More trains cancelled: The 7.38am Craigieburn to Flinders Street service has been cancelled, with the next one departing at 7.43am.

More on the siege in Werribee that ended with a man dead:

Superintendent Tim Hansen said police lost contact with the man.

"During the last couple of hours we lost communications with him, we weren't able to engage with him, so we then deployed a series of non-lethal tactics, trying to encourage him to surrender peacefully to police."

When questioned at the scene over whether these tactics actually killed the man, Superintendent Hansen said  "that will be subject to an investigation."

"We are confident there are no other suspicious circumstances in relation to his death, but we will work with the coroner and there will also be an internal police investigation into the circumstances of that death," he said.

Police block the road at Kookaburra Avenue in Werribee during the siege which ended with a man dead. Photo: Arsineh Houspian

A police stand-off with an aggravated burglary suspect in Werribee, in Melbourne's outer west has ended with police discovering the man had died during the siege.

Police will now investigate whether "non-lethal tactics" used after police lost contact with the man may have contributed to his death, reports The Age's Emily Woods.

Superintendent Tim Hansen said police negotiated with the man and "tried to engage him in conversation, tried to make a surrender plan with him to come out peacefully."

He said police negotiated with the man over a nine-hour period on an "ad hoc basis."

"The conversation was on and off at different times. He did indicate when we arrived here that he was in possession of a fire arm," Superintendent Hansen said.

Ove is an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing body corporate rules and visiting his wife's grave. Just when he has finally given up on life, he develops an unlikely friendship with his boisterous new neighbours.

A Man Called Ove, the film, is based on the bestselling novel of the same name. It begins screening on Thursday.

Swedish star Rolf Lassgård plays the curmudgeon and his performance won him the Best Actor award at the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival. He is best known as playing the title role in Wallander. Hannes Holm directs this dark comedy.

To win tickets to see A Man Called Ove email your name, and phone number here by midday today.

Swedish star Rolf Lassgård in A Man Called Ove. Photo: Johan Bergmark