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APPLAUSE Council woes, speed cameras, noisy | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
neighbours, That's Britain. Hidden heros and Samaritans, that | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
is Britain too. This is the show that explores the | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
madness of every day life, looking at the bad and marvelling at the | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
good. On tonight's show, heat or eat, | :00:34. | :00:42. | |
Grainne Seoige tackles the growing problem of fuel poverty. | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
Our insider, Ade Edmond, reveals the year-long operation that | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
delivers Christmas dinner. Personally I love them, that is why | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
I have so few friends. Angela Rippon fights to put humans back on | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
the other end of the phone. Name and shame, the bin cops bring | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
out the big guns to tackle litter louts. Sat next to the man with the | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
stripey jumper, can you pick up your cigarette end, please. | :01:11. | :01:18. | |
Let's find out what is getting stuck in your craw this week. Your | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
e-mails asks your gripe, the more you mail it the more it shows up on | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
the wall, if it shows up it means more of you have sent it. | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
This is what is driving you up the wall this week. You won't be happy | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
with that. I think with all the things to | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
worry about in Britain at the moment, wind turbines is the gripe. | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
Really, what is wrong with people. Here is one for you Julia, a lot of | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
people are worried about ramblers, Steve says they walk around the | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
countryside getting in every one's way, they go out for a moan and see | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
how many people they can upset. Correct me if I'm wrong, aren't you | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
the President of the Ramblers Association? It is not the case. | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
I'm very surprised it is the truth most people are moany. Walking is | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
proved to be very good for you, your emotional and mental well | :02:15. | :02:22. | |
being. Most people don't get enough exercise, the we help people get | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
out there. They are not complaining about rambling, but ramblers. | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
People want the whole countryside to themselves. Are they talking | :02:31. | :02:37. | |
about ramblers and their manners when they put it up there. We have | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
an e-mail that asks what has happened to please and thank you | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
and holding the door open for other people to pass through. In my | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
experience it is young women who appear to be the worst offenders s | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
that true? I'm not sure it is young women, there is a general feeling | :02:52. | :03:00. | |
that manners have slipped away. manners are a growing menace a208 | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
survey showed -- a 2008 survey, showed most of us think it is the | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
biggest problem facing society. auntie said manners make the man. | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
It is something you can do easily, being kind to somebody, it is an | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
easy way of improving things. think if you respect young people | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
they respect you back. One topic we have seen on the word wall is cold | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
calling. According it a recent survey, three quarters of us want | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
it banned. We hit the streets of Manchester to find out why. I say | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
no thank you and put the phone down as quick as I can. Cold calling is | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
definitely out. It is a no-go. are only doing their job, you know | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
they will be sat in a call centre being paid nothing to do it, it is | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
just the annoying thing is they have some how got my details. | :03:48. | :03:56. | |
to be polite as much as I K asay don't call me -- I say don't call | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
me again. It is massive intrusion people passing on my number and not | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
telling me, and God only knows who has my number. You may not know | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
this, on average we get six cold call as month. I probably. Do you | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
can stop those calls with a scheme called the telephone preference | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
service, which blocked UK-based cold calls. This is interesting, | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
you could make a note of it, you can register your phone number with | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
the scheme, it takes about 28 days to take effect. If you still get | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
cold called after, that the company's actually breaking the law. | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
Make a note of their details and you can report them. All the info | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
you need is on the website. We are going to update the wall | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
later in the show. Tonight we are giving it faesive theme. It play be | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
a time of -- festive theme, it maybe a time of good will to all | :04:41. | :04:50. | |
men. Let's face it, there are some things about Christmas that make us | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
ba-humbug? I love Chris marks and there are things in the office -- | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
Christmas, and there are things that people don't like. The | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
Christmas ad, inlaws. Not so sure? Your inlaws? No, laugh you. Please | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
put your gripe in the title of the e-mail, it won't make it on to the | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
wall. Keep the Christmas grumbles coming in by going to the website | :05:14. | :05:21. | |
below. Of course, you can join in with | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
everything else that we are talking about by tweeting us at BBC That's | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
Britain, or going to the Facebook page as well. | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
Ade Edmond's our insider, he has been slipping inside the system | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
that keeps Britain ticking to see how it works. Ade where have you | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
been rooting and rumaging. As you know I like slipping inside the | :05:44. | :05:54. | |
:05:54. | :05:56. | ||
system. You're a bit younger than me, I know people will find that | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
hard to believe. I can remember a time when you go to the supermarket | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
and it would actually have run out of things. You would have empty | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
shelves, especially around Christmas. I'm a man who likes his | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
food, I don't like taking chance, I went to see how the supermarkets | :06:11. | :06:21. | |
make sure we get all the sprouts we need on Christmas day. | :06:21. | :06:30. | |
Chris marks my favourite time of year, the -- -- Christmas, my | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
favourite time of year, the Queen, Christmas puddings, but why does | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
everyone want to do their Christmas shopping at the same time as me. | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
Come on, out the way. Yes, it is the busiest time of year | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
in the supermarket. Last December we spent nearly �3 billion a week | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
on food. In the old days you would need to | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
shop well in advance, but with so much stack raeing stacking you can | :06:58. | :07:04. | |
now leave -- stacking and restacking you can now leave it | :07:04. | :07:14. | |
:07:14. | :07:15. | ||
until Christmas Eve. How do the elves make sure you can do that. | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
The story starts here at a gigantic warehouse in Essex, the size of | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
four football pitches. In the week before Christmas, their depots | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
handle more than nine million cases. I'm going behind the scenes to | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
witness this extraordinary challenge. This is the place why | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
your turkey, your cranberries, your Brussels and potatoes meet up for | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
the very first time before ending up on your plate. Hello Brussels, | :07:42. | :07:49. | |
hello turkey, looking forward to the big day? Not really, no, my | :07:49. | :07:56. | |
performance last year was a bit dry. At least you get to eat, all the | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
kids left me on the side of the plate. | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
For supermarket strategists like Kate, this is where the year begins | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
as well as ends. How do you go about forecasting how | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
much stuff you need? We have already started for next Christmas. | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
We plan at least a year in advance. We will use this year's Christmas | :08:15. | :08:23. | |
volumes as a guide, we look Atticus tomorrow mer food trends, what -- | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
we look at customer needs. How many Brussels proudzsprouts will you | :08:31. | :08:41. | |
:08:41. | :08:45. | ||
sell? We will sell 520 tonnes of Brussels sprouts. Potatos? Turkeys? | :08:45. | :08:55. | |
:08:55. | :08:56. | ||
176,000 fresh and frozen British turkeys. That is a lot of food. | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
What gets ordered by the supermarket first? Brussels sprouts, | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
the vegtable that de divides the nation, personally I love them, | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
that is probably why I have so few friends. During the Christmas | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
period we eat 300 million of them. No wonder we are having trouble | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
with greenhouse emissions! Like most of your Christmas dinner, | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
produce the sprout is an incredible technological feat. It is like an | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
army of sprouts. Farmer, George Reid sells almost a | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
third of his entire sprout crop in the fortnight before Christmas, | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
which means a fair bit of planning. Because the lazy old sprout takes | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
ten months to grow. These are already seeded for next year. These | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
we planted in the spring. Do you have dangers within the growing of | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
them, where you can get failure, and our Christmas could be ruined? | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
As long as we don't get a really bad freeze up, like we did last | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
winter with minus tens and snow, as long as we don't get that again, we | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
should have a good Christmas run for sprouts. | :10:05. | :10:14. | |
Now supermarkets also need to spot new food trends. Can breeze. | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
Canbury sauce may seem as British as Queen Vicoria, but it is | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
actually from North America. We still get most of our's from there | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
today. But ironically, it was Queen Vicoria who popularised the side | :10:25. | :10:32. | |
dish to go with it. Turkey. | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
We eat an astonishing ten million turkeys every Christmas day. Not | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
each, obviously. Although actually, by the time Great Escape comes on | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
the tele, it often feels that way. Turkeys take only four to five | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
months to grow, nearly twice as fast as a sprout. They hatch around | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
the end of July. The fresh ones will only arrive in store a few | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
days before Christmas. Right now, I'm going to have to make do with a | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
duck. That's everything ordered, let's | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
fast forward to the fortnight before Christmas. Normally when you | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
think of people picking vegtables, you expect human beings in the | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
field, chopping things down by hand. Here they have an extraordinary | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
machine. This is the sharp end of sprout | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
harvesting technology. The four people sitting on the back guide | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
these fiercesome looking blades with their feet, and feed the | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
stalks into the machine. Amazingly it take as photograph of every | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
single sprout to weed out any bad ones. So, I have my sprouts, my | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
turkey, can breeze, hang on, I have forgotten -- cranberries, I have | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
forgotten something, potatoes, stupid potatoes. Potatoes are | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
amongst the earliest of the Christmas vegtables to be harvested. | :11:51. | :11:58. | |
Huge steel monsters spit out a precise quantity with the pact | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
packets -- packets with the supermarket logo on it. These spudz | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
were grown in Cambridgeshire. It is now dash to get to the warehouse in | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
Essex. Our supermarket takes delivery of 56,000 orders in three | :12:13. | :12:20. | |
weeks. We're about two weeks after the | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
Christmas week, does it just go mad? It goes absolutely crazy. | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
if they haven't got enough stock, this entire process, from | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
harvesting, to depot, to supermarket shelf, can be managed | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
in as little as three days. That is just as well, as the shops | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
won't know if they got the predictions right until Christmas | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
week itself. So remember, the next time you leave your Christmas food | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
shop to the last minute, loads of people have been working for nearly | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
a whole year to make sure you have a brilliant Christmas dinner. Hang | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
on, I don't think I have enough sprouts, back up, back up. Happy | :12:58. | :13:08. | |
:13:08. | :13:11. | ||
Christmas, peace and good will to all men, blah blah blah. | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
Some of that was strange and amazing, you don't think about it. | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
The most amazing thing was the sprout machine, it costs �200,000. | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
I want one dad! You don't want one. It is incredible they photograph | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
every sprout, what happens to all of the vegtables that doesn't pass | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
the beauty contest. At the farm I went to, the food chain ends up in | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
the digester, which makes electricity, sprouts, methane, | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
power, it all makes sense. happy the methane is happening | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
there and not around the tree or the table. What happens to the poor | :13:49. | :13:56. | |
bits of vegtables that aren't good enough to become electricity. | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
two are very sad. There are sad vegtables out there, there is this | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
unbelievable fact, I had this rechecked, I couldn't believe it, | :14:05. | :14:13. | |
280 kilos per person, per year, of fresh food and fruit and vegtable | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
goes to waste before it gets to the shop. I couldn't eat that a year. | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
Are they ploughed back into the land. Thrown into landfill. | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
Especially when you think about so many people struggling to make ends | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
meet. There is a charity called Fairshare that did 8.6 million | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
meals last year from food that was thrown away by shops. How many? | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
kilos per person. Imagine the number of people around the world | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
you could feed if you could get that food to them. Stay with us, we | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
have one more bit of judging we would like you to do. It is not | :14:50. | :14:57. | |
sprouts or funny-shaped vegtables. No, we asked you to send in the | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
most confusing signs in Britain. This is the rogue's GALry, spot why | :15:02. | :15:12. | |
:15:12. | :15:43. | ||
This is the rogue's GALry, spot why There is fantastic ones there. | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
like the secret nuclear bunker, this way! | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
Ade we are going to give you the honour of picking the winner. | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
I have picked a winner and runner- up. Trust you. That is the one | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
outside Swindon, the one called the Magic Roundabout, I tour a lot, the | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
driver of my tour bus says whenever we approach this, he says, it is so | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
confusing you put your foot down and hope for the best. That is why | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
when I play Swindon I take a spare pair of underpants. | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
The winner, I'm going to have press you. There can only be one winner, | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
it is this one. My hope is it is an international | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
border and on one country they go on the left and the other on the | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
right. Nominated by Brenda Hider, taken on holiday in Scotland. | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
Congratulations, Ade will send the trophy to you. All the authorities | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
responsible for the signs, please don't ever fix them or take them | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
down, the world would be a much duller place without them. Thank | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
you to Ade Edmondson, our judge and insider. | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
When was the last time you tried to book a ticket or speak to bank and | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
as a human being, and then a human being answered the phone to you. It | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
seems the rise of the machine sun stoppable. One person who thinks so | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
is Angela Rippon, she's leading the fightback. | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
I really do love going to the cinema, you have the widescreen, | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
the comfy seats, great performances and movies, I love the whole | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
experience. Apart from one thing. This is what happens when I ring | :17:24. | :17:33. | |
for a ticket. Welcome to cinema line. A computer, | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
it will cost me 10p every minute I'm on the phone. Which cinema line | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
are you calling from. London? Please be more specific. | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
Kensington? Did you say Manchester. I said Kensington? Did you mean, | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
Kensington. Yes, I z I said Kensington. You are through to the | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
cinema in Kensington. There are 19 films currently showing. 19 films, | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
currently showing. Please choose from the following films. Tinker, | :18:08. | :18:18. | |
Taylor Soldier Spy. That will do. Did you mean the film Berlin fill | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
harmonica Live. I don't think I said anything like, that said | :18:23. | :18:29. | |
Tinker, Taylor Soldier Spy. I don't think in my entire career I have | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
been known for speaking anything but clearly. I want to speak to a | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
human being. How do you feel about t do you get upset with the | :18:38. | :18:46. | |
automated telephone lines. 80% of cinema chains have replaced old | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
fashioned humans with computers. The idea is, there is no queue, and | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
you can book your ticket at any time. Last year we bought a 169 | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
million cinema tickets. They claim it is a win-win situation. Is it | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
really. The Broadway Cinema in Hertfordshire have agreed to turn | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
back the clock for a day, and make ticket booking a human activity, to | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
see if it works. I have volunteered to take on the job. Hi Oliver. I'm | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
ready for work. After a quick lesson on the | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
computer and the booking system. Do I click on to that before I click | :19:22. | :19:30. | |
on to that. Hello Broadway Cinemas Angela speaking. We have Crazy | :19:30. | :19:40. | |
:19:40. | :19:41. | ||
Stupid Love. The Dead. Hello, Broadway Cinema. | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
Getting the hang of this! A satisfied customer, just proving | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
what I said, somebody there who would, Emma, who would much rather | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
talk to a person rather than a machine, one up to me. As well as | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
manning the phone lines, I got a chance to quiz people buying or | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
collecting tickets over the counter. 11 tickets for the kids' club. | :20:03. | :20:12. | |
When? On Saturday. New career? Absolutely, yes. Would you prefer | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
to book the tickets on the telephone or the computer? Why is | :20:16. | :20:23. | |
that? For the personal service. don't get that from a computer. | :20:23. | :20:31. | |
Tinker, Soldier Sailor Spy. Why are you doing this. Can I ask you a | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
question, when you book on the telephone, would you rather have a | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
human being on the end. I would want you on the end. A human being. | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
Which do you prefer? Human being. Every time? Yes. If it meant you | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
had to pay a little bit more to talk to a person? No, I like | :20:47. | :20:54. | |
talking to somebody. Enjoy the film, you brought your own cushion I see! | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
Having sold sold them their tickets and get them seated. It is time to | :21:00. | :21:07. | |
finish off with a refreshment run. I don't care if I look smug, | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
because I told you so. Not one single person that I spoke to, | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
either on the telephone, or who came to the desk said they wanted | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
an automated telephone system. Several of them even said they | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
wouldn't mind paying a bit extra for the cinema ticket if it meant | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
they could talk to a human rather than a computer. As far as I'm | :21:27. | :21:35. | |
concerned, I rest my case. Here to make her case in person, | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
please welcome the wonderful, Angela Rippon. What makes you think, | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
in this current day and age, where people are so strapped for cash, | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
they will pay an extra 50p just to have someone on the end of the | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
line? That is such a spurious argument from the cinema companies. | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
We already, if you go on the telephone, you can be on the phone | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
for at least three if not four minutes by the time they repeat | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
everything time after time, you are already paying 30p, 40p, then they | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
charge you a booking fee and for using your credit card, you are | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
already paying more than 50p as a premium to do it on the telephone. | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
It is a stupid excuse for doing that. It really is. I have to say | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
that 50p, we asked somebody to research it for us and come up with | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
how much it would cost on top, your theory is we shouldn't be paying it | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
at all? They can more than afford T the three major cinema companies in | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
this country make in excess of �automillion profit each every | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
single year. They -- �50 million profit each every single year. They | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
can afford to put someone on there. It is banks and utilities, they all | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
do it. Does it matter? I think it does. If you talk to people and ask | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
them their two biggest gripes as consumers, top of the list is poor | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
customer service, and those multichoice telephone systems. If | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
you go toson some of the very large retail stores, you will find they | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
don't do this. You phone and you have a person who answers your | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
query immediately. And then puts you through to another human being, | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
and if you look what we had today the unploilt figures, why should | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
you replace -- unemployment figures y should you replace a human being | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
with a machine, why should they do it. We will find out if the public | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
agree with you at the end of the show. | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
Angela Rippon everybody! Very strong argument, Angela says | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
bringing people back to cinema booking lines would bring back the | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
personal touch and get people back into jobs as well. The cinemas | :23:39. | :23:49. | |
:23:49. | :24:19. | ||
should pick up the cost. Tonight we The results later on. | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
Are you too frightened to put on your heating because of the bill | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
you might get? Well you are not alone. There are 6.5 million | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
households in Britain, who are running scared of their fuel bills. | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
Over the last year the average annual household energy bill rose | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
by a gob smacking �230. Is there an end in sight to the higher bills. | :24:40. | :24:50. | |
:24:50. | :24:53. | ||
We sent Grainne Seoige, to find out more about this heated debate. Our | :24:53. | :25:00. | |
household energy bills have gone up 50% in three years, and profits for | :25:00. | :25:08. | |
the energy companies have gone up 35%. Last year they made profits of | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
�8.5 billion. All why we pay record prices to heat and run our homes. | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
My current energy bill is high, it was roughly in the region of about | :25:15. | :25:22. | |
�400 a quarter, it has been pushed up to nearly �600. Try to keep the | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
heating bills down by wearing lots of layers. �100 a month. | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
The economic crisis has led to the biggest squeeze on family budgets | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
since the 1950, and to top it off, the big six energy companies are | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
putting up fuel prices by up to 18%. Some of these higher bills are | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
already landing on our doormats. One of the hardest hit places in | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
the UK is Wales. 40% of households here are now in fuel poverty. | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
That means that a household spends more than 10% of its income on | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
energy bills. Over 500,000 families are affected in Wales alone. | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
Where better to come than Power Street in South Wales, to see if | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
residents have to turn their power down as the energy prices go up. Mr | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
and Mrs Tanner are both retired and have an energy bill of �848 a year. | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
Keeping their home warm is a growing concern. With everything | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
going up in the air with the prices, it gets harder every year. We don't | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
put the heating on in the morning any more, we are frightened what | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
sort of bill will come in. Tanners are fuel poor, spending 20% | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
of their income on their monthly energy bills. The Jarvis family up | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
the road face an estimated annual bill of �2,600, they are teetering | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
on the edge of fuel poverty, and are now turning appliances off | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
every day to save money. You can be sat here some nights without | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
heating on. The girls go to bed, as soon as they are in bed and wrapped | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
up, we sit here and leave the heating off. The family are on a | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
pre-pay metre, and they chose this because they couldn't make head nor | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
tail of the tarrifs on offer. give have the figures and the | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
standing charges, it is not explained properly what you are | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
paying for. The Tanners are equally baffled? I couldn't understand it, | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
all the different tarrifs and different things, it is not simple | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
to understand. Perhaps the Jarviss and the Tanners | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
have God reason to be confused. There are currently 400 tarrifs on | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
the market. We took people's concerns about the prices and | :27:34. | :27:40. | |
tarrifs to the industry body, Energy UK. 400 tarrifs, why isn't | :27:40. | :27:50. | |
it simple letter? Companies are really listening -- Simpler? | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
Companies are listening to customer about the choices, and if there is | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
something they can do to help customers choose the right one. | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
There are large and small companies, each one offering a different type | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
of tarrif, depending on what you want to pay, by cheque or on-line. | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
Then, of course, the country is divided into different region, | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
there might be a different price depending on the network charges. | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
It seems the energy industry and their customers agree there is a | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
multitude of choice, but Consumer Focus is worried that the | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
combination of high prices and options is putting the squeeze on | :28:29. | :28:35. | |
customers from both directions. average bill is �1300 per household, | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
up 20% from last year. No surprise that energy companies think by | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
proliferation and complexity of tarrifs they can bamboozle you and | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
it is impossible for people to sort out the best deal for themselves. | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
That is a poor state of affairs. there anything to help customers | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
steer a course through this minefield. I have asked Mark today | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
from the Energy Helpline to come and give the Tanners and the | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
Jarviss some advice. What is the bill looking like at | :29:08. | :29:10. | |
What is the bill looking like at the moment? At the moment you are | :29:10. | :29:17. | |
spending to �868 a year, you could get it down by �11 pounds by | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
switching to a different tarrif. How can you find out about it? | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
need to use an independent comparison service, they are often | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
on the Internet, but also you can find them over the phone, and an | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
operator would talk you through the different deals on offer and tell | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
you about the cheapest tarrifs. the Tanners have learned how to | :29:36. | :29:41. | |
save themselves nearly �200. What about the Jarviss and their �2,600 | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
on their bill? You are spending a lot of money, �50 a week, that is a | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
big old bill. You can save money, that is the good news. The way you | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
really save money is to change your metre, change it from a prepayment | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
metre to a credit metre, that will allow you to go on a monthly direct | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
debit tarrif, once you are on a credit metre, you can switch to the | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
cheapest deals on the market, that could save you �500 off your bill | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
in total. That is a lot of money. �500 a year, definitely looking | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
into that. It turns out that the prepay metre can be one of the most | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
expensive ways of getting your household energy. On Mark today's | :30:23. | :30:29. | |
recommendation, the jar -- Todd's recommendation the family could cut | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
their bill by 25%. We have one of the most competitive | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
markets in the world. If you look at the statistics right across | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
Europe, we have the cheapest gas price of all the leading countries | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
in western Europe, and one of the cheapest prices for electricity. | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
There is a lot of competition out there, we would say make sure you | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
are benefiting from that. That sounds like let the buyer beware, | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
it is not cutting any ice with Consumer Focus? It is the single | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
most important consumer issue in Britain today. We have a closed | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
market, six suppliers dominating the industry, 99% of all households, | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
there is no threat that any big brute will come behind them and | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
take their market share away. While they don't have that threat of new | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
entry, they will behave as they have for years. A lazy, complacent | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
way, that assumes consumers will stay with them and pay whatever | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
they are charged. Powerful stuff. We have got the | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
Secretary of State for Energy, Chris Huhne MP, Luciana is living | :31:29. | :31:35. | |
in fuel poverty, paying 20% of her household income on fuel. What does | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
that mean, what choices will you have to make this Christmas? | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
means cancelling Christmas all together. Having to prioritise | :31:44. | :31:50. | |
paying my fuel bills first. I cannot count for a specific budget | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
to contribute towards Christmas, whether it is the cheapest toys on | :31:53. | :31:59. | |
the market, or Christmas cards to my friends. I can't even afford my | :31:59. | :32:08. | |
food bill, at the moment. Because of certain cuts, the �15 less a | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
week we are getting from housing allowances. But essentially the | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
fuel costs are weighing down on you very heavily, and affecting | :32:15. | :32:21. | |
everything else? Because they have increased so highly, compared to | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
the last few years, I was paying �40 including both dual fuel, and | :32:27. | :32:36. | |
now it is �1267 a month. Is this an -- �127 a month. Is this an | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
acceptable thing in the 21st century, a young mum struggling to | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
keep the house warm and having to cancel Christmas? It is a real | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
problem we have had this massive increase facing many people this | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
year. 38% increase in the world gas prices, because of events in the | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
Middle East, because of the Japanese nuclear disaster, | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
increased in demand for gas in the far east, this is coming through | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
into our own gas prices and into our electricity prices, because a | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
very large part of our electricity comes from gas. There is a big | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
problem there. What we can try to do to help in the short run is get | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
people to check, insulate, save, and the two examples that were | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
given there. I don't know whether you have had an opportunity to talk | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
to somebody from citizens advice bureau, about how you might be able | :33:24. | :33:30. | |
to save. But the two examples you gave in the film were very | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
substantial. You are not on a prepaid metre, and paying by direct | :33:36. | :33:41. | |
debit and you are still in fuel poverty, let's concentrate on the | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
profits? She hasn't taken all the steps. Energy prices in the world | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
have gone up, the point is that the energy companies are making �8.5 | :33:51. | :33:53. | |
billion, how do you deal with that, where is the responsibility for | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
you? The most important thing can I do about the energy companies is to | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
make sure that people like Luciana are shopping around to get the best | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
possible deal. If we get, and you can go on to direct debit, that is | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
fine. Ofgem, the independent regulator calculated the sort of | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
savings that you showed on the film are typical. It is not working for | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
everyone? Have you tried to shop around? I have shopped around, and | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
I have gone on to the Internet, gone on to the calculator, and I am | :34:21. | :34:27. | |
on the best deal I can be. I have swapped two years ago from one | :34:27. | :34:34. | |
company to another. Are you looked this winter. Because they all | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
announced their tarrif increases now. They are fixes them for the | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
winter, this is a very good time to compare, and Ofgem says, people can | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
save �200 a year. What are you going to do, if people take every | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
measure they can, what will you be doing? We are simplifying bills, we | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
want to make it a lot easier for people to make that comparison. We | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
want much more competition in the market. We have already introduced | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
safeguards for consumers. For example, we are not allowing the | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
companies any more to do what they used to do, which is to put the | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
prices up and tell you. If they put the prices up they have to tell you | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
first, give you 30 days notice. If you decide to switch, they have to | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
do that within three weeks. We want to encourage more people to switch | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
and make it easier to do so. And we are getting tough through Ofgem, | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
the regulator, with any mis-selling through the companies. There have | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
been big fines for some companies for bad behaviour. You want to | :35:30. | :35:33. | |
eradicate fuel poverty by 2016, have you lost control of the | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
situation now, what are you doing for Luciana today, for Christmas. | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
Fuel poverty is on the up, it is increasing? The two key things you | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
can do right now, Luciana and anybody else in this position, one | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
is check you are on the cheapest tarrif right now. I have done and I | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
am. You said you changed two years ago. I keep on checking. The other | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
thing is your company will almost certainly, your energy company will | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
almost certainly have a deal on special insulation deal which will | :36:01. | :36:07. | |
help reduce your bill all together, by about �100 a year, simply | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
because of what they are offering in terms of cheap insulation. That | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
is short run, next year we have a major new programme coming in | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
called Green Deal, that will give real energy savings to people, and | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
businesses will come in, fit up your house, get your energy bill | :36:22. | :36:29. | |
down, and you will pay for that out of the saving on the energy bill. | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
That is one year down the line, what about now. This year we are | :36:33. | :36:39. | |
getting tough with the companies. Let Luciana have a final say? Are | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
you convinced and what about the �8.5 billion profit? You know when | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
you mentioned the companies are paying more money, wholesale prices | :36:47. | :36:53. | |
for the fuel. They are counting for an increase of 23% for electricity | :36:53. | :36:59. | |
and 40% for gas. On the figures it is still making a huge amount of | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
profit, when they increase their taxes or not and find them, they | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
will find a way of making consumers pay for that. We will have to leave | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
it there. Make sure it is a really competitive market, make sure they | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
have to fight for every penny. If it is a competitive market and they | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
are making money that is fair enough. We will see what impact the | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
recent fuel price increases have on poverty in the future. Thank you | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
very much for both of you. Now, from the burning debate about | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
fuel prices to something a touch lighter, earlier Angela asked if | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
you would pay 50p more per ticket if it meant speaking to a real | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
person at the cinema, we will tell you how you voted. The vote is | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
closed now, don't vote any mo, you will be charged but the vote won't | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
count. Full terms and conditions will be found on the website. | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
It is time for a quick round up of the news around That's Britain, | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
with your host, Nick Knowles. Hello, welcome, just time for a | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
couple of the top stories, one man unconcerned about the rise in | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
energy bills, has put up so many Christmas lights in his home he | :38:05. | :38:12. | |
can't boil a Celt. Mr Skinner has put up 200 light displays inside | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
and outside his home, inspired by the Blackpool Illumination, once | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
they are switched on there is no juice left for hot water and | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
anything else except the TV. You can't visit the house any more | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
because of stringent health and safety rules. If you hate the fact | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
that council officials can now hand out fixed penalty notices, like our | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
bin cops, and I do, worry no more. A Conservative MP has plan, Tory MP, | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
Jacob Rees-Mogg, last week called for all council officials with the | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
power to hand out fines to wear a distinctive uniform like this, it | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
is a bowler hat. Mr Rees-Mogg reckons if council officials wear | :38:51. | :38:57. | |
bowler hats, people can see them coming and people can Scarper | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
without getting a ticket. If you are wondering what constituency Mr | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
Rees-Mogg represents? It is the 1950s. That is the news from around | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
Britain. That might not work for the bin | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
cops, but they have a new weapon at the disposal, it is this, you over | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
there, man in the tweed, stop smoking, pick up your butts, pick | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
up your butts? That is the last thing we need is a rambler with a | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
megaphone. That has made my Christmas. It works for us, but | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
will it work on the streets of Britain? | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
Environmental enforcement officer has a new deputy, Becky Williams, | :39:36. | :39:44. | |
before they hit the streets some pointers. With a cigarette it has | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
five mints before going into the bin or on to the floor. | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
challenge, and it is making a difference to the town and | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
community. Quite excited actually. It is time to get moving. This | :39:57. | :40:06. | |
street, just scan people, get your eyes going up and down, checking | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
people pltd. Now the real thing, they are passed by a smoker, | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
issuing a ticket here can be straight forward. Pick your pace up | :40:17. | :40:27. | |
:40:27. | :40:29. | ||
a bit. It should be on the deck. Where did that go. Craig misses the | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
drop. Even I missed that one. the impression he wanted to give | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
his new deputy. Unfortunately she won't be getting a ticket for that | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
one. He put his cigarette butt into the bin, hasn't he. | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
Bit of a shame, there we go. But it is not long before another smoker | :40:47. | :40:55. | |
is in sight. Excuse me. I'm an enforcement officer with the | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
council, that cigarette butt you threw there, that is littering, it | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
is an offence, this is a fixed penalty. The fine is �80, reduced | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
to �50 if it is paid within ten days, all right then, cheers, thank | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
you very much. Another infringement punished. How did the new deputy | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
did. It was a good spot, coming along, walking up the high street, | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
Becky has seen the gentleman coming towards us spoking. Again, just | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
using her observation skills. I had already seen him as well. So it was | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
a nice spot, backed up, witnessed by two officers, always good. It | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
makes stronger evidence if it is ever contested in court. Another | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
culprit caught and the start of a successful crime-busting | :41:37. | :41:44. | |
partnership. Cot gentleman on the Bevan who | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
dropped his cigarette butt take it up. The gentleman in the brown | :41:48. | :41:58. | |
:41:58. | :42:00. | ||
jacket pick it up. They can see the ban, they know the | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
cameras are rotating and we are watching people. It is the, oh God, | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
they are here again, we have to behave ourselves. The van has a | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
fully rotating and zoomable camera mounted on the roof, with more | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
cameras on the side and back. Giving a 360 view of potential | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
offenders. For this operation, Paul has a new partner. I'm the voice on | :42:20. | :42:26. | |
the microphone. It is all about education, that is my role. It is | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
to just try to remind people to think, and to try to keep the city | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
tidy, it is as simple as that. should be the peak time for | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
activity, this is when all the office staff are coming out for the | :42:39. | :42:45. | |
dinner breaks. Sloppy eater any way, the moment of | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
madness, she's listening to her mobile phone conversation whilst | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
having the fag, guaranteed the brain isn't engaged. The cigarette | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
is more than likely going on the floor. No it didn't, she has seen | :43:01. | :43:08. | |
the bin. Most people seem to be getting the message. Good lad. | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
He stuck it out to the bin, credit to him, he has used it properly. | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
Now we will watch his girlfriend. No, she has gone for the bin, good | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
girl. I don't suppose it take as genius to know that the camera is | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
pointing at you. Eventhough the van is only a few feet away, these two | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
smokers seem totally oblivious. think there is a good likelihood | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
this guy will throw his cigarette butt on the floor. He's having a | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
nice pleasant chat with his mate, he's not really thinking about what | :43:39. | :43:45. | |
he's doing, he a's having a quiet fag and he won't think anything | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
about dropping a cigarette butt on the floor. He just dropped it, Anne. | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
Could the gentleman in the black jacket that has dropped the | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
cigarette end pick it up, please put it in the bin. Tell him who it | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
is, next to the guy with the hat on. Sat next to the guy with the striep | :44:04. | :44:10. | |
striped jumper, pick up the cigarette end please. He has done | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
what we asked him to do. He will have a good gripe out of it, have | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
the council got nothing better to do. At least the message has gone | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
out to him and other people that we are watching, and we will tell | :44:21. | :44:30. | |
:44:31. | :44:33. | ||
people when they are acting inappropriately. | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
My idea of a perfect day, a van with a loud speaker. Last week a | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
Henley Business School study showed three quarters of us believed that | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
customer service in Britain is at its worst ever. We don't have to | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
sit back and look at advise, here to show us is our expert, Jasper | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
Griegson. Since Jasper came on the show last week we have been | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
inundated with requests for his help. Here is the first problem | :45:01. | :45:08. | |
from Joseph McCleary in -- Shaun McAleer? In August 2010 I bought a | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
brand new car from a main dealer. Soon after purchase the car | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
developed transmission problem, I have sense spent over 12 months in | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
dispute with the dealer and manufacturer over this fault. Some | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
work has been carried out under warantee, however the fault still | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
remains. At one point I was even advised to stop driving the car, | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
then the dealer and manufacturer changed their minds, and refuse to | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
co-operate with me any further, and are insisting the car is OK. Can | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
you help me out here, I don't know what more can I possibly do to get | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
my car repaired under warranty, and both the dealer and manufacturer | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
are refusing to co-operate with me. He doesn't know what else to do, | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
two parts of the same company shifting responsibility on to one | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
another, he has to get their attention? It is a brand new car, | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
the bickering between them is not his problem. It is their's. He has | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
to grab their intention, I'm a great believer of handing over the | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
hot potato to the company. In this case, I would send the piece of | :46:10. | :46:16. | |
equipment to the company concerned, the clutch, I'm not a mechanic, and | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
a few other bits to somebody else in the organisation. Why will that | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
work? If you get it through to somebody at the top of the | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
organisation, they will treat the complaint a bit differently. Who to | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
write to and how to find the name, go to the website, the boring bit | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
that gives the name to the directors, and ring up head office | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
and ask. They will say we can't tell you or reveal that information. | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
They can. Next up we have another problem to | :46:42. | :46:52. | |
:46:52. | :46:52. | ||
solve with somebody in the audience, Sandra Pickett come up here. | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
What is your problem? Our local council are asking our children to | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
walk down a very unsafe route. is a different thing, dealing with | :47:03. | :47:09. | |
a company or companies, dealing with councils, we feel more | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
frightened taking on those bodies? We shouldn't be afraid, it is not a | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
commercial issue. You have to employ a bit of cunning, write to | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
somebody senior at the council, get the council leader involved, write | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
to maybe the person in charge of the department for transport. Get | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
your MP involved. This sounds to me more like a campaign than complaint, | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
you have to adopt a multiapproach to the problem, it is not just one | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
single strand. Your main concern is the safety element, it is not the | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
walking it is the fact that your son and other children are talking | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
on an unsafe route. What will you do? Also enlist the help of third | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
parties, get the police involved if you can. Health and Safety | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
Executive, get other people to buy into the idea that children's | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
safety is there. How will you tweak them and pull on their heartstrings. | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
One thing I have done is send them a drawing, by your children, pluck | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
on their heartstrings a bit. I have tried that with great effect. It | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
can work. You have got your children to do this. I have when | :48:10. | :48:20. | |
:48:20. | :48:20. | ||
they are younger. Get the crayons out at home. | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
We always say Christmas is the time to help others, does it make us | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
more generous of spirit or too busy to lend a hand. Stanley Johnson has | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
been to Bradford to recruit some secret Santas. | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
This week I'm in Bradford, home of the reindeer Christmas parade, also | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
home to Santa's grotto, where every year children flock to meet Father | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
Christmas. But little do this group of local school kids and their | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
parents know, there is a problem. That's right, Father Christmas is | :48:51. | :48:58. | |
running late, rumour has it he has overdone the mince pies, I | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
personally blame his penchant for sherry. Our act stress's first | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
challenge is to ask -- actress's first challenge is to ask complete | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
strangers to dress up as Santas and wave to the kids. I will be | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
watching the action from behind the Chrimbo tree. Have you got one | :49:17. | :49:23. | |
minute? I haven't I have to go to work. Please will you stick the hat | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
and the beard on. There is the tiny little kids. Please. The kids have | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
now been waiting for over 15 minutes, Jennifer tries a new | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
tactic, getting the partners on side first. Excuse me I literally | :49:36. | :49:43. | |
need someone to put on a hat and a beard to wave at the kids, I have | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
the mums eyeballing me. Come on John. We are getting a shake of the | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
head. You have to go like that. finally got our first Santa, | :49:54. | :50:01. | |
reluctant John. Well done Jennifer. I'm really | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
sorry, I know you didn't really want to do this. He's looking good | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
in the Santa outfit a few more mince pies and he could pass for | :50:10. | :50:18. | |
the real thing. Can you do a ho ho ho. Go on, do it. Ho ho ho. Don't | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
laugh after it, do it again. Ho ho ho. And give a wave. After the | :50:23. | :50:29. | |
quick Santa lesson, it is time to meet the kids. Say hello Santa. | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
Merry Christmas. The kids are ecstatic, he's really convincing | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
him. Back in a minute kids. Success, and it wasn't just John happy to ho | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
ho ho, Tom, Glenn, Ben and Stuart went for it too. Give me a ho ho ho. | :50:43. | :50:51. | |
Jool ho ho ho. Who is ready for Christmas! Can't hear you? And now | :50:51. | :50:57. | |
we want our tree tend Santa to fill -- our pretend Santa to fill in for | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
the late Santa and meet the kids in the grat toe. Can you speak to one | :51:02. | :51:11. | |
kid? Just one. Can you go ho ho ho. A lot of them have already been in. | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
I can't do this. You can, pleats, please, please. I'm going now. | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
not going ahead with this. I have done my bit now, you said just wave | :51:21. | :51:28. | |
and I did. It was all a bit much for Santa John, but Santa Ben is | :51:28. | :51:36. | |
one round. See, look they believe you. Just one. One child. He stays | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
put for the kids. You might say she has her claws | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
into Santa. That's it, the first child and parent is going in. | :51:45. | :51:51. | |
Christmas little boy, what is your name? Rhys, have you been a good | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
boy this year.'S Doing a first rate job. I think you deserve a little | :51:55. | :52:04. | |
present as well. Thank you Santa. He's playing the | :52:04. | :52:09. | |
role well, and this kid believes he's met the real Santa. Will our | :52:09. | :52:18. | |
Santa agree to see more than one child? Two, three, four, that's | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
five, amazingly, our other three Santas, also played the role for | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
more than 20 minutes. What's your name? Hello, I'm Santa. Do you want | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
a surprise. Can we do that. What would you like me to bring you | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
Christmas Eve. Until the whole class got to see Santa. Well, the | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
kids are happy, Santa has come to town well and truly several times, | :52:45. | :52:54. | |
Christmas wishes have been granted. Stanley's here with one of his | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
stand-in Santas. Stuart why did you decide to join in? After I realised | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
it weren't a joke, I thought why not step in and make somebody happy. | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
I reckon, not only with this film, you have proven that Britain is a | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
great and warm and cuddly and helpful place to be? It really is | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
so, particularly up north. That is where we have been, I want to move | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
up north. Is there a chance that have? I had four years in Oxford, a | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
bit further north now. I don't think Oxford is up north! People | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
will band together and help each other out in extremes? As far as | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
I'm concerned this has been the most uplifting experience I have | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
had for a long, long time. I'm very pleased. Ladies and gentlemen, | :53:32. | :53:41. | |
let's hear it for Stanley and Santa Stuart! | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
These days when the cashpoint says there are insufficient funds | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
available, you don't know if it is you or the bank itself. Who keeps | :53:48. | :53:53. | |
the cash in the machines and our pockets, time to meet another | :53:53. | :53:58. | |
hidden hero! Ron moves van loads of cash around Britain daily. My job | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
is to make sure that ATMs are supplied with cash. Millions upon | :54:03. | :54:10. | |
millions go out of here every week, keeping ATMs in the London area | :54:10. | :54:15. | |
supplied. Ron's staff, not identified to protect them from | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
possible kidnap or violence, start by sorting the money and preparing | :54:18. | :54:24. | |
it for delivering. We process all the �10, �20 and importantly, the | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
�5 notes in the ATM, they are loaded into cassettes and secure | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
vans and taken off to be put into the ATMs. Three quarters of a | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
billion pounds are on the roads every day. Without it, Britain's | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
economy would grind to a halt. When vans leave the warehouse on a cash | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
run, Ron's first priority is the security of his staff. We have to | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
protect our staff and the cash that our staff carry for us. Our people | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
here in the control room can see that van, they can track it all the | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
time. They can detect any threat to the van whatsoever. It is while | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
dropping off cash to ATMs that his security team are at their most | :55:03. | :55:08. | |
vulnerable. It is one of Britain's most dangerous jobs, with 15 | :55:08. | :55:15. | |
attacks every week. Today everything runs smoothly and | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
the British public can continue to get access to their money. Some | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
people would say working in hospitals vital, some people would | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
say working in the fire brigade is vital, I see the service we provide | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
as being as vital as any of those public services. It gives me, | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
personally, a huge boost, to get up every morning, knowing I'm doing | :55:36. | :55:44. | |
something important. That is what keeps me going. | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
Earlier we asked whether or not you would be willing to pay an extra | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
50p for your cinema ticket if it meant you could speak to a human | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
being while buying it. Do you think you pulled it off? It will be | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
interesting to see what people think. It is a smoke screen to say | :55:59. | :56:06. | |
we will charge you an extra 50p, they charge you for going on the | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
telephone and doing your thing. If the people I spoke to at their | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
lovely cinema are anything to go by, people would rather have a human | :56:14. | :56:20. | |
being than machine. Let's see if the great British public agree? | :56:20. | :56:25. | |
Resounding. Unbelievable. | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
Well done. You know I actually said I will eat my hat, I will have to | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
eat that bowler hat. Thank you very much. It is official the majority | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
who voted would be prepared to pay an extra 50p to have someone to | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
talk to. You couldn't have expected that? I'm afraid I did, because I | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
know that the thing that really annoys people and makes them think | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
they are not getting good customer service, is they get a wretched | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
machine rather than a human being and can get an answer who can deal | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
with their query and question in a matter of seconds, rather than | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
being minutes on a telephone. you to everyone who voted and | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
thanks so much to the lovely Angela Rippon. | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
Quickly, we will have a quick look at the change and see the quiz. | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
Let's have a look and see what is the change, wind turbines, what is | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
the matter with people. Still not festive. A couple of people have | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
complained, kids, interestingly enough, the average person has told | :57:25. | :57:30. | |
off their child by 11.07 on Christmas day. Sprouts and | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
Christmas shopping. That is it for night, and the series, thanks to | :57:33. | :57:39. |