26/04/2012 BBC Points West


26/04/2012

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Good evening and welcome to Points West. Our headlines tonight: The

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revolving door at Bristol council. Barbara Janke quits. The 7th leader

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to come and go in 10 years. Our mobility scooter is a menace? The

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family of Bennett injured girl called for greater regulation. It

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is the last thing we were expecting to happen. We were paying an going

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there a transaction and not expecting to get mown down. Inside

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the blood factory as their owners are needed for the Olympics. And

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the long arm of the law around a long neck of a swan.

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Good evening. They shot at the council house in Bristol tonight

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after the resignation of the council leader just a week before

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the crucial referendum on a city mayor.

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The leadership has changed seven times in 10 years. Barbara Janke

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opposes a directly elected mayor, but a decision to quit has given a

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boost to the Yes camp -- Yes campaign who insist Bristol cannot

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go on with a revolving door of political leaders.

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It has been a big job in sometimes turbulent times. 15 years leading

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the Liberal Democrats, three spells in charge of the council, she is

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about to turn 65 so has decided to stand down. It is quite sad because

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I have enjoyed being the leader. I found it an enormous privilege to

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lead such a wonderful city as Bristol and I am sorry to be giving

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it up, but I have been doing it now for seven and a half years and

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nothing goes on for ever. Bristol leaders don't. It is like a

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revolving door at the council house. Diane Bunyan was in 2003 followed

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by Barbara Janke. Then came Helen Holland and Barbara Janke's final

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turn three years ago. That instability has many critics.

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think there have been 60 from leaders of the council in 10 years.

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If you have that degree of chopping and changing you do not get a

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coherent policy, don't get decisions taken and there is a

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general disenchantment in the way the city is run.

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Excited is a big reason to say yes to an elected mayor. Today,

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political differences mattered less. We work together on a rainbow

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Council. I was her deputy leader so we worked very closely. She is a

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nice lady. We have never had a problem working together. We

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disagree politically, but we have to get on and do the job for

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Bristol and our hearts were in the right place. This all means change

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for Bristol. Straight after the referendum, Lib Dems will be

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deciding on their leader who then has to be ratified by a full

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council leader. By November the people of the city could be

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choosing the first ever elected mayor.

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We will tell you where you can listen to a debate on the issue

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later in the programme. A second man on board a boat which

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caught fire in Bath earlier this month has died. The 30 year-old man

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from Swindon was taken to hospital with severe burns. Stephen Phelps

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who was 42 was also killed in the fire which broke out on a cabin

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cruiser moored close to Pulteney Bridge last month.

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The family of a girl injured in an accident with a run away mobility

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scooter is calling for drivers to have proper training. The nine-

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year-old suffered a broken ankle when the vehicle crashed into her

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in Clarks Village in Somerset. The swimming lessons are on hold,

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she has had to give up her part in the school play. Akeyla Pike's

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ankle broken by a runaway mobility scooter. It hurtled into the nine-

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year-old as the family were paying for shoes in Clarks factory shop.

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would hate to see anybody else go through what we went through. We

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were paying a not expecting to get mowed down. It was very painful

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because it kept going into it. After it happened, she kept saying

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she was sorry, but when it was happening she said she couldn't

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stop it. The driver was in her seventies and was using her own

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powered wheelchair similar to this one. We spoke to the family of the

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74 year-old today and they say she is still shocked and upset herself

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about what happened in this store on Monday. Her daughter says that

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her mother was stationery at the checkouts and the accident happened

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when a cashier handed her some bags over the counter.

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The driver's family say the banks may have knocked the joystick of

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the wheelchair setting it off in the direction of the young girl

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five yards away. The Pike family wonder if there will chair should

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have been turned off and are demanding tougher controls over the

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use of mobility scooter us. don't know what happened, we don't

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know whether the lady could have taken control of the vehicle or not,

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but it is nothing we will find out because the police would not get

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involved. The law does need to change on that aspect. Mobility

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scooter has can weigh up to 150 kilos and make 12 miles an hour,

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but there is no need for training or insurance. In Norfolk and Dorset

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the police have introduced training courses after a spate of accidents.

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These drivers approved. In the village, it is quite easy to run

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into someone when it is crowded. you are not used to it, they can be

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quite quick. If you can't stop it, they cannot people. The government

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is considering legislation to make them safer, but scooter design and

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street layouts may also help reduce accidents.

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As we have been hearing, The family in this case wants people who drive

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motorised scooters and cause accidents to be called to account.

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Earlier I spoke to the head of road safety for the Royal Society for

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Prevention of accidents and asks for his response.

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I think that very much depends on how they caused the accident. If

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someone behave recklessly then the law should be applied the same as

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it would to anyone else, but we have to remember that people using

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their ability scooters are probably not in the best of health so

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prosecution is not necessarily appropriate. What would be

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appropriate? The best thing is to avoid this happening in the first

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place so try to ensure that people using mobility scooter has have

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been properly assessed and we are confident they are able to use them.

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You said, quite rightly, for many people it can be a lifeline, but

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they can be very big, quite fast and more people are using them. Are

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they safe in an environment like a shop? There are clearly risks. The

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key issue is that many people who use mobility scooter has all become

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housebound if they do not use them. We have to be careful that we don't

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stop people using these mobility scooter has unless they are clearly

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not safe to do so. We also need them to behave responsibly when

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they are doing it. I am not suggesting the lady was

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irresponsible, but there is always some level of risk. I suppose that

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is a good point, if there is more regulation it could take away some

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bodies life are in. Absolutely. That is why there is no compulsory

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training all insurance because all of those things will increase the

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cost for people using their ability skitters and that might mean some

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people wouldn't be able to do so. If that happens, they could be

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stuck at home or in a care home. Should there be training for

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everybody, because there isn't at the moment. There isn't, but they

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should be. The problem at the moment is that we need to build a

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sufficient number of training providers and we need to be

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confident about what training is effective. If you bought in a nor

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now saying that mobility scooter has must be trained, an awful lot

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of them would not be able to find a trainer in the first place. From

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next year, police are going to be asked to monitor at accidents

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involving motorised scooters, do you think this will help and how?

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Yes it will because it will provide better data on the number of

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accidents that are happening. Where they are happening and he has been

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injured. That sort of information helps to justify the cost of

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responses such as regulation. At the moment we have virtually no

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data are torn apart from cases recorded in the media such as this

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one. Thank you very much for joining us.

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You are watching Points West. One more day to go and it is the

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weekend! We are being warned it can be an extremely wet and windy one.

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Ian will be here with the forecast shortly.

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Along with the weather there is lots more to bring year including:

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We look into the menace for motorists. Pot holes and the

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special gangs out to fill them in. And for more than 100 use the armed

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forces were based here in West Somerset yet they have never had a

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war memorial. Today after years of waiting, the final designs for one

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have been revealed. So that is all to come, but first,

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the agent from GEC HQ he was found dead in a back has been described

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as a man with a world-class intelligence. Gareth Williams was a

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protege he went to university when he was 16. He was central to return

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to Cheltenham after a secondment to Cheltenham with MI6.

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The mathematics whizz kid he became an encryption expert. Gareth

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Williams entered Britain's world of intelligence gathering at just 21.

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10 years later, his body was found in the bath inside a locked bag. As

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the inquest continues, his former boss at GCHQ says he was considered

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a prodigy, a private individual who shuns social gatherings but none

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the less had a friendly sense of humour. Able to lighten the tone in

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what was often an intense occupation. His body lay in his

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Pimlico flat for nine days, enough time to begin to decompose.

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Toxicologists asked about the possibility of poisoning because he

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lay undiscovered soda long, Test on his blood and body were unreliable.

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Yesterday the landlady at of his flat said he wants tied himself to

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his bed and had to call her husband for help. He had gone on secondment

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to MI6. Before he died, he requested to return early to his

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work at GCHQ. Mr Williams gained his qualifications early. He became

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intelligence specialist before many had finished its education. A

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decade of life live privately now or in death, the subject of intense

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public conversation. His inquest continues.

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They are the pet hate of many motorists, now potholes have

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attracted the attention of the government. And National Review has

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published recommendations for councils and how best to deal with

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them. At the same time, Gloucestershire is trailing a

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scheme that tackles pot holes as soon as they are spotted.

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Last year, Gloucestershire County Council repaired 42,000 potholes.

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The year before, it was 90,000. Normally they sent out teams to

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mark the roads and repair crews come back later. This time is

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different. The idea is to get to repair more

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potholes more quickly. There will be a dedicated crew and they will

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be acting on information from the public and going out on a fine and

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six mission. Today, Lynsey and Andrew are

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working their way down this road repairing whatever they can as they

:13:05.:13:15.
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I have marked out this pothole as a defect. Then we will fill in and

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cut it out. This is all extra to the normal repair programme. It is

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our job to be as proactive as possible and make sure that we

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react quickly. We also have the weather to contend with. We have

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about 5,500 kilometres in Gloucestershire to deal with. We

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need to operate as efficiently as we can. A repairing potholes is

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costly, but so is leaving them. Drivers can easily damage

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suspension, wheels and bodywork. To cyclists and motorcyclists they can

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spell serious danger. But with budgets being squeezed, the

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pressure is on to find better ways of tackling them. Bristol council

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is thinking of pioneering a smart phone application which so shows --

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shows drivers wear pot holes are. The National Blood Service based in

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south Gloucestershire says that it needs to increase blood stocks by

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almost a third before this summer. We have events like the Olympics to

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contend with. As part of its appeal it has given the BBC's special

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access to its processing plant in Filton.

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Filton, home to the largest blood manufacturing centre in the world.

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Nearly half of all blood donations made in England and Wales end up

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here where they are separated into different products, like red blood

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and plasma. But during big national celebrations like the royal wedding

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last year, not only is there a spike in demand with more overseas

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visitors, but donations dip as people miss their appointments.

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That is why there is a big push are bound to get blood stocks up by

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nearly a third by the summer. expect this year that we will have

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about 1.2 million extra visitors coming into the country. We will

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also have athletes taking part. We need to be prepared for every

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contingency. What Jessica Smith was unprepared for was being diagnosed

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by -- with about cancer by the age of 27. She had a young baby at the

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time and was severely anaemic and needed blood transfusions every

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week. I was so anaemic that my blood count was just half of what

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it should have been for a woman of my age. When you are very ill, you

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do not realise that the treatment you are having his life saving. My

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family or give a blood now without question. When you have had

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somebody that you have seen a survive just from having the blood,

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it gives you a whole new outlook. The there are nearly 2 million

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blood donations every year. Today these people were giving blood.

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There are always people who need blood and it is a good idea. As

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soon as I was able to donate I did. I have been donating ever since,

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this is my 89th donation. Helping to top up supplies that need an

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Olympic-sized boost before the summer.

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People in Watchet in Somerset are trying to raise money for the war

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memorial. Despite its history as a garrison town for the Air Force and

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the army there has never been a local monument for those who lost

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their lives. Instead, their names are scattered in several locations.

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Now a campaign is under way to change that. Chris is in Watchet to

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tell us about it. Good evening. Watchet is on the

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Somerset coast. Around 4,000 people live here. It has a rich military

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history. There are signs of it all over the town. You imagine a with

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such a rich history of the armed forces in of the town that they

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would be a war memorial here. But there is not. That is about to

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change thanks to local schoolchildren. First, I have been

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leafing through some of the news archives back at the BBC to find

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out what it was like in 1938. progress of aviation is here at

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Watchet. The coast at the start of World War II. Hundreds of service

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personnel were based here in Watchet. They even got the chance

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to fire live ammunition at unmanned aircraft, a remote controlled by

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radio from the Somerset shoreline. This was a key instalment for the

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British war effort. According to local records, 55 men from the town

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died in both world wars. 60 years on, schoolchildren have been

:18:39.:18:49.
:18:49.:18:49.

designing a suitable monument for the town. The winning entry...

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is a cross with a puppy -- poppy on. Around it is decoration. Are you

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pleased with it? Yes. Are you pleased that you one question mark

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yes. The war memorial has also been chosen. It is next to the train

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station for a reason. The troops used to march along the railway

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line of by the railway station. They would get on to the trains

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that would then take them away from the area. This would be the last

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sight that they would have of Watchet on the way out. For those

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that were fortunate enough to come back, this would be the first sight

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that they would see. It is also hoped that when the tourists come

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in they will spot the memorial from the carriage window and pay to

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visit. And pay their respects. Just a few feet from the harbour to

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my left is the old library which was saved from closure. This is

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where the war memorial will go. This is a watercolour of what it

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will look like. They wanted to be in place by 2014. But they need to

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raise �18,000 to do it and they are at �3,000 at the moment. They have

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some events over the summer where they are hoping to raise all of

:20:15.:20:20.

that money. Always a treat to visit Watchet.

:20:20.:20:24.

Traffic police have been grappling with some beautiful but potentially

:20:24.:20:29.

aggressive customers today, they can peck, hiss, and even break an

:20:29.:20:34.

arm with a flap of the wing. But they are being betrayed to deal

:20:34.:20:44.
:20:44.:20:47.

with runaway swans in case they The traditional view of frontline

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policing, fighting crime, dealing with the drunks, crashes on the

:20:51.:20:56.

roads, but for the traffic police are working in a rural patch this

:20:56.:21:05.

sometimes need a more softly-softly approach. It seems that swans are

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proving a big problem when they end up in the middle of the road and

:21:09.:21:15.

refused to budge. It causes road closures and tailbacks and officers

:21:15.:21:19.

trying to dupe -- shoo them away. We are training up some of the

:21:19.:21:23.

officers to catch the swans and release them safely. We hope to

:21:23.:21:28.

improve the safety for the public on the roads. It is not just about

:21:28.:21:31.

handling the swans but also being able to protect and transport them

:21:31.:21:36.

safely if they have been injured. Experts from the Wildfowl and

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Wetlands Trust were more than happy to offer their advice. It is great

:21:40.:21:44.

for us to be able to show the police have to handle them

:21:44.:21:47.

correctly and that great for them to respond to things at the time.

:21:47.:21:52.

They've will not need us to come and help them out. The reality is

:21:52.:21:57.

that these are wild birds and if they refuse to move, they will have

:21:57.:22:05.

to be caught. That is the tricky bit. I was a bit apprehensive that

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because they are powerful birds. We have been talked today that as long

:22:10.:22:15.

as you are positive with them at it will not be a problem. -- has been

:22:15.:22:21.

talk today. Confidence is the key thing. Now I have the confidence, I

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will be happy to do it again. may not be the sort of training

:22:26.:22:31.

that police in urban areas are used to, but it does reflect a life on

:22:31.:22:39.

the beat in a patch famous for its wildlife.

:22:39.:22:45.

Before the weather, it seems that our story about an accident

:22:45.:22:54.

concerning a motor scooter has prompted some of you to write in.

:22:54.:22:58.

Paul has e-mailed to say that to use a similar vehicle on a golf

:22:58.:23:05.

course you need insurance. Romulus says that when she bought her

:23:05.:23:08.

skewed on line she was given training by the company's

:23:08.:23:18.

technician. Daniel has says that when his father was dying of cancer

:23:18.:23:21.

they borrowed a mobility scooter for a friend of the family. He was

:23:21.:23:28.

only able to use it a couple of times before he became bed-bound.

:23:28.:23:31.

Requiring regulation would have taken their freedom away from him,

:23:31.:23:40.

says Daniel. We have also had an e- mail from someone from Taunton who

:23:40.:23:46.

does offer training to use them. It thank you for all of those.

:23:46.:23:50.

Flood alerts have been in place around our region but they have now

:23:50.:24:00.

been stood down. This picture taken of the River Stour shows that the

:24:00.:24:04.

heavy rains are impacting the river levels. Is there more of this to

:24:04.:24:13.

There will be more of this to come. I suspect the river levels will

:24:13.:24:17.

rise again through the course of tomorrow. Heavy downpours are

:24:17.:24:27.
:24:27.:24:40.

developing. Did you put grease on that for me? There is a discreet

:24:40.:24:46.

line through the south-west which shows us where the showers will be.

:24:46.:24:50.

The met Office is sufficiently concerned that we have the yellow

:24:50.:24:54.

warning in force for tomorrow. The showers will not really barge

:24:54.:24:59.

through the course of the day. Western areas have primarily been

:24:59.:25:04.

seeing the showers today. They will continue to seek showers through

:25:04.:25:09.

this evening and tonight. Effectively there will be a dry

:25:09.:25:16.

night through the eastern part of the region. Tomorrow will see a wet

:25:16.:25:22.

start for the western parts of the region. Tomorrow will be drier

:25:22.:25:28.

further southwards. Late morning, the convergence line of showers

:25:29.:25:33.

will be up and running. Gradually that will feed further southwards

:25:33.:25:38.

as we get later on into the day, there could be torrential thundery

:25:38.:25:42.

downpours associated with that. They will be slow to move because

:25:42.:25:50.

the winds will be lighter. As we head into the weekend, we are

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watching the jet stream a loops, they are going all the way down to

:25:55.:26:01.

the Canaries and then back up north. That will spin up an area of low

:26:01.:26:09.

pressure and Sri -- Low pressure as we go to Saturday. Through Saturday

:26:09.:26:14.

it will still be fairly benign with a largely dry start. Into the

:26:14.:26:20.

evening and overnight into Sunday that there could be gales and there

:26:20.:26:28.

will certainly be heavy rain. There will be have met Office warning out

:26:28.:26:38.
:26:38.:26:39.

As we have been hearing tonight it is just a week to go until

:26:39.:26:49.

Bristol's big May oral vote. BBC Radio Bristol heard from the

:26:49.:26:59.
:26:59.:27:00.

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