12/04/2012 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Quentin Rayner and me, Anne Davies.

Tonight, the price of a takeover. Hundreds are jobs are expected to

go at Castle Donnington-based BMI. Also, the family of a cyclist

killed on a highway call for tougher sentences.

Plus, the patients claim they were discharged from hospital overnight.

I just felt like I wasn't important enough. My daughter wasn't

important enough. Find out what got these young

footballers so excited. Good evening, and welcome to

Thursday's programme. Our main story tonight - the loss of up to

1,200 jobs at the airline British Midland. Half of them are likely to

be in the East Midlands with hundreds of posts going at the

airline's HQ at Castle Donington and at East Midlands Airport. It's

the result of the takeover of British Midland by British Airways.

In 2009 the iconic East Midlands brand became part of Lufthansa. But

soon, British Airways' parent company became interested. The deal

was approved in Europe a fortnight ago. And the merger will be

completed next week, with heavy job losses. Let's cross over to Castle

Donington now and our correspondent Anthony Bartram.

Good evening. Of course, this is very sad news indeed for a company

which can trace its history back in the East Midlands some 70 years,

but perhaps no surprise for staff at BMI, a company which is losing

the - its parent company BA tell us some �3 million a week. Here at

company headquarters, those cuts will be felt the deepest. They had

a meeting here this morning with management and, indeed, with the

unions, and joining me is Colin Wyatt from the GMB. You were at

that meeting. Obviously, this news must have gone down terribly with

staff. Yes, Antony. The news today wasn't good, although it wasn't a

complete surprise. It has totally devastated everybody here. OK. So

that's the initial reaction. We'll pause there for a moment because

James Robeson has been looking into the impact not just at BMI staff,

but into the wider community. This afternoon, many staff were

leaving the headquarters at Donnington Hall under a cloud.

Those who who work for BMI know their jobs could well be on the

line. As they passed waiting reporters, most staff members

wouldn't talk, but one woman said the news came as no surprise.

wasn't particularly a surprise, and I totally understand why you're

doing it, to be honest. The company has been making a loss for awhile,

so it makes sense to merge and reduce losses. It's thought about

400 jobs will go at the hall itself and a in the maintenance hangars at

East Midlands Airport. In the it haveage of Castle Donnington, there

is concern about the losses. This restaurant, which works for

many of the employees here, including BMI. If they lose their

jobs, I am going to lose them as well. Without them, I am going to

do a bit of struggling. A period of consultation will begin, but

British Airways has said it can't sustain two headquarters, one in

London and one in Castle Donnington, and regrettably, jobs had to go.

Well, let's talk to Colin Wyatt again about the figures involved

here because, as I said, the deepest impact will be here. Almost

half of those at risk. How many at headquarters and how many at the

airport? We were looking at 400 at the headquarters and also in the

maintenance departments. Obviously, you face the daunting task of

sitting down with BA to try to minimise those cuts and try to find

opportunities for the people working here. Certainly. That's

within our role within the next few weeks is to try to find people here

and at the airport alternative employment that could be with

different companies locally and even if we can get employment down

south. Did you get a chance to ask those making that announcement this

morning any questions regarding as to opportunities that may come up

within BA itself? Certainly. One of the questions I raised at the

meeting was, are we going to throw the voluntary redun Dansies out to

BA workers? Because there may be people looking at getting out of

the company. That would open the way for people losing their jobs

here. For people in the Midlands, the wider concern must be a skills

loss. If some of the engineers go elsewhere, they'll be gone forever.

Certainly. We were all aware of the situation a year ago, and at the

moment, it's another skill set what's going to miss from here. We

heard Rolls-Royce is doing well, but there is only so many skilled

vacancies out there. That's the view of the GMB Union locally.

Nationally, they sit down with BA I am told tomorrow to start talking

through those proposals. Obviously, it is a daunting task to try and

limit the number of redundancy, but BA seem fairly sure it's likely to

be around the 1,200 mark. They say, though, if this deal hadn't gone

through, BMI would have lost all of its staff. It certainly couldn't

sustain as a company. And that would have amounted to some 2,700

job losses, although most of those jobs earmarked for being saved at

the moment, appear to be based at Heathrow.

Thank you. Plenty more on its way here on East

Midlands Today, including the day's sport and weather. And it's kickoff

at the City ground for a pioneering football charity to help youngsters

beat the dole. Before all that, there has been a

demand for jail sentences to be imposed on drivers involved in

fatal crashes. It came from the family of a racing cyclist who was

killed by a lorry in Derbyshire. The driver of the HGV was given a

suspended prison sentence after admitting careless driving. The

family of cyclist Karl Austin said that doesn't send the right message

to other road users and say they've been left with a life sentence.

Carolyn Moses reports. Karl Austin had been cycling for 35

years since he was 12 years old. He was known as a talented and safety-

conscious rider, but in June last year, he was racing on the A50 near

Hatton in Derbyshire when he was hit from behind by a 26-tonne lorry

and killed. It was driven by Michael Bray from near Mansfield,

seen here on the far left. At an earlier hearing he'd pleaded guilty

to death by careless driving, then magistrates were told the lorery

was travelling above its 50mph speed limit. His body tumbled like

a rag doll and he died at the scene. The judge told Bray he had shown an

appalling loss of concentration and made an appalling error, but it

came after years of blameless driving. He said he too had been

badly affected by the collision both mentally and by the fact that

at 62, he'd probably never work again.

But it has been a double tragedy for Karl Austin's father. Before

Karl, his daughter died in a road accident too. He says all he can do

is hope for tougher action. Hopefully, there will be stiffer

sentences for motorists who kill in situations where they have been

careless or driven dangerously. You know, if that was happening and it

was sending out a stronger message, perhaps oui we'd have fewer road

deaths. I feel like I am too young to lose Karl. I don't know how I am

going to rebuild my life, so whatever sentence he has been given

today, I feel I feel like we have a life sentence now.

Earlier I spoke to John Stewart, who organised the time trial along

the A50 last June. I asked him how cyclists justified using highways

effectively as race tracks. It's a peculiar British tradition. It

started in the 1890s. It started as the answer to the opposition of the

authorities at that time, particularly the police - that's to

start road racing. It's a sport where people go off at one-minute

intervals. It's designed not to cause inconvenience to other users

of the highway. It's always taken place on public high waist. It's a

branch of the sport that is totally different to one people are

familiar with these days, track racing. Highways have become much

busier. There is much more traffic, and no other vehicles are allowed

to use the highways in this way. That is perfectly true, but of

course, a cycle is a human-powered vehicle, not a motor vehicle.

don't pay demiroad tax. How do you justify using the highways.

dispute the sort of thing as road tax. There is vehicle excise duty,

but not road tax, and of course, the duty is not devoted and has

never been devoted to road maintenance purposes. Cyclists pay

a lot of tax. We pay income tax. We pay 20% VAT on all the equipment we

buy. We pay an awful lot of tax. Sadly, this is not the first death

on the A50. Seven years ago another cyclist died a few miles away from

this spot. Now, this would suggest it's a bad idea to use that road

for time trials. That is a dual carriageway of a

very high standard. The times we use it are times of relatively low

traffic. This road has a capacity of about 2,000 units an hour. We

never use it if the flow is above 1,000 units an hour. That gives

plenty of time for other vehicles to overtake riders. You plan to

continue using the A50? We shall be using it. It is a very suitable

course for the sort of time trialling that time triallists want

to do. Jon Stewart, thank you. Health managers have described as

misleading new figures which put their hospitals among the worst

offenders for discharging patients during the night. This morning the

Times newspaper reported that hospitals in Derby and Leicester

are sending patients home between 11.00pm at night and 6.00am in the

morning at a rate that's twice the national average. Tom Brown reports.

He's is a's daughter suffers from severe asthma and needs two

inhalers a day. Two years ago her condition worsened, and Lisa was

forced to take her to hospital. She was treated at the Royal Leicester

Infirmary and given a bed for the night, but at 2.00am, Lisa and her

daughter were told to leave. I was worried I wasn't going to be able

to get home or was going to have to disturb family or friends in the

middle of the night. A two-and-a- half-year-old girl had been awake

all day, didn't fall asleep until 1.30am in the morning. The bay was

empty. It was completely clear, the bay that was on. Why wouldn't they

let her stop until 6.00am, 7.00am? I just felt like I wasn't important

enough. My daughter wasn't important enough. The hospital says

Roxanne was given the necessary treat and was well enough to go

home. When it comes to being discharged overnight, she and her

daughter aren't alone. This morning the Times revealed under a Freedom

of Information request that hospitals in Leicester send home

1,300 patients overnight. But the Trust today said these figures are

misleading because they don't take into account patients who have died

or had babies. In Derby, they sent home one in 11 patients overnight.

Today their Trust too said the figures aren't an accurate

representation of the situation. have recently started to survey all

patients who are discharged. We aim to get a sample of at least 10%

every week, and that is not showing us any problems with patients

feeling they're being discharged at an inappropriate time. The NHS's

Medical Director says it's simply not fair to send people home late

at night. Hospitals, though, say patient safety will always come

first. Often they have no alternative.

Police are trying to track down three youths who deliberately

forced open the doors of a train and then walked down the tracks.

These are the three people who are wanted in connection with the

incident which happened near Trowell junction in Nottingham last

month. The train was stationary at the time. British Transport Police

have described the act as reckless. Hundreds of people in

Nottinghamshire have applied to hold street parties to mark the

Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Many celebrated last year during the

Royal Wedding. So far the county council has received 108

applications. A survey last month placed the county second only to

Hertfordshire with the number of parties planned for June.

Councillors are planning to spend almost �5 million over the next 4

years on free school bus travel for children in Nottinghamshire. It

will benefit families who choose not to send their children to the

nearest catchement-area school. The County Council's scheme has been in

place for year seven pupils since September.

A man from Leicestershire who was seriously ill with leukaemia has

inspired hundreds of people to sign the blood stem-cell register. After

Rik Basra from Lutterworth was diagnosed with the disease, he and

his family started a campaign for more asians to sign up and save

lives. And hundreds of people have done just that as Helen Astle

reports. He was desperately ill when he and his family launched the

campaign in October. Six months on, and not only has there been good

news for Rik but also others. has found a donor. Great. But these

people that are signing up - they could be signing up to help people

that haven't even been born yet. I mean, they - they're passionate

about wanting to be a donor. They really are in a position to help

save someone's life, and for us, that is what it was all about.

Antony Noeland Trust says there has been a 300% rise in the number of

Asians who have signed up to the register thanks to the families'

campaign. From the patients' point of view, from the point of view of

someone who is waiting for a transplant, how important it is to

have someone on that register when they need it. He is now home. He's

not allowed any visitors, but is recovering well. Christmas, he was

going through the chemo. He was dad, but he wasn't the same. Now it's

back to the same dad I had before. Now he has the listen to all his

girls moaning, coming home going, "Dad, guess what's happened?" It is

the same old dad. It is a little bit different for us. We go out for

walks around here, which is fantastic. We have been doing that

for the last 11 days. It's lovely to see him out and about and

smiling, and we're starting to pick up the threads of our life again. I

feel like a bit of a guard dog because I don't let anyone speak to

him because I don't think he's ready for the kinds of questions.

We want to get this bit out of the way, then I promise everybody can

talk to him. He'll find out in the next couple of weeks if the

transplant has been successful. We wish him all the best.

We do. This is East Midlands Today where

we offer a huge amount of vait, much like the weather.

Very much like the weather. Haven't we had it all today - sunshine,

showers, hot and cold? Is there anything else we should possibly

know about? I am afraid so. How about I throw some sleet into the

mix? But just how wintry will it get? I'lls than shortly.

Did she say sleet? Oh, no.

One of our best known football clubs today unveiled a new charity

to help young people to prepare for the world of work. It's called

Nottingham Forest in the Community, and it hopes to help almost 100,000

youngsters over the next three years. Today it received the

backing of the Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.

Meet the new signings at the City ground. There is no football in

sight but plenty of pitch-side coaching from the Labour leader. In

the team, a 25-year-old dance instructor looking for a break.

meet new people and get opportunities in job, especially in

business because I have done dancing, self-employed, so I am

hoping to get opportunities. This centre offers job training tips and

advice on a healthy lifestyle. It's linked with other organisations for

youngsters who might otherwise slip through the system.

I think it's good to have a back-up plan. If you don't make it, you can

fall back on education and learn lots of things in life, life skills,

doing education. The Labour leader officially opened the charity's

offices, but keep it under wraps. He supports Leeds United and still

feels rather bruised after Forest's victory. Nobody is going to mention

7-3 to me today. The centre itself took a clobbering at least

financially because of coalition funding cuts. That's why the

charity has been set up. A couple of years ago the funding was

removed during the change of Government, but we decided to

create the charge at Nottingham to help sustain the benefits for the

people across the county. Well done to the people for what they're

doing. We're stepping in where Government has got out of the way

because of cuts. Government funding has stopped for the youth problems.

We have stepped in. The charity needs to raise almost

half a million pounds a year to keep the centre going, but today it

has had the type of promotion the Forest team can only dream of.

There we go. Maybe he'll pick up management tips from Cloughy. I

think we're staying at the City ground.

We are. Forest will be getting lots of political backing, though, but

not so much I am afraid from the football authorities.

They are reacting to the news that the red card on Monday won't be

rescinded. They say they're really

disappointed their appeal was turned down. It means the

influential winger will miss the next three games. If you look at

the reaction after the tackle, I didn't think I was going to get a

yellow card let alone a red. It was massively disappointing.

referee led me to believe he was going to look at it strongly, and

in the end really he didn't, so probably the least said, the better,

really, on that. On to cricket - not a day for the

bowlers in the County Championship - batsmen - because it has been a

tough first day at Durham. They were all out for 161. The bowlers

taking 3 wickets in reply there, and not many runs on the board for

Derbyshire either, who are all out for 130 at Glamorgan. They also

managed to take three wickets in reply. Both of those games heading

for a finish, the weather notwithstanding.

It's Olympic Thursday across the BBC - follow it all with the

Olympic Thursday hashtag on Twitter, and here on East Midlands Today

that means it's time for our latest Olympic A to Z. Today, the sport

that both unifies AND divides the nation more than any other. On a

wet day in Leicester I went to see why people from every community in

Nought to a hundred players in a year. Hamilton Youth Football Club

has found its place and the children have responded. Many of

them are British Asian - as the first generation of the community

to embrace football look to give the next lot that extra support.

We're trying to give back to the community we never had as kids to.

Give something back and to offer something that would probably mean

the opportunities we never had - to be able to do that is fantastic.

For a lot of the kids as well I think it's the first time they're

playing competitively. They obviously love it. I like matches.

Yeah, the matchs are really good. It makes you concentrate, get more

active and stuff. They're here learning good habits I hope.

They're loving it - even in the rotten weather. So what... Parents

are the crucial factor. If you get the support and you get their

backing like we do on match and training days, they can go very far.

I believe they can go far, absolutely. Oh, yes, parents

willing to stand in the rain? Check. It's all about the kids, standing

here watching them, their excitement. They see all the stars

playing. That's who they want to be. I don't mind the money.

LAUGHTER Some of the older Hamilton lads are

already putting on the Premier League vibe. I am loving the look.

I love football. The top players inspire me - my favourite would be

Robin Van Persie. There is some similarity! To test that, there has

to be a cross-bar challenge. Just when you think they're not so hot,

here is the very last kick of the day.

Fantastic. We have a story to tell that Colin has just told us.

We have. He did it offcamera that chap - so Colin - "I missed it."

Can you do it again? He put the camera on the tripod, and he did it

again - what are the chances of that?

Anyway, it's weather time. We have said we have had about everything

It's all been down to the typical April weather, the unstable air and

developing shower clouds. More on that, though, in a moment. We've

still got some April showers around this evening probably losing the

intensity over the next couple of hours, and then generally, it will

be dry overnight, but really quite chilly. We have colder air starting

to move its way in. On to the next weather picture of the evening -

this is from Mollie - the dafgo dills spotted in her garden

recently. She's only 14. Thanks for that. If you would like to send

your pictures in, send them in to us at this address at the top.

At the end of the forecast, we have a lovely montage of oil pictures

you have been sending in over the last couple of days. Low pressure

is driving in all the showers we have been having in today. They

really have been quite heavy. We have had hail, thunder, some really

quite loud thunder in places. As we go through the evening, we've got

the scattering of showers still with us, but gradually they'll lose

the intensity and become quite few and far between overnight, some

lingering on overnight. For most, it will be dry Friday, the cloud

breaking with clear spells. Temperatures close to freezing

tonight, lower in rural spots where you may get a touch of frost in

places. Into Friday, we'll start to see the showers starting to develop

into the morning and afternoon. They'll be lighter than what we

have had today. There will be less of them, but still just that chance

you might hear the odd rumble of thunder. A high temperature for

Friday of 10 Celsius. We have a northerly air flow, so it will

start to feel quite chilly tomorrow and colder on Saturday. These

isobars are pretty much vertical across the UK. That's because the

wind is coming in from the north bringing in cold air. Any showers

we get will be wintry Saturday, possibly even a little bit of sleet

or light snow on higher ground. That's how it stays into Sunday,

though it looks like a drier day on Sunday. Earlier on in the forecast,

I promised you lots more of these weather pictures you have been

sending in over the last couple of days. We have had some spectacular

storms over the last couple of days in the East Midlands, which has had

some stunning cloud formation. How lovely. You kept saying wow.

did all the way through. There is something so stunning about clouds.

We have some good photographers in the East Midlands. I took some