23/01/2013 East Midlands Today

Time for East Midlands Today with Anne Davies and Dominic Heale.

A police force is to be sued by 154 not officers.

They were all forced to take early retirement, and claim it is age

discrimination. Also tonight, the Prime Minister

pledges a referendum on Europe. have not done very well out of it.

We would be better off on our own. Why they are weighing it snow. As

the big chill becomes the big fall. And a Funeral for Britain's oldest

Good evening. East Midlands Today can reveal that more than 150

former police officers are suing the Nottinghamshire force for

unfair dismissal, claiming compensation after being forced to

take early retirement. They say they are the victims of

age discrimination, and several test cases are due to begin at at

an employment tribunal next month. Jeremy Ball joins us now.

What has prompted these cases? These officers all lost their jobs

because Nottinghamshire Police had to make substantial savings, but

officers cannot be made redundant, so that force is used to Regulation

A19, which is a part but allows them to forcibly retired officers

after completing 30 years' service. One of those was a former firearms

officer called Greg Drozdowski. was almost like a slap in the face.

My colleagues had all contributed to improving the performance of the

force, and then you tell them that we are still going to improve

performance, but not with all of you.

As significant is the employment tribunal? This is going to be a

very big case. 154 format officers are claiming unfair dismissal along

with the more than 100 others from four different forces. These were

Forces on good salaries, so compensation payments if they

succeed, could run to millions of pounds. Some of them could get

their jobs back. It boils down to age discrimination. The force is

using this as a backdoor method of making officers redundant. We agree

with the actual Regulation A19 itself, but it should be used on an

individual case by case basis to get rid of people who are

underperforming. The force is using it as a blanket method of balancing

its budget sheet. Have we heard anything from Nottinghamshire

Police? They have told me they will vigorously oppose this unfair

dismissal case, and already forces across the country have stopped

using Regulation A19 for the time being. This could only affect other

forces like Leicestershire, where they are covered it considering

early retirements. A court has ordered a psychiatric

report on a great grandmother who relentlessly harassed and abused a

young family at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

83-year-old before Watkins -- F- 4 Watkins was given a five-year

restraining order. She was later found guilty of breaching the order.

Today magistrates in Loughborough agreed that a report should be

drawn up before she is sentenced. The pilot involved in last week's

London helicopter crash had been warned about the bad weather before

he started his flight. Peter Barnes, who flew with the Derbyshire,

Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, died when his helicopter

hit by a crane in the box Hall era of London. A report by the Air

Accident Investigation Bureau reveals his client had told him

twice not to fly because of the poor weather.

Still to come, the funeral of a man who achieved much more than just a

ripe old age. The many tributes to Derbyshire's

Reg Dean, who died earlier this month aged 110.

On the very day that prison inspectors told Glen Parva they

were making good progress, an inquest has started into the death

of an inmate who was fined fire -- hanged in his cell one day after

his 21st birthday. There will be to walk

investigations in the next two months.

-- to more investigations. Riliwanu Balogan was found hanging

from his cell window. He had to be cut down. Strenuous efforts were

made to revive him, and he made -- spent eight days on the critical

care unit at Leicester and Royal Infirmary.

Here was brought over here from Nigeria when he was seven. He spent

years in various foster homes and children's homes across the country.

He suffered with mental illness, but was an illegal immigrant due to

be deported back to Nigeria, and that was largely what was

distressing him before he died. But, no's court heard about his

criminal record. He was convicted of dangerous driving at the age of

ten, and put on the sex offenders' register at the age of 13.

Today's report into Glen Parva, which holds male prisoners aged 18

to 21, follows a short inspection last summer after Riliwanu

Balogan's death. It concludes that suicide and self-

harm it now or generally well managed, but it now expresses

concern that foreign national prisoners require further support

from the UK border agency. The inquest into Riliwanu Balogan's

death continues. The Prime Minister has fired the

starting gun for a referendum on Europe, if the Conservatives win

the next election we will get a vote been a round four years' time.

Plenty of opportunity for both sides of the debate to have their

say. A our Euro-MPs are split over how much this region benefits from

EU membership. Just a short walk around the city

centre, and you can see the impact of EU funding. The tram and

regeneration, the Art Galleries, the cinema, and road improvements.

Be clearly is in the flag. A conference in Nottingham brings

together voluntary and business organisations wanting to tap into

EU funding. For the East Midlands, that is worth �424 million for the

economy. They are investing in creating a climate which allows for

businesses to thrive, particularly in urban areas. Some of that money

is focused on the city centres like Nottingham City, Derby, Leicester,

and some of the deprived outlying areas.

areas. In the current seven-year programme,

17,000 businesses will get help from the Development Fund. 9,300

have already benefit. That is on have already benefit. That is on

course to create 11,000 jobs. It also looks at investing in farming

and agriculture to improve resource efficiency, looking at how we can

process primary products into maybe secondary higher-value products

such as milk into cheese or grain products into pet food.

Despite those benefits, the East Midlands is one of the inmost

Eurosceptic of England's regions. That is reflected in the MEPs we

elect to the parliament. Roger Helmer defected to Age UK up last

year. When we Ziv, we will have a free

trade agreement, but once we are outside the common external tariff

we will be in a much better position to do more trade with the

rest of the world. Here is a Lib Dem MEP who quit the Tories in

protest against its hostility against Europe.

The EU will let us import and export into and out of, which will

create a lot of jobs, and we hope that big multinationals will say

the East Midlands is the place to put my company.

It's our membership of the EU was a marriage, we would be celebrating a

ruby wedding. As things stand now, marriage counselling comes in the

shape of a referendum. It is 40 years since the creation

of the European Union. If you had the chance to vote,

which we would you go? We asked some people in Derby. It feels like

it is about right at the moment. We are not poled into everything, and

we do get some say in things. have been in it too long. I think

we would be better off standing on it our own two feet. Stay in Europe,

they are our main trading partners. I would say come out just because

of problems in other countries. I would say we are supporting them,

when we have to take care of ourselves. It would save a lot of

time and effort when we go on holiday, not having to swap our

currency! I don't know! And Nottinghamshire MP has told the

House of Commons he was once blacklisted and denied a job he

wanted. John Mann made the claims during a claim on blacklisting, a

practice which is illegal. Labour insists it is still going on. BMP

says he suffered from it in the 1980s. -- the MP. I wanted to move

back north, good money, and then a week later I get a phone call, a

very embarrassed human resources person brings me up and says, you

are on a blacklist. -- rings me up. It is our policy, there is nothing

we can do it. You cannot have the job, the offer is withdrawn.

The long and varied life of Britain's oldest man was celebrated

today. At a packed funeral service in Wirksworth in Derbyshire.

The Reverend Reg Dean died earlier this month at the astonishing age

To the strains of his beloved male voice choir which he helped fat --

to fund, Reg Dean was born into the church on the stroke of noon. He

had become nationally known as Britain's old as man, still robust

until over 109, but then becoming increasingly frail and finally

succumbing 63 days after his 110 per birth date. 110 years, 63 days!

63 days are important. Tributes to Reg poured out, from his church

colleagues to his great friends, to his own son, a world-class

trombonist. It was a splendid service. Reg

would have loved it. He planned it himself for of five years ago, and

it would have been exactly what he wanted. We have done him proud, I

Wonderful celebration of a wonderful Life of. A question - did

to know that the East Midlands pioneered Britain's or exploration

programme not just onshore but offshore? We did not. In his second

instalment of Historic Holmes, John is off in search of the black gold.

Derbyshire can lay claim to the birth of the commercial world

industry in Great Britain. In 1847, James Young heard that all was

seeping in riddling stand. He patented his idea and made a

fortune. Britain's first Orwell was discovered in 1919 in Derbyshire.

But the results were disappointing and searches were moved east. Sadly

we did not have the expertise so American oil men were drafted in

and Duke's would be Korean became Churchill's secret weapon in our

quest to defeat Germany. At its height there were 1,200 people

employed. We used to bus them in in double-decker buses. We were wild

captain. We would drill a well, capita and then move. By now we

have the expertise and it was here that the first British all records

constructed. Did it go down quickly? Role production continued

on land and today as the UK struggles to find fuel, the East

Midlands is still a valuable source of oil. It is worth about �64

million a year. The us is all that is left of the original oil field.

Half a mile away there is a modern installation. This and nodding

donkey went into production for months ago. Seismic surveys tell us

there are still millions of barrels of oil under ground here, we just

have to find them. We like the nodding donkey! Still

to come: why measuring snow it is such a weighty matter for the

Environment Agency. The if you are feeling chilly, I have something

that will warm you up, these silk and cashmere long johns back cost

�400 a pair. Too expensive and too nice to wear

under cloaks! I have been known to wear them to the football. We start

with some breaking news. Nottingham Forest keeper Lee cabbie's to join

Norwich. He played 180 games for Forest but was told by Alex McLeish

that he was not wanted. Meanwhile, the club are none in up a number of

tied its before the task it window ends. Among them is Darius

Henderson. Meanwhile, Derby County manager at

Nigel Clough says clubs are looking at his players but does he think

any will be leaving all coming in? I think that is a possibility but

it will depend on the Alps. Whether some of our players, we will look

to bring some in. Staying in the championship and Leicester City are

offering fans cut-price tickets to next Thursday his game with Wolves.

The club was criticised after it refused to refund fans who fail to

make last night's game to Middlesbrough because of the snow.

Notts County had their first win in eight games last night but their

victory over Oldham was watched by their lowest crowd of the season

and owner Ray Trew is warning he is not prepared to invest more money

if the clubs' attendances keep declining.

Given the weather, it was a wonder the game was on. County hoped they

might be rewarded with a decent crowd. But this cold night was

another which failed to deliver. Running this club is not cheap and

the amount of income that they are receiving is not as great as they

had anticipated and that is why they are losing money and it is why

they have admitted to having a cashflow problem. How severe that

he is is one of the unanswered questions. Crowds are down by about

1,000 a match. There were just 3,400 last night so ticket receipts

have been hit. Over the course of bases and it is easy to see how the

chairman's losses are mounting up. We have not been a very well

supported side. He knew what he was taking on. Understand why people

are not coming down. More than anything, a winning team attracts

support and County finally did that last night. They also played

attractive football, especially in the first half. The goal finally

came from Enoch Shawnee, his first for the club. County needed to

defend more in the second half and came close to conceding an

equaliser. But they held on to have secured a much-needed win. Notts

County's win -- manager -- owner this last night's win but he hopes

the crowds will return. Rugby the Leicester Tigers say they

have lost the battle to keep outstanding teenage fly-half George

Ford. The club says he has decided to move to Bath where his father is

deputy coach. In cricket, Nottinghamshire have

seen a drop in profits. This time last year they had a record surplus

of over half a million pounds but that is down by under 20,000. The

club says it is facing significant challenges and Nottingham speed

skater in least Christie is on her way back with two European gold

medals. Elise made history by winning two gold medals at the

European Championships in Sweden. She is hoping to become the first

of a Briton to win an Olympic gold when the Games are held in Russia

next winter. We think she will do it because we are great at speed

skating in Nottingham. Two a firm that has been supplying

royalty with high and knitwear for generations. The John Smedley in

Derbyshire has now been given the official seal of approval with a

Royal warrant. Although well known for luxury sweaters, there are also

famous for the Long John. Just the line of business to be in in this

cold weather. They had been made on these

machines since the 1960s but the heritage of long johns and John

Smedley goes back much further. East is a very old pair of long

johns. It is one of our oldest pairs. It is from 1847 and it is

the traditional way that we used to knit our long johns. There are

several people who can claim the origins but the association with

our name goes back so far that we have a right to be synonymous with

long-johns. This man might know them better than most. He makes

them. I have been working here for 40 years. When I started in of the

1970s we made a lot more underwear. We are starting to get backing to

the market. Their biggest sales are in China and Russia. Two very cold

countries when it comes to the winter and it seems that culturally

people there by long-johns to wear all the time, so they are looking

for more basic versions of long johns but there is a market there

for the high end. For the new styles are aimed at a younger

customer, incorporate colour and bring back some of the heritage

look of the brand. These are the Marino long-johns and they cost

�100 but if you want the ultimate in luxury, how about these? They

are made from silk and cashmere and will set you back �400 a pair. Even

with that price tag, the orders still come in. They expect these

machines to be turning out thousands of long johns for years

to come. I am sure all of long johns are

used to be grey in colour. They are beautiful. It is whether time with

Rebecca but before that, some interesting information.

Believe it or not the Environment Agency are monitoring the weight of

the region's snow. They use this to work out how much water the snow

will create when it melts, which is used to predict the likelihood of

flooding. They also take account the temperature and amount of

sunshine to work out the rate of melting. Normally when it rains we

have rain gauges that measured the rain fall but when it snows the

snow gets stored on the ground and so we need to know when it melts,

how much the water equivalent is so we know how much water is finding

its way into the rivers. That got us thinking of - how much water

will be produced when all of that snow starts to melt? Respect to the

Met Office who told us that roughly the East Midlands has been covered

by about six centimetres of snow, but how much water is that? We

thought we would have a bit of fun and convert that. Six centimetres

of snow covering the hold region will put 69 million litres of water

into aware region's rivers and streams when it melts, enough to

fill 3,500 empty petrol tankers which it parked end to and will

stretch all the way from the Derby to Leicester. It does give you an

idea that the next problem heading our way could be flooding. Now the

forecast. Tonight it will stay forecast. Tonight it will stay

mainly dry. It will be quite cold as well, a little bit of light snow

in places and staying very cloudy. This picture from Keith taken in

the Peak District. To keep those pictures coming into us. Talking of

ice, we do have a warning in place tonight. That is right across the

region. Do take care if you are out and about. Tonight, you can see it

stays mainly cloudy. A little bit of light snow under all that cloud,

feeling cold with a low of minus 5 degrees. Tomorrow and this days

quite cold but the good news is it looks very settled. A few bursts of

sunshine and the higher of two degrees. Friday, some rain coming

in, an early warning for that. A little bit of a break and then on