15/06/2011 Look East - East

Either you sorted out all we sorted out. Simple as that! Furious scenes

in Peterborough as taxi drivers accuse the police of not taking

this attack seriously enough. Hello and welcome to Look East.

Also tonight: Illegal dogs are seized in Essex.

Experts say it's a growing problem. The wonders of nature on a landfill

site, a Springwatch special. And a piece of English countryside

that will be forever America in First tonight the police in

Peterborough are forced to apologise for the way they've

handled an investigation into an attack on a taxi driver.

That apology came during a furious public meeting where dozens of taxi

drivers confronted the police. Some drivers threatened to take the law

into their own hands if nothing is done. Other accused the local

council of racism. Our reporter Fatima Manji was there.

Give us cs spray, give us battens and we will run the city far better

than it you will! They say the police are failing

them, and even the police admit they've made mistakes. We have said

that we have got it wrong, we are sorry. Less than two weeks ago taxi

driver Mohammed Farooq was attacked by five people. Now he and fellow

drivers are demanding answers. They say the police were too slow to act

in collecting evidence and aren't doing enough to protect them.

are going to do it again. It is not me, it is other taxi drivers, some

other old person. We are a residential area, my mother and

sister live here. We wanted to stop. Anger too at the council. Many

residents here say lax licensing laws have led to alcohol-fuelled

violence. People are shouting, screaming, throwing bottles. What

is that about? If it is not one club, it is another club. People

who give the licence at do not realise it is a residential area.

How come they do that when they know it is a residential area?

Among the high tension, some accused the council of ignoring

their voices because of the colour of their skin. We do not tolerate

racism. It has not got anything to do with your religion or colour of

skin. Everyone gets treated the same. But some are issuing an

ultimatum to the authorities. Either you sort it out all we will

sort it out. Simple as that!. would not put it exactly like that.

If I am standing in front of my house with my family, if someone

comes to attack me, if you are going to turn around and say I am

violent, then it is up to you. authorities have promised to act,

but the concern here is will it be fast enough.

Cambridgeshire Police wouldn't put anyone up for interview today. But

they issued a statement from Chief Inspector Kevin Vanterpool saying:

"This was a nasty attack which was treated very seriously, and a man

and a woman have been arrested and He adds that they're going to

change procedures and make sure that lessons are learnt. And the

force will work closely with the What is the evidence of races and

that the claim was made during the film? Sorry, can you repeat that,

you cracked up their? What is the evidence of races and? We had those

claims made during the film. -- race is him. It was in relation to

how the police initially dealt with the actual assault and the

perpetrators of the assault, and how after eyewitnesses had told

them that the perpetrators are in such and such a location, the

police had actually given them a police escort. They had taken them

away from the scene. We felt that the police did not act

appropriately on those grounds. Generally how they deal with a lot

of times with taxi drivers is with very little regard. We feel

victimised. The elements of races and within that 10 to comparable

stock sorry to interrupt you, but there was a claim at last night

that if some people say that you do not sort it out, we will sort it

out. What do they mean? The local residents and the local community

are very tolerant. The concerns of this matter in regards to the

attack on the driver and the premises, we find that the

community feel that... There was so much anger built up so this was an

opportunity for them to address that in front of the police. Sorry

to interrupt, but does that mean you would sanction vigilante action

on the streets of Peterborough? we would not sanction a vigilante

action on the streets whatsoever, but we hope to work closer with the

police. We expect them them to apologise. They said they will

learn lessons from this. Hopefully we can come to an amicable decision

on this and move on from this. We want it resolved in the right way.

But as community tensions build and people feel frustrated with the

police, victimised, sometimes people's angers run high and

tempers run high and things are said. Our duty as members of this

community in is to work with the police and get the best out of the

services that they provide. Very quickly, you are not going to get

involved in violence on the streets of Peterborough? None whatsoever.

We have had babies for presentation, that was last Saturday. Yesterday

we had meetings with the police will stop -- a peaceful protest.

Violence is not an issue here. Thank you very much for coming and

making that clear this evening. Next, warnings over the increasing

number of illegal, and dangerous, dogs. Just a reminder. Four breeds

were outlawed by the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act: The Pit Bull Terrier, the

Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Braziliero. But

experts say that hasn't stopped thousands of people breeding them.

This report from Gareth George. Police wardens deciding how to deal

with suspects who may not come quietly. They are there to it sees

dogs that run blues in a backyard, although one owner says that is not

a problem. They have been fine. have a shop day. I also have an

American Baldock. The police suspect the dog might be an illegal

breed. A second suspected dark it is heard from the house. Its owner

is clearly upset. It is part of the family, it plays and sleeps with my

kids. Anyone can make a dog vicious, but we have not made her vicious a.

It is only when we take her out. The dog wardens involved did not

want to appear on camera. They are worried they could be targeted by

the owner of an early goal darker. But they say more and more people

seem to have pit-bull type of docks. The wardens say they are not

looking after them properly and in some cases, even dump them.

Police say owners of illegal breeds risk fines and having their dogs

destroyed. You are committing a crime and police will take action

alongside wardens at our agencies to remove those docks from the

streets. The dogs seized today may be perfectly legal. They were

driven off to kennels where an expert will examine them. Wardens

are worried that there are dangerous dogs on the streets.

Unemployment in the east has gone up for the first time in seven

months. 191,000 are out of work, an increase of 7,000 on last month.

That means 6.3% of the workforce is unemployed, still well below the

national average. The Government wants private industry to create

more jobs. But is that happening? This report from our business

In India and China they're building one new coal-fired power station a

week. Not good news for the environment, so they say, but here

in Luton it's creating jobs. This firm makes the pumps which go into

power plants. It also supplies the oil and gas and nuclear industries.

Revenues are up by a third over two years, with the Far East leading

the way. We have recruited extensively, primarily in the

professional areas like engineering, project management and commercial.

We also reinforcing the skills in what you might referred to as the

blue-collar workforce. We have got a graduate and apprenticeship

scheme now. Across the economy manufacturing is growing while

other sectors struggle. People who can actually make things are in

demand. Domino of Bar Hill in Cambridgeshire is a global leader

in ink jet printing. The machines made here put marking codes on

everything from eggs to drink cans. With export sales booming - again,

to China and India - it's taking on 20 new workers a month, adding to

the current workforce of 500. the next five years, we are

planning to increase our work forced by a at least a third. The

biggest challenge will be getting the right people with the right

skills, particularly in engineering and manufacturing positions. While

it's encouraging to see manufacturing firms recruiting they

won't solve all our problems on their own.

Only one in 10 of us works in manufacturing so even if factories

take on a lot more people, it is not going to deliver jobs for

everyone who needs them. We need other sectors - services,

retailing, construction - to grow too. But the rebalancing of our

economy has begun. Coming up later in the programme:

Some great Springwatch pictures from a landfill site.

And the university growing its own coral to try to combat climate

The Princess Royal has been paying tribute to 200 soldiers who have

just returned from their recent tour of Afghanistan. At a special

ceremony in Colchester, Princess Anne she was handing out campaign

medals. For many of the soldiers. It was their first time on the

front line. You'd see your face reflected in

every boot on the parade ground at Merville Barracks today. As the

soldiers marched on and their families waited, their Colonel in

Chief, the Princess Royal flew in to Colchester to honour their

achievements. Taking time out to talk to many of them, she handed

out operational service medals to 200 men and women, just back from

six months on the front line in Afghanistan. The regiment has

undertaken a very successful tour and you are all to be congratulated

on a job very well done and on your safe return. It recognises what we

are doing when the Colonel-in-Chief can take time out from her schedule.

It is nice to come back and receive our medals and have this family day.

It is to thank them for the support they have given us a while we were

away. Without these soldiers, remote units would be unable to

function. At huge risk of insurgent attacks, they drive for days to

supply front line troops with ammunition, food, fuel and

equipment. Others helped train Afghan troops. It was not the guys

who had been there for the first time he were my concern, it was the

ones who had been there before and had a thought of what Afghanistan

was like. They were changing the nation -- nature of the operation

out there so it was different for them. It was a bigger challenge.

Today was a special one for these soldiers but perhaps almost more

importantly for their families. A chance for the regiment to thanks

those behind those on the front line. A police watchdog won't

investigate the death of man shot at an animal sanctuary in Norfolk.

The body of John Loveday was discovered on Sunday at Stratton

Strawless. A 49-year-old woman has since been remanded in custody

charged with murder. The case had been referred to the Independent

Police Complaints Commission, but they've decided there are no

grounds to investigate. Students from London have been in

Norfolk today learning how to build a nuclear power station from

scratch. Organisers hope the project at the Bircham Newton

training college near Kings Lynn will attract more engineers into

the nuclear industry. This is the dome of a power station

under construction. It is real enough to these students from

Imperial College. Drop it. Hang on. A concrete mixture is due to turn

up in half-an-hour and the wooden mould does not quite fit. Cue a

last-minute panic. It is a difficult process because some of

the steel is not perfectly bent and we are in a rush to get rid --

ready for the concrete in 30 minutes. The government wants to

build a few new power stations, but we do not have enough engineers

capable of doing that at the moment. We desperately need the skills. We

have not built anything for a while so this young generation have no

idea of the difference between building a tower block and a

nuclear reactor. The difference between them is obviously very

large. We sit in classrooms for up to six hours a day doing maths,

fluids, all kinds of things. Now we are finally at he getting our hands

dirty, building things, and you really get to know what matters to

people who will do this later on in life. The mixer turns up and there

is a worry it might have the wrong kind of concrete which could have

been tricky. This is a week-long pylon to. If it

is a success, students from 16 universities, including Cambridge,

will be back to learn more about building our nuclear future.

A business in Chelmsford is warning other companies to check their

phone system after falling victim to hackers. The phone lines at

Fast-signs were hacked into and ran up a bill for more than �3,000 for

calls made on satellite phones. The police say it's a highly

sophisticated fraud and some other companies have lost even more. The

hackers got in to the switchboard through the system's voicemail.

The former boxer Frank Bruno was at sports day in Thetford today

helping 400 children with special needs. The event is organised by

the Essex-based charity The Presidents Sporting Club. It allows

children to try activities they might not normally consider.

Frank Bruno often dominates a public arena, but in this class he

almost met his match. He says children playing sport brings a

smile to his face. I took a photograph of them and they'd made

a nice comments. Some of them tried to beat me up and trip me up. But

they are happy and enjoying themselves, they love it. Jack is

15. He has severe learning difficulties and is visually

impaired. He does not get a chance to use a company at school.

could see by the look on his face and how happy he was, we do not see

that a lot in school. It was such an amazing expense Finn to have.

Awesome job! This fire falter -- fire fighter was teaching some of

the children American football. watch them come here and learn the

game, something they are not used to, it shows a bit of time we had

together that every word you put in has paid off. If all of the

children went home and said, I have taken part in sport today and it

was a great day, that would be a job well done for us. So far,

20,000 children have come to these sports day and left with special

Now what do you know about coral reefs? They are stunning to look at

and explore, but in some places they are being destroyed. Now

scientists in Essex hope a new aquarium will help them to find out

how to protect them. Bathed in warm water, a thriving

coral reef. But all is not what it seems. Because this reef is to be

found in a basement at the University of Essex. We have all of

the structures and biological features we find it a natural reef

in Indonesia. You can see from the different shapes, we have different

corals. Some are soft, some are Borders. This mimics the biological

and physical structure of a coral reef. Coral faces many threats,

among them, warming oceans and increased acidity caused by rising

carbon dioxide emissions. Researchers place coral sourced

from aquaria into quarantine then it's grown to a size suitable for a

range of trials. In this experimental set-up, we have the

ability to change all of the key variables that are important for

growth, such as nutrients, temperature, P Heat -- P H, light

intensity and quality. It is important enough -- to look at how

these things work together. teams can monitor the levels of

carbon dioxide in the water by minute degrees. By using his

computer monitoring equipment, they can tell exactly how the choral

response in real time. Coral is particularly susceptible

to change, but some species it seems cope better than others.

Actually, some of the species we know are sensitive, we found they

are growing in incredibly diverse environments, which are full of mud

and sediment. A choral's have been a bit -- ability to grow is wider

than we first thought. In a few days, the team is off to Indonesia

for two months of field work. The hope is the new aquarium will not

only help identify the threats coral faces, but come up with

solution to help onserve it. Think of the BBC's Springwatch

programme and you tend to imagine wildlife havens surrounded by miles

of rolling countryside. But not always - this week they are

in Essex showing how tonnes of rubbish dumped in landfill has

helped create some amazing habitats. 3,000 tonnes of rubbish a day is

dumped here at Pitsea. At 800 acres it's one of the largest landfill

sites in the region. But since it started in the 1970s it's also

become rich in wildlife and bio- We have got the goals on the site

he coming to take the food and that is fantastic. In the night time, it

goes quiet and there is a completely different wildlife, like

badgers and foxes. There are birds as well. Some of the wildlife here

is clearly on show. Others take a bit of temptation to come out.

Springwatch presenter Liz Bonnin is spending a week at the site.

Tonight she's on the hunt for badgers. Badgers, look, badgers.

There. Yes, yes, yes. We cannot get good Bagehot footage on film. Here,

it is looking more promising because a particular part of the

landfill has the exact type of substrate that farmers alike. It is

from the 1940s and 1950s, fall of ceramics and ash. The landfill site

is to close in 2017. After five years of restoration it will become

an RSPB reserve. So while rubbish will be hidden, it's hoped the

wildlife will continue to thrive. And you can see more from Pitsea in

Springwatch tonight at 8pm on BBC Two.

They had a nickname. They were "the Best Damned Outfit in the US Air

Force". And during the Second World War the skies over Northamptonshire

were full of B17s from the 401st Bombardment Group.

In 1945 one of the crews was shot down. But they survived and they

made an unusual pact. Today they were remembered in a special

ceremony. They were the crew of the B17

Bomber Lady Luck. And this is a story about an unusual and

Shot down on a mission to bomb Berlin, the crew survived and after

the war they made a promise - each time one of them died, a last drink

would be taken from his commemorative tankard. The glass

bottom would then be smashed so no- one else could use it. It is a

ritual which has gone on for years but now the last remaining crew

member Tommy Parker as died. And today his widow Joan came back to

Deenethorpe to bury all the tankards in a time capsule. Nine

strangers met in a war and they just became family. This was the

last thing that they had all agreed to do when the last one passed away

and went to forever aloft as they called it, poor weather has all the

marks would then take them and bury them at the end of the runway.

US flew B17 flying fortresses for nearly two years from this airfield

4 squadrons made up the 401st Bombardment Group. They flew 245

missions in daylight against a heavily defended Germany and an

occupied Europe. It is a very poignant day today. It

was with on and sadness that I planted those marks in the ground.

Somewhere up there, hopefully they are watching us. I am sure that

everyone here did them proud. know that they are all happy that

it finally came together. It took a while, but it finally came together.

I think they are happy. Jim Parker ending that report.

Let's get the weather now. I think Today was a warm summer's day, but

tomorrow will be different. We have low pressure over the Atlantic and

it has been pushing these fronts across. That will introduce some

cooler and unstable weather. It could produce some heavy showers

tomorrow. There was a lot more cloud around today, but we got some

sunshine as well. The thicker cloud in the West produced light showers

and it will continue to do so at this evening. It is mainly dry, but

some showers will linger. It is rather carry on the whole. --

cloudy. Around dawn, this is our band of showery rain that will a

round. -- arrive. Temperatures will be staying very mild. The winds

will become westerly, generally light in strength. A different feel

to tomorrow, it will feel fresher and there will be some sharp

showers, particularly in the afternoon. For many of us, a damp

start to the day, particularly in the West with that band of rain

moving from west to east. It will clear and we will get sunshine, it

will brighten up a bit, but there we have got showers to contend with

after that. Temperatures will not be as high tomorrow, 18 degrees is

our high. Most areas will see between 15 and 17 up in the brain,

generally a moderate westerly. Through the afternoon, as it warms

up, the showers could get going and the quite shop in places. We could

even hear the odd role of thunder. There are still gaps in the cloud

and there will be some sunshine that will break through. For the

rest of the week, we have got another area of low pressure that

develops to our south-west. That will bring some wet weather into

Friday, but later in the day for Friday. The outlook: Potential for

some thundery showers tomorrow afternoon. Friday it starts dry and

bright with sunshine. Then we read that bats and -- rain arriving. It

will move steadily across the region. But to summarise the

weekend and the beginning of next week, to know with a mixture of