12/04/2012 Look East - East

I felt that I had to do something to make things better for other

people and for some kind of sense or purpose to come out of Olivia's

death. In the programme tonight, fighting to improve our level

crossings. The mother who does not want her daughter's death to be in

vain. Also tonight, should patients be

sent home in the middle of the night? Milton Keynes Hospital in

the spotlight. A lucky escape as a mudslide causes

this wall to collapse. And the best of Brazil at a Lincoln

training cat in Lincolnshire. -- a Lincoln training camp.

First tonight, "I will fight for change so others do not suffer like

us". The words of Tina Hughes, who lost her daughter when she was hit

by a train in Essex. Tina Hughes is now working with Network Rail to

improve safety at level crossings. Olivia Bazlinton and her friend

Charlotte Thompson were killed crossing the line at Elsenham

station six years ago. Last month Network Rail was fined �1 million

after admitting it had breached health and safety regulations. The

company is now spending �130 million assessing and improving

hundreds of crossings across the UK with Tina's help.

Level crossings are the biggest risk on the railway. There oz six

deaths and almost 300 near-misses between pedestrians and trains last

year. This man loses his shoe and narrowly escapes losing his life.

And as near misses go, this is as close as it gets. More than six

years after losing her daughter, Olivia, on the crossing here, Tina

Hughes, a project manager with an engineering company, is now working

with Network Rail to make crossings savour. I felt I had to do

something to make things better for other people. And to give some

sense of reason of purpose for Bolivia's death. But whilst she was

examining plans for this footbridge, this is what happened. While we

have been here, several have gone through while the barriers of going

down. It makes my stomach turnover. At this Centre in Colchester, Tina

is meeting Martin Gallagher, the head of Network Rail's Department

for crossings. Level-crossing safety has become a key priority

for Network Rail. �130 million will be spent over the next two years.

Hundreds of crossings will be cruising -- closing and many

footbridges are being built. She is helping to check decisions we are

making, things we do. Tina is a professional herself and has

managed project herself. She understand risk. So she can head up

the team we have got with this big and exciting challenge. A damning

assessment carried out four years ago said there was a real risk of

disaster. There is now a pedestrian footbridge and gates locked

automatically when a train is coming. Tina Hughes also proved

that Network Rail has changed as well.

Tina Hughes is at her home in Elsenham and joins me now. Can you

tell us more about what your role wind with Network Rail, because as

we heard, you come from a civil engineering background and

management so you can bring a lot to the table? Yes. I guess I can.

The reason I got involved was because as the accident reports

were coming out in the first year, I started to become more and more

concerned about what her was seen in terms of risk assessment. So for

a period I learned a lot about managing risk at level-crossing. I

manage risk in projects normally but nothing as serious as the

interface between a train and a person. That is obviously much more

critical. Martin Gallagher refers to you as the conscience of Network

Rail. Is that something you would like to be seen as? I am not sure I

am their conscience. I am probably more like a pricked to their

conscience. Certainly in the last year, since the investigation has

been going on, there has been much more acceptance about what has got

to change in Network Rail. Martin has a good history and heritage

from the Olympic delivery for the Olympic Park so he wants to bring

that safety culture into Network Rail. How bars are divided about

the work being done? Because you said you had spent so long

attacking Network Rail that it was time for some good news? soon after

Olivia's death, about nine months later, the school started going

back after the summer holiday and nothing had changed at Elsenham.

So I became involved with the community safety team. It built up

from there. Thank you. Now more on that story about

hospitals sending patients home in the middle of the night. Of all the

hospitals involved, Milton Keynes is in the top six. It's claimed

that more than 6% of their patients are sent home between 11pm and 6am.

The hospital says figures are misleading. Earlier I spoke to

their medical director, Martin Wetherill. They believe the figure

should be more like 2%. I started asking him why for two figures are

so different. If you take the patients who come into our A&E

department, it probably is 6% but they are not admitted patients.

They are those who come here who go to the assessment unit, waiting for

the results of tests or awaiting observations. So they are not

really admitted patients. If you look at those from our in-patient

beds, those are the people that we think are 2% and, as I have said,

the majority are patients who are mostly young people who want to

leave hospital after a period of time, for example, after a general

anaesthetic. So no elderly patients are asked to leave hospital during

the middle of the night? To my knowledge, nobody has been asked to

leave in the middle of the night. So it is not because of a shortage

of beds? No, that is not the case. It is really important for

patients' safety, for people to understand that no patient will be

pushed out, as has been implied, pushed out of hospital for the sake

of creating a bed at 2am. That is not the case. The vast majority

leaving a hospital are doing voluntarily -- are doing so. It

would be expected they would leave in any event. We have heard stories

of an elderly people being forced to get a taxi home in the middle of

the night from other hospitals and stopping at a cash machine to get

money for the taxi. You can assure us that nothing like that would

happen at your hospital? I would be appalled if it did. I would love to

give you a categorical "no" that it had not happened here and I have

been assured by my clinical colleagues that it has not, but

without analysing every single discharge I cannot give you that

assurance. What we can tell you is that from time to time, we do stop

patients from going home because we do not feel it is safe and we do

not feel they have the facilities appropriate at home for discharge

late in the evening. Thank you very much for being with us.

Later in the programme, the Polish newspaper making headlines.

And Mike Liggins on the trail of an old track in the Suffolk town of

Leiston. We are in the middle of Leiston and once upon a time, this

used to be a railway line. If enthusiasts get their way, it will

be a railway line again one day. That story after more news from

The funeral of Tony Newton, who was MP for Braintree for more than 20

years, was held at Coggeshall in Essex today. 650 mourners packed

the village church. They included former Prime Minister John Major

and Cabinet ministers past and present.

John Major arriving at the parish church with bodyguards in tow. The

presence of a former Prime Minister underlined the importance of Tony

Newton's contribution to politics. Many came to give thanks for the

work Tony Newton did for local charities and organisations.

think this service will bring together a huge amount of respect

for Tony from both national public and community local life. He has

made a huge contribution in a number of ways. He was the MP for

Braintree for 20 years and a minister in the governments for

Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He was also a leader in the Commons.

More than 600 filled the church. Others listen to the service

outside on loudspeakers, and as mourners left the church, John

Major paid this tribute to an old friend. I don't think there's

anywhere else I would have wished to be today and many others in the

church. Tony was a very special person so were very much wish to be

there. And how will you remember him? With very great affection. We

worked together for a long time and we had a lot of fun together.

People forget that. In politics, you form a very close alliances

with people. We work together across departments and I have so

many memories of working with him. He was loved and respected on all

sides of both Houses of Parliament. He dedicated his life to public

service. A Life described today as so well and fully lived.

The police say they are becoming increasingly concerned about a man

who went missing after a stag night. Sam Watson was out with friends in

Great Yarmouth on Sunday night but they split up in the early hours of

the morning. As I said, we are really not clear where Sam is or

his vehicle. We have searched in the Great Yarmouth area, which is

where we believe he possibly could still be, but at the moment we are

unable to locate him or his vehicle. A 12-year-old boy has had a lucky

escape after a mudslide and a wall collapsed in Gorleston near Great

Yarmouth. Rhys Chaplin was on a flight of steps just moments before

they were covered with a torrent of mud and sludge. An investigation is

now underway. It was just after a short

thunderstorm that the wall of this series of steps collapsed, creating

a mudslide in the road. Rees was on his way to his grandmother's house.

He had got to the top of the steps when it happened. The rain was

mixing with the mud. It came down and flooded the road so I went up

and then I heard cracking. So I ran up and then I got across the road

and it collapsed. He went and it must have been 10 seconds or stop

he spun around on the spot to see it happening. He was pretty close.

I would never have wanted to be that close! His mother knew he had

seen the mudslide but had not realised until this morning just

how close he had been. It could have been very different.

Especially with the height of the wall with the concrete and how

thicket was as well. But... No, mud everywhere. He was the last one up.

We heard it. It was like thunder yesterday. It thundered down and I

did not realise it was him. So scary. Many who live here spend

hours cleaning the mud off of the road. The council says the house is

structurally sound but it is liaising with the developer to

clear the steps and repair the damage as soon as possible.

An elderly woman seriously burned in a gas explosion in Clacton has

died in hospital. Five others were hurt in the blast which destroyed a

three-storey building a week and a half ago. The woman died at the

specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

While most regional newspapers across the country are having a

tough time, news tonight of one that is planning expand to meet

increasing demand. It's published in Peterborough and carries stories

from across the region and is written in Polish.

The latest edition of this paper after a multi-million pound

Cambridge printing press. It gets up to 10,000 readers a month. At a

cost of 30p, it is the only paid for Polish title in the country.

The editors said starting it here was easier than in his native

Poland. There is so much competition. Every city, every town

has its local newspaper. So to open a newspaper is quite expensive in

Poland. Really expensive. Figures suggest there are 25,000 Polish

people living in Peterborough alone. Mike Webb created Peter. He says

the paper tells of life here, unlike internet sites. -- like

website creator Peter. It is much easier here and who doesn't speak

English? You can read it in Polish! Contracts like this are helping an

ever-shrinking industry. More and more people are coming to worse for

bespoke printing like this. So we are creating Arabic titles,

Filipino titles. All sorts. We pretty much do everything from he -

- 300 copies to 200,000. The plan now is to set up more regional

titles as more people choose to It looks like banks could be

trouble again. A number of small businesses in the region say

they're struggling to stay afloat after being sold complex financial

deals. They were meant to protect them from rising interest rates but

with rates at a historic low, many firms are paying through the nose.

Lots of us are feeling the benefits of low interest rates up hundreds

of small companies say they are stuck in high-cost agreements and

are struggling to survive. Colin Aldous runs a hotel and golf

course in Suffolk. Six years ago, he doubled the size of Ufford Park

with a �5 million loan. But in doing so, he made what he describes

the worst decision of his life. He took out interest rates with his

bank in a product made to protect him from future rises. When the

rates dropped, Colin was stuck, paying a rate of 8%. Up until now,

we have paid out �620,000. It has been about 15,000 a month. What

sort of strain has that put on the Business? It has been very

challenging. We have not been able to pay out increases in wages and

have had to be very careful to survive this time. Colin has

protected his 150 staff from the full impact of the crisis by not

giving them pay increases. And he will have to forgo these for the

next six years. So many jobs are attached to it. We're desperate. We

would not want to lose the staff or the building so we are doing

whatever we have to to see us through this difficult time. Up to

2000 firms are thought to have bought this sort of agreement in

this region. Some are understood what they were getting into. Others

didn't and say they were mis-sold products by their banks. This

electric retailer is paying 9% interest on a commercial loan of

�900,000 from Barclays. I would not have believed that a bank that has

supported our business for the last 100 years could potentially ever

dream of selling us a product that has done such irreparable damage to

our business. Barclays Bank says it gave customers enough information

to make their own decisions about which product to choose. But at

Ufford Park, Colin is in talks with his bank, which he declined to name

in hope of finding a compromise. And if your business has been

affected by those sorts of deals, we would love to hear from you. The

details are below. Over the next few months a number

of foreign teams will be moving to the region in preparation for the

London Olympics. At Waresley in Cambridgeshire, you'll find the

Brazilian three-day eventers. The eight-strong team includes a doctor

and an aeronautical engineer, and they've been telling James Burridge

This is my horse. She has been with me for eight years so far. Who is

the better sportsmen? You or the horse? That is a good question!

This is home? This is where we spend the most time as horse-riders.

We have got competitions and we live here. This is a small home. It

is a home from home. Hopefully this is my Olympic horse for London.

This is Tommy. He has been one of my top horses. He is the kind of

animal that is there for me. You really connect with him and he

makes things easy. What have you had to give up to make your Olympic

dream come true? It has been hard for me with the weather. Brazil has

the hot weather. But family and friends as well. But if you want to

succeed in this event, eventing, you have to be where the top teams

are, and that is here. How did you get them to come from Brazil?

a lot of persuasion. They have do this -- the desire to want to

succeed. A few have given up a lot to be here. They realise that to

gain a potential medal placing, they need to apply themselves to

the sport. They need to give things up. Are you a hard taskmaster?

would say I can be! I am boss. England has been home for me and

London is my home for the Olympics. Even though rear is the next

Olympics, it is important, I cannot wait to go to London. -- even

Now, when it comes train news, it's often bad news, isn't it? But

here's a positive story. A group of railway enthusiasts in Suffolk are

restoring an old line. The line was bought recently for �17,000 and

runs right through the town of Leiston. One day it's hoped it

might even link the Long Shop Museum with the branch line, as it

once did. They already have an She is not particularly posh and

she is not particularly pretty, but there is something a bit special

about Sirapite. She looks well enough. How was she? She is fine...

Trevor Wrench was the man largely responsible for restoring her.

are looking forward to getting her out fairly soon. They look better

with steam coming out of them, don't you think? She was a little

shunting engine and worked at the engineering works at Leiston. They

employed 2,500 people. Sirapite ran on a line which ran right through

Leiston, linking factories at the top and bottom of the pound. What

was she pulling, Trevor? Materials. That was on the Great Eastern

Railway. She brought them down to the works and distributed them

around the site. When she stopped working, she fell into disrepair,

but with �100,000 and a lot of elbow grease, she was restored. And

in 2010, we were there to see Sirapite chug up and down a very

short piece of track in part of the car park of the Long Shop Museum.

But now, enthusiasts want to restore the 250-yard stretch of

line she once ran up and down. The Leiston works railway was formed.

It was completely overgrown but has now been cleared. What was it like

a couple of months ago? Totally fly-tipping, debris, branches,

trees. Rubbish and a terrible mess. Another plan is to lay a track and

perhaps a year or two's time, Sirapite will get to run on the

line again. It might even cross the road in the centre of town, as it

once did. And that's not all. The dream for this brilliantly

eccentric project is to, one day, link up with the branch line. It is

just up there. But that could never happen... Could it?

Thursday night. Barometer night! It has been a day of "dodge the

showers". There are still some out there and they really got going in

the day. Some were thundery. This is about an hour ago, so still a

few lingering, and elsewhere as well. A few more showers this

evening but they will fade gradually overnight to leave much

of the night dry. A few temperatures will tip away and we

could also get the odd mist patch as well. We are expecting an

overall low of one degree. Light northerly winds as well. A similar

sort of day tomorrow with some sunshine and some showers. The

change will be that the showers will not be as widespread and not

as heavy. You can see a dark spot there where the computer thinks it

might be heavier. So don't be surprised if you get stuck and do

that. Temperatures will be typically between 10 and 12 degrees.

The showers will take a time to clear and still no further chance

of showers through the afternoon, but in between, still some sunny

spells. Looking ahead to Sunday, we have a ridge of high pressure which

starts to build on Saturday into Sunday. So a dry bay for most of us

on Sunday but not far behind, this weather front is waiting to bring

in some wet weather later on Monday and into Tuesday, and introducing

some cooler air with it. So the weekend, fewer showers, feeling

cooler and it will also be a bit breezier. So, for the next five

days, showers on Saturday, but mainly isolated and lighter. Many

places getting a dry based on Sunday and cooler as well. The

northerly wind will drag in some cooler air. The rain will be backed