Browse content similar to 14/08/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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the programme tonight: Thousands of people are threatened with bailiffs | :00:12. | :00:22. | |
:00:22. | :00:28. | ||
for failing to pay council tax. Many blame changes to the welfare system. | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
Police appeal for a mystery caller to come forward in the hunt for the | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
killers of a family man. ?NEWLINE to use or not to use - why drivers who | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
abuse the hard shoulder are breaking the law. | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
And what a difference a year makes. Olympic champion Greg Rutherford | :00:42. | :00:52. | |
:00:52. | :00:54. | ||
fails to qualify at the World Good evening. Thousands of people | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
who are struggling to pay their council tax have been threatened | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
with bailiffs by Peterborough City Council. It follows a change to the | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
welfare system which means families on benefits who in the past were | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
exempt from council tax now have to pay a proportion of the bill. The | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
Citizens Advice Bureau says it's seen a big increase in the number of | :01:13. | :01:22. | |
families getting into debt. It is the sign of the times for the | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
changing benefits system. A steady stream summoned to court in recent | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
weeks for not paying council tax. Some receiving bills for the first | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
time. Some say it is not that they will not pay, it is that they | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
cannot. People are really struggling. The law says you have a | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
certain amount to live on. Out of that, some people are paying �60 in | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
council tax, leaving them next to nothing. I am really struggling. I | :01:49. | :01:59. | |
:01:59. | :02:14. | ||
am lucky because my dad helped me out sometimes but not everyone has a | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
dad like mine. Before April, those on benefits did not have to pay | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
council tax but now the Government no longer covers the full amount. | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
The council here says it is getting �2.4 million less and like others it | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
have to recoup the money. For those who did not make it to court or | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
attempt to pay, the council is taking action. This is a copy of the | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
letter that has gone out across Peter Brooke. It says they have | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
already received a court summons for nonpayment and now the council had | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
secured a liability order, meaning further action will be taken. It | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
urges you to contact the council and the next seven days or the account | :02:37. | :02:45. | |
will be referred to a bailiff company for collection. This is the | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
fifth letter that people have had, including a summons to court. I | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
think the council will bend over backwards to try and be helpful. | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
people have not got the money, where can they get it? Come and talk to | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
us. There are options about. We can give them advice. Or probably they | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
are not claiming all the benefits they are entitled to. 200 people | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
came forward in 24 hours after the bailiff letters went out but | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
thousands more have yet to pay. The council says it wants to hear from | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
anyone affected. We asked the Local Government | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
Minister Brandon Lewis about the changes. He told us that the last | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
Government spent more on benefits than on defence, education and | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
health combined and that their reforms are a way of ending the | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
something for nothing culture and making work pay. But the Citizens | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
Advice Bureau in Cambridge told me earlier it's also seen many people | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
left confused and distressed. have. In fact, I was working with | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
the client an hour ago who had had that exact problem. It varies from | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
council to counsel. In Cambridge city they have held the council tax | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
benefit at 100%, where as in South Cambridge there is an 8% reduction | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
and I believe in Huntingdon it is a higher reduction. What this is doing | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
is taping people who are struggling just about to make ends meet over | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
the edge and into debt. One of our big worries is if they turn to | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
payday lenders, then the debt spiral can rapidly get out of control. | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
you think part of the problem is that because councils are very much | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
doing their own thing with this, people do not know where they stand? | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
I think that is very true. With any change in benefits it takes a while | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
before the letters go out and are understood. Particularly for people | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
with mental health problems, or reading and writing difficulties. | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
And it does make people very worried. So we get more clients | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
coming in with these letters, particularly when the additional | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
bedroom tax came in. Do you think the Government needs to rethink | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
these benefit changes? I am not sure I can answer that because I am an | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
adviser here. What I would say, from what they know about the universal | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
benefit that is coming in over the next couple of years, one of the | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
things that really needs to be thought about again is the idea that | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
all the benefits are going to be lumped together, and they are going | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
to be paid in one lump every month. And people are going to be expected | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
to budget. The Citizens Advice Bureau cannot pay council tax bills | :05:29. | :05:35. | |
for people. You don't have money for that. What can you do to help? | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
first thing we can do to help is try and get a clear picture of a | :05:40. | :05:50. | |
:05:50. | :05:53. | ||
client's debt situation, so that a payment plan is set up. Very often | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
that includes owning up and negotiating with predators, very | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
often with local councils on council tax arrears, but also on occasion | :05:57. | :06:05. | |
negotiating with bailiffs to calm things down. -- with creditors. Then | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
we can get an agreement in place to help the client out of the debt | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
situation. If you've been affected by the | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
changes to council tax benefits, particularly if you've received a | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
bailiff's letter we'd like to hear from you. The details are on the | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
screen. "We're closing in on them." The | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
words today of detectives hunting robbers who killed a man in his own | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
home. Sharif Demirsay was stabbed in front of his family in Kempston back | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
in May. Today police were back in the area to make a fresh appeal for | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
witnesses, in particular a mystery caller who contacted them shortly | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
after the murder. Three months on, and Sharif | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
Demirsay's home in Kempson remains boarded up. It was here on May the | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
14th that the 65-year-old grandfather was stabbed to death by | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
a gang of robbers. CCTV recorded that night shows three men calmly | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
walking towards the house, then just minutes later, the same men are | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
captured running away. Police say they have had a good response to | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
public appeals but need one call in particular to contact them again. | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
have had some calls but we do need people to come forward with more | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
information. Some of those calls, I believe, are the same person. And | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
the information is crucial that they are giving and I really want to | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
encourage that person in particular to call us back and have the | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
confidence to talk to us in person anonymously. The gang stole gold | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
jewellery and �1000 in cash. The murder weapon has not yet been | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
found. From the information that we have started to get in, people do | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
know who is responsible for this. The net is closing in and we have a | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
number of names of people that we are looking at closely but we need | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
people to be brave enough to come forward and do the right thing, so | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
we can get these people charged and locked up. A man arrested when they | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
after the murder has been released without charge. Three other men | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
remain on bail. The �10,000 reward has been offered for information | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
leading to the killers. And today police have returned to the scene in | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
the hope of cleaning vital new information. | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Now, do you know when it's safe to use the hard shoulder? In the last | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
year the Highways Agency introduced a new system on a stretch of the M1 | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
allowing motorists to use the hard shoulder as an extra lane at certain | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
times. But using the lane incorrectly is against the law and | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
could land drivers with a fine or points on their licence as Fae | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
Southwell explains. The hard shoulder is intended for breakdowns | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
and emergencies only. It is a dangerous place, as this dramatic | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
footage shows. Luckily the family in this broken down car were behind the | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
safety barriers. On the M1 through Bedfordshire the rules are not so | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
rigid. In peak periods, traffic is allowed on the hard shoulder to ease | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
congestion, but only when the signs indicate that it is safe. At other | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
times the usual rules apply but it seems not all motorists are getting | :09:11. | :09:21. | |
:09:21. | :09:58. | ||
the message. We recently had a vehicle that drove down the hard | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
shoulder and struck a broken down vehicle. When the police arrived and | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
questioned that driver, it was a taxi and he thought it was a | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
dedicated taxi lane that he could drive down. In the control centre, | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
they monitor the flow of traffic. Technology allows them to open and | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
close the hard shoulder remotely using signs on the overhead signals. | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
A Red Cross means it is closed but some drivers are ignoring the signs. | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
You are putting your life at risk and the lives of other motorists. If | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
we have not told you to do it, there will be a reason why not. That could | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
be because there are emergency vehicles, are broken down vehicle, | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
or daybreak on the hard shoulder that is not allowing you to drive | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
down it. Tony has been patrolling the M1 for eight years and he | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
remembers one near miss that nearly killed him. I was working in a | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
section of motorway that is managed motorway. We were on the hard | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
shoulder, which was closed at the time. A lorry literally came right | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
up to the taper, squashed one of the traffic cones, which went flying | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
into the air and we literally ran for safety. Police are now planning | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
to get tough. Anyone caught driving illegally on the hard shoulder faces | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
points on their licence and �50 fine. | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
A warning has been issued to swimmers after a 14-year-old girl | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
from Northamptonshire was swept 50 yards out to sea. The teenager was | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
caught in a riptide at Sea Palling in Norfolk yesterday afternoon. | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
Lifeguards had noticed her walking with a friend along the sand bar | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
near a flagged swimming zone and managed to pull her to safety. | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
swam out as fast as they could, obviously. A man immediately got the | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
girl off him because he was being pushed under water. I through her my | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
tube, clipped on from behind, reassured her, told her she would be | :11:11. | :11:20. | |
OK, and that we would get back to shore as quickly as possible. | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
Luton station is the latest in the region to install electric car | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
charging points to encourage commuters to charge up while they're | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
on the train. Two charging points costing �28,000 in total are now | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
available at the multistorey car park. Half the cost has been met by | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
train company First Capital Connect. Charge points have been installed at | :11:36. | :11:39. |