23/12/2016 Look East (West)

A family of five is seriously injured in an accident which closes

the southbound carriageway of the M1.

An investigation over Whirlpool tumble driers:

Why Which magazine has Peterborough's Trading

Is this the future of physiotherapy treatment and why

Later in the programme, we are getting into the Christmas spirit.

We're joined by panto star Wayne sleep and we speak to director who

brought the work of Raymond Briggs to life on the TV screen.

First tonight, the start to Christmas nobody wanted to see.

A serious accident on the M1 motorway in Northamptonshire has

left three children and two adults critically injured.

There were long delays for travellers.

The southbound carriageway was closed after the accident.

This was a horrific accident. It happened on the carriageway closest

to us, opposite the services. Tonight, as they approach Christmas,

a young family are in a critical condition after their car collided

with a lorry. It happened at around 10:45am. As you can see, from the

condition of the family's car, this is a very serious incident. At one

point, free air and illnesses were here. The parents were flown to

Coventry hospital, they are in their 30s. Two boys aged seven and 11 and

a one-year-old girl were flown to a different hospital. The police say

they all have serious injuries. This is one of the busiest days of the

year, what gave the shops and has it caused? The southbound carriageway

was closed completely. -- what kind of disruption. The northbound, they

had able to see what was going on and left it open. People try to look

for a way out of the congestion and this was the A5. The M4 and M45

which link the M1 were closed as well. It has caused trouble for

people trying to get away for Christmas but for this family and

anyone who knows them, it is simply heartbreaking. Thank you very much.

Well, today was always set to be one of the busiest days of the year

for travelling with millions of us trying to get home or

Would you like some chocolate to help you with your flight?

Passengers at Luton travelling on the airport's busiest day over

Every flight to every destination is busy.

Passengers thankful that possible strikes by baggage handlers

I was expected a lot of traffic coming here and it wasn't

And it's quite peaceful around here, too.

We left with plenty of time just in case.

I gave myself plenty of time just in case.

The M25 was absolutely free this morning.

With Luton Airport's ?110 million expansion,

this is their busiest Christmas ever.

We're reconfiguring the entire airport

while trying to keep the operational live.

We understand that the offering is not as we would want

We are thankful for their patience and we apologise for any

And on the railways, closures on the line between

Cambridge and Ely as building on the new north

The line closed over Christmas and New Year due to

electric cables, points and signalling being put in place

Christmas is obviously and a great time for

For the railway, it's a good chance to get on and do a lot of work.

We appreciate that some people want to travel but we do need to

close the railway to get on with that work.

On the roads, thousands are expected to make their Christmas

Certainly, today will be the biggest Christmas

The peak rush hour period will be the busiest on our

Hopefully, you will have a peaceful and safe journey home.

The advice, as ever, is to check before you travel.

Whichever mode of transport you choose, allow

The consumer group Which has launched a legal bid over

the way trading-standards officers in Peterborough dealt with a "fire

safety issue" involving tens of thousands of tumble-dryers.

More than a year after Whirlpool admitted some it's machines

could catch fire, none of the products have been recalled,

with thousands of customers still awaiting repairs.

Our reporter, Mousumi Bakshi, has been looking

into the story and, Mo, Which aren't mincing their

No, in fact, the language they use portrays their anger

at the way they feel customers have been treated.

They describe Whirlpool's handling of the case as "appalling" and

The case involves around five million machines -

sold between 2004 and 2015 - manufactured by the

Peterborough-based Whirlpool company.

They own brands including Hotpoint, Indesit, and Creda.

Whirlpool issued a warning 13 months ago after a number

Excess fluff catching on the heating element.

Now instead of recalling the products, Whirlpool chose

to launch a repairs programme and agreed this course of action

But a year after the warning was issued, thousands of customers

So, why is Which taking legal action now?

Well, partly because of the time it's taking to resolve the issue,

but today's legal bid will surely have been prompted by a huge tower

The building caught fire back in August, with fire chiefs citing

a faulty Whirlpool tumble dryer as the cause.

Which say they've lost patience with trading standards,

who, as "an enforcer of product safety", should be

Now they argue that is precisely what they're doing.

Peterborough Trading Standards say a review is currently underway,

and if the High Court allows a legal bid then any such legal

which sees physiotherapists placed inside a doctors' surgery,

is helping to free up GP appointments.

The scheme is being hailed such a success,

it's being shown to the wider NHS community

but the doctors' union the BMA has raised fears over who will pay

to put physios in GP practices across the the region and the UK.

Andrea injured her right knee by just bending down

She called her doctors surgery for advice.

Instead of waiting for a GP appointment, she's

been offered NHS physiotherapy right away.

She's going to be seen by the surgery's

physiotherapist whose based at the practice three days a week.

It's been good today because it happened

a couple of days ago, so

I got told they were opening up the new physio

down here, so that's why I have come here.

Research by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy shows around 30% of a

Something specialist physiotherapist like

So far, we've seen approximately 700 patients.

That's nearly ?23,000 cost-saving we've

Since the trial began in July, only 5%

needed to be referred back to the GP.

Early data suggests, on a wider scale, the NHS would save nearly

?30,000 for every physiotherapist placed into a GP surgery every year.

It's also being backed by the Royal College

of GPs now and I think this

is something which, potentially, they could roll out certainly

throughout the rest of East Anglia but potentially, sort of, nationally

But who will pay for physios to be brought in to your GP surgery?

A spokesperson for NHS England told us:

But the doctors' union, the BMA, told us:

Have a seat back up on the side for me, please.

I'll bring the step back out for you.

The Patients' Association say half of patients struggle to book an

It's hoped that by embedding physios into

practice in this way, it could help alleviate pressure

and get everyone seen much more quickly.

In rugby, under pressure Northampton Saints have a crucial

Premiership match against Sale at Franklins Gardens tonight.

Saints suffered their biggest defeat in their professional history

last week against Leinster and have decided against naming wing

George North in the side, two days after the report

into the handling of his latest head injury was published.

The world's longest aircraft, the Airlander ten will be back

in the skies over Bedfordshire in the new year

The undercarriage was damaged when the ship, named Martha Gwyn,

landed heavily on only its second flight in August.

The manufacturers - Hybrid Air Vehicles -

Time to hand you over to Stewart, Susie, and Chris on the weather.

The Church has today urged everyone to do what they can to help

The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich has recently been

volunteering in winter shelters and has seen first-hand the scale

And it's not just the food banks that have been busy.

Look East has reported recently on concern at the number of homeless

This is from our Chief Reporter, Kim Riley.

The community project Rumsey foodbank which has been running for

eight years. Heather, who had six children and lost her partner of six

months ago, was today presented with a turkey for the family Christmas.

Have the family been struggling for food? It has been a struggle. I got

myself into debt. But they come here on the help me out here. We are in a

very busy centre. We do not just to food, Brett give advice on debt and

other things like that. People are very generous at Christmas and we

are very grateful for what we have been given. But we are a fitting

people throughout the year. In Great Yarmouth, it is a worry that some of

the people in the town are going shirtless Christmas because of

problems with the new universal credit system being under change. We

have good people who have been waiting since October. We still

don't know if they going to get money. A number of rough sleepers in

the town has risen steeply in the past year and the Bishop was on BBC

radio Suffolk and helped out at the shelter run by the churches in

Ipswich. It was interesting listening to the guests. To heal the

sequence of events which they all fall into which had led to them

being homeless -- relationship break-up, loss of a job, thrown out

of the house, no income. And suddenly finding themselves without

the house. Another food bank in Cambridgeshire has distributed a

record four times of Christmas hampers this year, from a proof of

the growing number of patents struggling this Christmas.

Let's take a moment to talk sport, with a couple of winners.

Joining us from Colchester is British Olympic sailing champion

And with us in the studio is Alfie Hewett,

the wheelchair tennis player, who won at Wimbledon

Congratulations on a fantastic year. Can you do things at Christmas that

you could not do in previous years because you have retired? I do not

know if I will have to restrain from anything this year. It should be

fun. What was your highlight? For me, both were two iconic events.

Wimbledon and the Olympics. They were both absolutely amazing. They

were both amazing. To get two silver medals at the Olympics was very

special. It must be magic for you this year at the Olympics? It was

absolutely brilliant. A gold medal has been the childhood dream and it

has been a long-time training and racing to finally get it done. It

was amazing. The lovely thing is that we got to meet your family and

your family. We were talking to them from anti-banisters from gnome. --

anti-banisters front room. Having that family support must be amusing

and very important? The support we get from family and friends is

all-important. I cannot thank them enough for being the and supporting

me. Obviously, for both my parents. The actually went to the Olympic

Games and did she ever experience with was amazing. I think we all

thought she was going to win the gold medal, but you are officially

just ranked 13th in the world. You did not expect to get a medal? No, I

did not really think so. I thought the Meadows Republic go to the first

few ranked players in the world. I think it was the first time someone

out the top six and one a medal before. I am incredibly proud of

what a dead. And you chose to retire at the top. Are you enjoying your

retirement? I know you are very busy. Or do you miss the competitive

edge? I am definitely missing out. It is a strange time. Then, having

to look at what is next. Do you go out on the water over Christmas? I

do not think so. I will go down to the Boxing Day swim at the beach,

but I am going to just watch all these crazy people raising money for

the lifeboat, but I am not going in! Thank you both so much for being

with others and have a very enjoyable Christmas.

One of the big television moments of the Christmas schedules is likely

to be a film animation called Ethel and Ernest.

It is a story based on the book by Raymond Briggs,

are actually based on Raymond Briggs' parents.

The film was directed by Roger Mainwood,

Ethel And Ernest is the story of Raymond Briggs' own parents.

Originally a graphic novel, it has been brought to the screen

His studio, at home in Wivenhoe, is in the spare room.

Roger was one of the animators on the Snowman in 1982.

Back then, it was paper and pencil, today, it's a computer.

As director, Roger likens his role to that

In this case, a rather big orchestra.

For the animation process itself we have over 100 people and that

includes the animators, their assistants, but also

the clean-up people who put the final line to the drawing.

We've also got background artists, all the people who do the ink

The end credits go on for a long time.

The film stars Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn.

Well, Ethel, how about coming to the pictures with me?

When their voices came over I just felt my mum

And I spent the whole two days of recording in tears.

I'm absolutely over the moon with it.

We start with the storyboard and then removed to the rough animation

stage. This is really final link which appears on the screen is put

on. At the end of it, we end up with that lovely lake which is fairly

unique to his work. It was such an important thing to get right. We

could not mess up on this. Not a chance.

Roger Mainwood and his team have done a fine job,

and Ethel And Ernest looks set to be a highlight of the Christmas

We have already met two big winners from the world of sport.

Now, let's turn our attention to dance.

Wayne Sleep's career started in the '60s,

Since then, he has done just about everything on the stage.

This Christmas, Wayne is leading the cast in Jack

and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal in Norwich.

It is fantastic. I can really frighten the children! Normally, I

am the Jester or buttons and I am keeping everyone happy and jolly.

But I need just as much energy to be bad as to be good. And dancing is

still very important to you? Yes, tap dancing. Tap dancing, you can do

will have when you are a bit older because it is just from the ankle

don't watch. But you have returned to pantomime after a few years. Do

you really enjoy it? Yes. I feel like a duck out of what if I do not

do pantomime at Christmas. I did my first one year out they had done the

London Palladium in 1976. My first official one was in Norwich. That

was back in the 70s. We have been hearing about the trouble people are

having with foodbank. When you see something like that, what is your

reaction? Sorrow. We need people to help each other over the Christmas

period. I have just done the voluntary service, where we send

packages to older people's houses. And we are knocking on the houses of

people who are lonely. If it is important, but loneliness, having no

one to talk to over Christmas, that can be desperate. For all you know,

that ten minutes could make someone's day. Dancing is having a

renaissance in general. All pages are getting involved. I think you

would see that you could dance at any age? Very much so. The children

from all the local schools come. I want children from schools who have

no introduction to dance previously too, they will give a a free class

on it. And would you like to be a judge on Strictly? There's a

vacancy. I would love to be on it. Do you still keep a very fit? I

stretch every day. What is about dance that you love so much that you

think other people love? As soon as the music starts, it lifts your

spirits. Sometimes, I think, I cannot get through to those -- shows

today. But all of a sudden, you get a bit of a tingle. It gives you up

and get going. You can give a pleasure back to the audience, they

can receive it and give it back to you. In pantomime, you are only as

good as your audience and if they do not move me, then in this instance,

I have actually not done a good job! Wonderful.

I think we could possibly be looking at near-record temperatures over

Christmas. At Stormy weather making the headlines will to the north of

us. Much more calm in our part of the country. Every lean cleaving

through the region at the moment. Probably around until eight o'clock.

Then it will dry out across the entire region. The wind easing down.

Otherwise, we are looking up moderate south westerly wind.

Overnight temperatures 3-4 C. Maybe rather cool first thing in the

morning. Still a bit of a blustery day tomorrow but not rain expected.

High temperatures of 8-9 C. Overnight tomorrow night, the cloud

increasing. A bit blustery during the course of the night. Overnight

temperatures 9-10 C. Father temperatures 9-10 C. Father

Christmas we need to rear a T-shirt! Temperatures well above really would

normally be for this time of day. Mostly dry conditions on Christmas

tree, but the odd piece of drizzle possible. Possible high temperatures

of 13-14 C. Temperatures will go back more to average into next week.

5 degrees cooler on Boxing Day. And a hard frost possible by Tuesday.

Thank you very much. We will integrate with a treat. This is from

Norwich Cathedral choir. Thank you from others have very good

Christmas.