03/01/2017 Look East (West)

The Paralympian who had to wet herself during a train journey,

because the disabled toilet was out of action.

I was, you know, very angry and I just felt useless and honestly

The Government plan for more affordable houses and new garden

villages and towns but will they meet demand?

A new year brings higher rail fares but these commuters have

I travel in every day and it is a daily commute for me. It is going to

be a big hike in the amount I pay. I get an annual ticket now and it is

going to be a big difference. And a sting in the tale for railway

passengers after this scorpion stops the Edinburgh

express at Peterborough. First tonight, the Paralympian

left to wet herself because the disabled

toilet wasn't working. Anne Wafula Strike has represented

Team GB in wheelchair racing She was travelling back

to her home in Harlow She says she felt

robbed of her dignity. We'll hear from Anne in a moment

but first this report from our chief The 42-year-old wheelchair

racer is a board member awarded an MBE for her services

to disability sport. She was returning to Harlowe

from a board meeting in Coventry last month when her train journey

of almost three hours turned The CrossCountry train's disabled

toilet was out of order. A member of the train crew suggested

she get off the train at a station to use the disabled toilet

there but there were no staff She could not wait until the train

reached Peterborough. It was humiliating

but I had to do it. When that happened to me I just

realised that sometimes when you are different,

you are so isolated. The world disqualifies

you from having a life. It is as though when

you have a disability, you don't deserve to have equal

rights in the community. The MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon,

has taken up her complaints with CrossCountry Trains,

describing the service as appalling and totally unacceptable

in the 21st-century. I have never heard her complain

in this way about her disability. In fact, she is a very positive,

wonderful human being. It hugely saddens me that she has

had to suffer and be humiliated by A spokesperson for

CrossCountry said... Anne says she decided to speak

out in the hope of bringing Too many people with disabilities,

she says, suffer in silence. Earlier I spoke with Anne

from her home in Harlow and asked her if she'd heard

from the train company. They haven't apologised

directly early to me. They have sent a statement

to the BBC this morning. They have also sent a letter

to my local MP, Robert Halfon, but they have not actually

apologised directly to me. This is what so many

other people with You know, this is what it

means to really have a system that is letting you down,

have a system that is failing you. The CrossCountry trains

failed me big time. The least they could do

is at least apologise. Is that why you decided

to forward publicly, given that you have a profile

as a Paralympic athlete? I am not going public

because I have a profile as a Paralympian, I have gone public

about this issue because I do not You do not need to be a Paralympian,

you do not need to be in the public eye for the world

to listen to you. I think people who are suffering,

they need to rise up, they need Will you be travelling

by train again? I will be travelling by train

again and the reason why I will be travelling by train again is

because I really want to hold We have legislation that

actually supports passengers with disabilities, that

says their human rights or disability rights are met,

but what is the need of having legislation that is

so weak that companies and organisations and big franchises

will get out without paying fines? Police are searching

for the driver of a car that was involved in a collision

in which two men died. The incident in Yaxley,

near Peterborough, happened just after eleven this

morning and involved two The driver fled the scene on foot

and a police helicopter has been involved in the search

but the driver is still missing. The road is currently

closed in both directions. And a man has died after his car

was hit by a train at a level crossing in Lidlington in Central

Bedfordshire. The London Midland service

from Bedford to Bletchley struck Next tonight,

councillors in Northamptonshire say they're delighted at plans

to build a new village on the site More than 1000 homes could be built

at Deenethorpe, one of 14 The Government says it's responding

to local housing needs. And today, news of yet more homes,

this time for first-time buyers. During World War II it was home

to the US air force. Now, 1500 new homes

could go up here. An old airfield, a 3000 acre site,

around a fifth of it to become The church and the

community hall and a We need housing, therefore,

if we want housing here is much better than placing it on the edge

of towns or greenfield sites. This is a brownfield site

which is ideal for housing and it Planning for the scheme

will be applied for in May. The building of what they

describe as a green, sustainable village happening over

the next ten to 15 years. There is a ?6 million

Government fund to help with the project, to help

with the planning process, So can that small

amount help all those It has to fulfil a whole

load of criteria. More particularly, we are interested

in the provision of power perhaps through solar energy, hot water

through ground source heat pumps and all of these district

heating systems. You know, these are all

the sorts of emerging... Proven technologies we are aiming

to deploy into this site. Along with garden villages,

Harlow chosen among three Around 10,000 new homes proposed

on greenbelt land north of the town. When it last came to

public examination, the concept was thrown out mainly

on the basis of the lack of infrastructure plans

to support it. For example, the sewage,

water plants just were Plans to put homes on this airfield

in previous years have failed. Those in favour of

building one of the first garden villages here hope this

time building work will begin. This is the War Memorial for the

airfield. We are told this will be picked up and moved and become the

centre point for the green Village, if it gets the go-ahead. This is not

the only big housing initiative being announced. They are talking

about a 1.2 billion starter fund. That will benefit two of our

councils. If you are a first-time buyer, you could get 20% of the

property worth ?250,000. This is what the housing minister told us.

Well, they are going to help a significant number of people who

I think if you bring the price down by 20% it

It will not be the answer for everyone

and there are other things the Government is doing to try

This will aloow thousands of people who cannot get onto the

housing ladder the opportunity to so.

Both councils welcoming that scheme. The highest rise in the country. We

are told those first properties will go on sale in 2018 but we do not

know where they will go or when building work will begin. Thank you.

Rail passengers have been protesting outside stations today

Prices for the two main rail operators in the region

Greater Anglia and Great Northern will rise by 1.8%.

And even though that is below the national average, some commuters

will be paying around ?80 a year more.

This morning at King's Cross, a chorus of disapproval against rail

For many, this is the first commute of the year.

Passengers from our region travelling into the capital had to

The increase may be below the national average but they

I travel in from Huntington every day.

It is going to make a huge difference.

It's over ?7,000 a year to commute from Peterborough

Yes, it does, it affects me quite hard in the pocket.

When there are cancellations because of

the number of trains going back to Cambridge,

it means that I get in up to an hour later.

To make matters worse, many who paid more for their

journey this morning faced delays of up to 30 minutes

One commuter who has had enough is Tina.

When service is disrupted, trains often feel to stop at our local

station to make up time. She has launched a petition to remove the

franchise from the control. If the operator was to change, hopefully we

would go back to some kind of normality with our service. Some

kind of normality. That is all we're asking for. We not asking for

something magical. We just want to be able to get to and fro work at a

decent amount of time. They say they are bringing in more drivers to

reduce cancellations and more trains on. The body which represents

operators and Network Rail said the increases have been influenced been

influenced by Government policy. Every passenger once a comfortable

journey and to arrive on time and they want to know they are getting

the right ticket at the right price. The money we get from taxpayers and

customers helps us to achieve that. With taxpayers now paying more in

the year ahead, the expectations for services to include will also

increase. Up to 1,500 jobs could be created

in Peterborough this year as companies continue to invest

in the city. The organisation which encourages

economic growth says it follows a similar number of jobs

being created last year. Emma Baugh has been to meet one

of the cities biggest employers, A global form running some of the

biggest insurance brands in Britain. The already employs 600 people here

in the city, and are recruiting 200 more. There is a great diversity of

population, which reflects the customers we deal with at and the

major high street brands that we have. We have a good recruitment

pipeline for Peterborough and we want more of those people in our

call centre providing great service. The organisations say they hope to

build on healthy figures this year. We have seen a 1500 new jobs created

in the city, 8000 in all over the past six years. Fantastic growth.

Peterborough is one of the fastest-growing cities in the

country, yet our job creation rate even as patents that. -- outpace

that. We have seen a reduction in job-seeker claimants in recent

years. There has been criticism that workers are lower paid. They have

set up a special skilled service, working with schools and employers

to make sure young people have the skills they need to take on higher

paid jobs. Work is underway building a major new house of freezer

warehouse, which promises more jobs. A organic farming company is

expanding and making use of the city's prime location. One of the

reasons it makes Peterborough so special is due to the agricultural

land we have here. It is one of the highest grades in the UK. Our

location is brilliant. We have some really good transport links all

around from where we are situated and we are seeing a huge growth in

the number of people interested in organic Rogers in the area. It is

hoped in the year ahead more companies will move to the city and

firms will continue to grow. -- organic produce.

Peterborough City Hospital says its faced an

unprecedented demand for care in its accident

and emergency department within the last 24 hours.

A critical internal incident was declared yesterday and

Extra staff were called in to assess patients

Time to hand you back to David and Susie. Alex has the weather. I will

be back later on. Still to come, the weather for the

rest of the week in football it is only live there as Norwich city

celebrate a rare hat-trick at Carrow Road.

All this week on the programme, we'll be looking at some

Over the next four days we'll be looking at the worlds of business,

And we'll start tonight with business.

2017 will see the drugs company Astra Zeneca start

to move into its new global headquarters in Cambridge.

And there are also developments at Stansted, and two of our big

This from our business correspondent Richard Bond.

Taking shape in Cambridge, a building that will make this region

one of the leading centres of drug discovery in the world. Four years

ago AstraZeneca said it would move its Google headquarters to the city,

at the Cambridge biomedical campus facilities for 2000 workers are

being created. The first of them will move in later this year. At the

moment they are scattered around eight sites in the area, including

this office on the science park. There are many times in your career

as a scientist would you can work with designers and build your own

building, and it is dedicated to the sides are undertaking. It really is

a sense of real excitement for AstraZeneca as a whole and also the

scientists that will be working in the new building. It'll be a big

moment for the region's economy when this side of the global headquarters

of one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies.

Construction work is at its peak on the ?330 million project, once

complete the buildings will be powered by ground source heating

from this energy centre. The R centre will enclose -- include the

headquarters which was moved from London in 2016 so we will end up the

west to scientists, copper headquarters served by a very

sustainable energy centre. Two major wind farms reached significant

milestones in 2017. One field of North Norfolk should start to

produce its first power in the spring wealthy galloper field of

Suffolk goes into full-scale construction. This year we will

continue with the foundation installation that started last year,

we will use cables connect individual wind turbines, we will

also put in the second export cable from the beach at Sizewell, we will

start turbine installation and then of course we need the offshore

substation which is the large structure we put in around May so it

is all happening this year. The expansion of Stansted should

continue this year, the leisure airline jet to almost 83 flights per

week to the Essex airport. should hear this year whether it can

go ahead with the new ?130 million arrivals building to accommodate

more passengers. Our political correspondent

Andrew Sinclair has been talking to politicians on both sides

of the fence about what we can expect in the weeks

and months ahead. After struggling through autumn,

Colchester United finally found their rhythm as Christmas. They have

been beating allcomers and one player has been finding new ways to

celebrate. The player from Cameroon has rapidly become the new cult hit.

His antics have gone down a storm on Twitter, the club anxious to make a

song and dance of it, tweeting away action shots merrily. The man

himself loving it, he treated, I enjoyed that drumming, if any band

assured of a drummer boy then just shout. We don't's owner Ollie has

been reunited with his instrument, as I am sure his neighbours will

testify. But after watching his side win six of the last seven games why

not bang on about it? Everyone I spoke to was quite surprised,

drumming was quite simple but when you're doing it is hard to get a

decent beetle he was very good. Since the didn't we have not lost

the game, the fans love them and things like this because love her

more. Colchester were the region's star performer is, top of the tree

after three wins and three, just below Cambridge United are also

unbeaten claiming seven points from nine, Southend have a win and two

draws, a mixed bag for knowledge at MK Dons with a search page about

Northampton and wouldn't only managing three points from three

games. Stevenage had a shocker, bar at the bottom, Christmas for them

totally pointless. But for Cambridge wearing in red-hot form. They

Colchester they have taken 19.3 possible 21 to surge up the table

and into the play-offs. Yesterday's 4-0 win over Notts County kept them

in seventh. Deeply any manner that suggests they are genuine promotion

contenders, they are playing with verve and vigour and seemed to be

enjoying the football. Goal of the day, this one by Tom Lawrence for

Ipswich, a cracker but not a matchwinner. QPR sneaking a late

winner leaving town the wrong half of the table. Is that we played the

second have especially very well become quite close the game out, so

we need to work on that. Get back to winning ways next game. After a

miserable 2016 reason to cheer for Norwich fans, a 3-0 when using the

pressure on Alex Neill for now. A week ago I would have said Gore,

today I'm saying he can do it. It was a different team, they played

really well and I want to see more games like that. Nelson Oliveira the

toast of Carol Rhodes had, is hat-trick the perfect way to kick

off the new year. Finally tonight, we've run a few

stories over the years on the reasons for delays

on our railway lines. Among the favourites: overhead power

cables down and leaves on the line. But how about a scorpion

in the carriage. It happened on a London to Edinburgh

express train on New Year's Day. The service was halted

at Peterborough after the scorpion It was eventually taken

to an exotic pet refuge, All eyes busy and beady, quick to

acknowledge the new kid on the block. A story from Guatemala, this

scorpion fell out of a woman's rucksack on a train near

Peterborough. I was getting my glasses case out and noticed there

was a scorpion crawling on the glasses case. I dropped it on the

floor because I did not want to get stung and then kicked over the

glasses case to see it I could find a scorpion on the underside and

wasn't there so at that point we had lost the scorpion in the carriage.

Soon found the tiny creature less than one inch long was scooped into

a food container, British Transport Police took to the warmth of the

exotic pet refuge near Peterborough. It would not have lasted overnight,

there would have been no repercussions the next day. Other

lodges venomous it is only like two of the wasp sting so it is not

dangerous or fatal. It would only really sting if provoked. This

morning little bundles of scorpion joy, even harder to spot than the

month. There are three small babies that I can see, after they have

grown up little that they will sit on their mums back and head to ride

around with her, she will feed them for a couple days and then they will

feed on small box themselves. It is fantastic, we want to go and visit

the rescue centre in Peterborough so we should do that at some stage. My

daughter is really interested in animals and would like to study

zoology so we are very pleased. The train was delayed by only seven

minutes but the scorpion and her babies continue to make headlines,

they will live out their days at the refuge quietly away from the

cameras. No paparazzi!

Imaginative and laid eggs in the carriage and they hadn't known until

they got into the carriage tours overrun.

Alex was just seeing she had a wonderful scorpion fact.

Is it small clubs big sting, because small sting?

Someone will call and letters now. The producer agrees. If the producer

says it is true, OK. The best thing is now staying at

all, really. The best thing is not to have a scorpion on the

It is a bit call for scorpions perhaps. We have a cold start to the

day this morning, some cold on the grass in Cambridge as the sun rose,

and the beautiful sunset photograph taken. It will get a little chilly

tonight but not as cold as last night because of more cloud around

and although it is expected to stay mainly dry by the end of the night

there may well be some light rain or drizzle across northern counties. As

we go through tonight there will be clear spells developing,

temperatures close to freezing so we could get down to two or three

degrees so perhaps just the risk of a touch of frost but for most of us

we're staying above freezing temperatures as this weather front

comes in from the North will start to recover so those temperatures

rising to around four or 5 degrees for some of us as we start the day

tomorrow. We have this weather front coming in from the north tomorrow,

it is a cold fronts or wanted clear spirit it will mean a cold wind

developing, actually, and some bright weather around so expect a

cloudy start first is that weather front approaches and some might rain

expected but cleaning fluid quickly and then some pleasant spells of

winter sunshine, the bulk of the day looking dry and bright. Deventer is

perhaps feeling cold in that went, five or 6 degrees. These are average

wind speeds, and that will be a feature of the weather through

tomorrow particularly into the afternoon and evening and a certain

and wintry showers from the North Sea saw four counties in Norfolk and

Suffolk there could be the odd shower coming in for the evening,

including the quite quickly saw the Queen to be quite fleeting but just

a possibility and then you notice the blue on the map, by the time we

get to 5am on Thursday temperatures dropping quite sharply, a sharp

frost expected for tomorrow night. We could be down as low as -5 or 6

degrees in parts of the region as we start the day. I pressure will give

us some dutiful winter sunshine for Thursday, it establishes itself

across the British Isles for Thursday so lots of fine weather

around but you can see the weather front coming in from the north-west

and events that to move eastwards and as they get to the weekend the

weather front will come through and bring us rain and introduce some

milder air. Every cup for tomorrow, looking largely dry with the risk of

the showers coming in first thing and wintry showers later

particularly from the coast. If each of the weather tomorrow is the

strengthening north-westerly wind and then fine wintry sunshine after

the sharp frost on Wednesday night into Thursday, so it'll be a cold

day with lots of sunshine around, and eventually the weather front

starts to bring in some rain probably in the day on Friday, into

the weekend and then it turns slightly milder.

Susie was not listening, she was looking up scorpion facts.

Apparently it is mainly by accident the sting people. Goodbye.