06/06/2014 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

It was the moment he thought he was going to die. Paul Stephenson, the

double`decker driver left trapped in the wreckage of the Stanley

school bus crash, has been re`living what happened for Look North.

Paul, who's 54, is just out of hospital.

He's been praised for putting the safety of his passengers first,

even though he was inches from being killed in Tuesday's crash

Paul's been talking to our Chief Reporter Chris Stewart.

I've got a big cut on my right knee because I had

I've got fracture ribs, grazes on my hands and elbows.

On the top of my head, I've got stitches where a big gash w`s.

And it could, perhaps should, have been much worse.

I thought, I'm lucky to be `live, basically.

I shouted out to the kids, we're going to hit something,

The bus was coming through the screen, everything shattered,

I was leaning back, but obvhously I was trapped in the cab.

Then it stopped and it was, like, six inches off my face,

Then there was an eerie sildnce and the kids just went, "Aaaaaa`argh!"

They all came rushing to thd front, but they couldn't get off

the front, so I had to tell them, you need to go up the back of the

bus and get off the back of the bus as quickly and safely as yot can.

I was covered in blood becatse of the cut on my head.

And this young lassie came `nd looked at me and she just started

The first night I was in thd hospital I had the vision of the bus

You've got to think positivd about things.

And odd twist is that the children on your bus were

from St Bede's of Lanchester, which is your old school.

30 victims altogether and a 12`year`old boy still in hospital.

The investigation by Durham police into just what went

Two people were treated in hospital after

It happened at a recycling plant on McMullen Road.

They went to the town's Memorial Hospital suffering skin irrhtation

The hospital was closed to `ll but emergency cases while

It's thought they'd spilt the substance on themselves.

The injuries were not seriots and the hospital has now reopened.

It was the highest tide Teesside had seen in 150 years

Six months ago today the cldar up operation was beginning in Port

Clarence after hundreds of people were forced to leave their homes.

The Environment Agency is now working on

a ?9 million flood defence scheme for the area and 50 residents

and businesses are being helped to apply for government grants.

This was Port Clarence last December.

Record flooding, hundreds forced to leave their homes.

It's awful. The smell is disgusting. It's not nice. I feel like crying.

Stephen showed up his mums shaking floor.

You're walking across it and it just breaks. You're falling throtgh the

floorboards. We spoke to Billy six months ago

as he trudged back to Today his property and garddns have

been repaired, but he's now nervous when he hears there's going to be

a another high tide. You just keep praying and hope not

going to happen. I couldn't handle that again.

Around 50 families and businesses are now being helped to apply

for a ?5,000 government grant to protect them from future flooding.

It's flooding of both floorboards level. They might not be able to

claim under the screen. It hs very restricted. The environment agency

is developing a new scheme here and work is expected to start in March.

Some people are sceptical. They say they have heard this before. They

say they will only believe ht's going to happen when the work

actually starts. A veteran of the D` Day landings who

should have been in Normandx today was guest of honour at a melorial

event in County Durham this morning. Jim Peakes couldn't join

his former comrades at the commemoration servicd in

France because his name was misspelt However, the

Sedgefield Village Veterans stepped in to make Jim welcome at their own,

somewhat smaller, celebrations. The Theatre Royal in Newcastle

staged one of its most romantic 180 friends

and relatives packed the st`lls to see Louise and Darren, the new Mr

and Mrs Kempson, tie the knot. Louise said she chose the Theatre

Royal after performing therd herself as an amateur actress and it was the

place where Darren had proposed Newcastle United have made

their first signing of the summer. Ayoze Perez has completed

a long term deal from Tenerhfe. The 20`year`old striker plaxed

in Spain's second tier last season Now it's time for the weathdr. It is

mostly dry this evening. Ovdrnight, clear spells. The cloud will

increase in the West later. It starts up mostly dry tomorrow

sunshine in the east. The thicker cloud in the West will spre`d

outbreaks of rain in the West. The bright greens and yellow here

indicate the risk of some rdally heavy downpours. There could be

hail, some thunder and some lightning. It will be hot and humid.

Temperatures will be up to 20 Celsius.

There is a warning from the Met office. On Sunday, sunny spdlls and

scattered shells scattered showers `` scattered

improve to some extent. The showers move away and a fresh appeal to

things. Good evening. The good news is,

there will be some decent dry on a sunny moment to come through the

weekend. But over the next 24 hours, the threat of thunderstorms

looms large. The ingredients have been coming together today - warm

air pushing northwards out of Iberia, cooler air from the Atlantic

trying to pushed away. In between the cloud has been building with a

lot of energy in the atmosphere sparking off some nasty

thunderstorms across parts of northern Spain and south-west

France. They will produce most of the rainfall tomorrow. Ahead of it,

the cloud is starting to produce thunderstorms itself. We've seen in

Cornwall. A few sporadic thunderstorms across central and

southern areas and towards Northern Ireland through the