02/08/2013 Look North (Yorkshire)

Hello, welcome to Friday's Look North.

Tonight, the row over the Government's welfare reforms. The

man from Chesterfield found to be fit to work despite having to be

offered emergency treatment during his assessment.

I cannot stand for very long, I cannot walk very far, I am in agony.

Also tonight, 12 arrests in Yorkshire in a series of Home Office

raids to find illegal workers. And, the ashes are only halfway

through, this call holidays have barely begun, but here we are, the

start of the football season. It has been another warm day today, we

reached 27 degrees. It is colder but still pleasant over

the weekend. I will have the full First tonight, a man from

Chesterfield has spoken to Look North about being told he must

return to work despite being offered an ambulance after being taken ill

during his disability assessment. People across the country are having

their health-related unemployment benefits reassessed by a company

called Atos health care as part of welfare changes brought in by the

Government. In Yorkshire, around 80,000 people have been assessed.

30% of them have been found fit to go to work straightaway. A further

39% are expected to go back to work in the future. And 32% of people

were found to be entitled to long-term financial support due to a

health condition. One of those who was reassessed and found fit to work

was John Flanagan. He's had a brain haemorrhage and multiple heart

attacks and also has a collapsed spine. He was actually taken ill

Just reliving the experience is too much. John's assessment left him on

the verge of collapse. Something that was all too clear to the doctor

carrying it out. He said, the only thing I can do is ringed by 99.

took one look and said, I think we will finish this assessment here,

because you need to go. For the couple, it was traumatic, that they

were sure they could only be one outcome. We received a letter, and

said he had not got the incapacity. He did not think his life is worth

living. That means he said he was fit to work? Yes. It is rubbish.

With my back, I cannot stand for very long, I cannot walk very far, I

am in pain, I am in agony. I am not a shirker. I have worked all my

life. I have worked hard all my life. It is cases like this that

have made the welfare changes so controversial. Incapacity benefit

are being replaced by the Employment Support Allowance. Protesters have

claimed disabled people were. To work and that many will pay with

their lives. If I went back to work, they would find me down there.

experience. He would not let us explain the conditions that I am

having. All he could say was yes or no. His GP has signed him off for

now. But his next step is a tribunal. An experience choice says

could finish him off. He said, I cannot face those people. To have to

beg, because I am alive. Now let's talk to the Conservative

MP for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker. Most people would say, if

you are not entitled, there is no problem, but when you see something

like that, the government comes over as callous. Unfortunately, that

peace was biased and one-sided. We do not know what the decision, how

it was taken, what it was. One person that can find out is his MP,

so I would suggest he contacts his MP to see with the assessment is

fair. But there is a fact, 40% of Atos decisions are overturned.

seems to suggest that maybe the system is not working. It is 40% of

those who appeal. I can give you an example of my constituency, I have

had three dozen cases that we have stood for, and challenged Atos. It

is not very often that they get it wrong, if I am being honest. They do

get it wrong, I am not saying they have not got it wrong in this case,

but in the majority, the assessment they do, in my experience, are

correct. Is it purely about getting money? Are you so broke that you

have to resort to this tactic? Not at all. Lots of people say to me,

look, we are on incapacity benefit, we want to work, we cannot work

full-time, but the benefit is an inhibitor. When you are working, it

builds self-esteem, it gives you confidence, it gives you more

freedom. That is why the government are going down this line.

12 people have been arrested in a series of raids across Yorkshire,

aimed at illegal workers and businesses employing staff who are

living in the UK without permission. Premises in Leeds, Bradford,

Wakefield and Sheffield were targeted in the Home Office

Early evening in Sheffield centre, and a curry house is about to

receive a surprise visit from the Home Office. This is one of a series

of raids taking place across the country as part of a national day of

action targeting suspected illegal workers. We have secured the

premises, we are executing the warrant. We have looked around to

see if any people have hidden away, which happens quite regularly. We

are in the process of going through the people, looking at their IDE. It

has been more than half an hour since officers entered the

restaurant. They have been carrying out detailed checks, looking at

passport records and using mobile fingerprint scanners to see if

everyone working inside is legally allowed to be here. Looks like they

could be some arrests. This operation is the result of months of

intelligence gathering and was one of more than a dozen raids taking

place across Yorkshire over 24 hours. Five arrests were made here,

three of those on suspicion of living and working in the UK

illegally. Two others on suspicion of knowingly implying illegal

workers. They are very often paying low wages to people, they are also

not paying tax, national insurance, things that legitimate companies

would pay. So they have a better chance of survival when other people

who are doing things legitimately are struggling, and they cost the

taxpayer a lot of money. 140 arrests were made across the UK yesterday,

12 of them in Yorkshire. It is not yet known how will you people will

be charged, but those who are will face tough penalties or even be

deported. Later on Look North. A warning that

could save lives. Experts say stroke victims in Sheffield are waiting too

long before calling for help. In other news, hundreds of former

miners have been told they'll lose their concessionary fuel allowances

as part of changes to their pensions. The National Union of

Mineworkers is fighting the changes brought in after the company that

runs Kellingley Colliery near Pontefract, UK Coal, underwent a

restructuring. Pensioners had been entitled to a cash payment or up to

four tonnes of coal under the old agreement.

A West Yorkshire mother who says her four-year-old daughter would have

died without a blood transfusion is appealing for more people to

register as donors. Candice Flynn's daughter Lucy, who's registered

blind, needed multiple transfusions after she was diagnosed with a rare

form of cancer. Candice hopes the Summer Superhero Road Show in Leeds

city centre will encourage more I would like to be able to say to

people, can you put your arm out, put your needle in, give some blood

and help little ones like Lucy? If she did not have the blood, she

would not be here now. An investigation's under way after a

plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Leeds Bradford

Airport this morning. The Jet2 flight had to turn back shortly

after taking off for Amsterdam. Jet2 says the aircraft experienced a

technical issue. The plane landed safely and all passengers were flown

out on an alternative aircraft. Investigations are under way into

the cause of a large mill fire in Slaithwaite in West Yorkshire. It

started at around 8:30pm last night, and at one stage 50 fire-fighters

were at the derelict building. The fire is now out, and no-one was

hurt. Experts say they are concerned that

patients in Sheffield are waiting too long to call for help when

having a stroke. Every minute, around two million brain cells are

lost, and any delay in treatment can lead to life-changing injury.

Figures suggest that many more people in Sheffield could be

considered for specialist clot-busting drugs if only they

We are just going to take your blood pressure. Stuart Dodson is making a

good recovery after suffering a stroke on Easter Sunday. His wife

called an ambulance after recognising the warning signs, and

within half an hour, he was receiving life-saving treatment. By

acting quickly, he limited the damage to his brain. It could have

been a lot worse. I could be in a wheelchair, my wife taking me to the

toilet, bringing me back from the toilet, and looking after me.

hold of my hand and pull back. has now retrained most of his

function, but not everyone takes the right action. In Sheffield, experts

are concerned that a particular problem with people not acting

quickly enough exist. The number of people in Sheffield who have a

stroke is in line with the national average. 935 patients were admitted

to hospital in the last 12 months. 150 might normally qualify for a

treatment called thrombolysis, the clotbusting drugs that could make

the difference between long-term disability or death. But last year,

only 60 patients in Sheffield received it. That is because there

is a cut-off time of four and a half hours for the safe use of the drugs.

If people do not get to hospital in time, they cannot have it. People in

Sheffield are stoic, they think things will get better, and by

soldiering on and being stoic, they are preventing themselves from

getting life changing treatment. When a stroke strikes, it spreads

like a fire in the brain. warning signs include whether the

person's face has fallen on one side, and they still smile, can they

raised both arms and keep them there, and is their speech slurred?

It is time to call 909. For Stuart, his prompt action should mean a good

recovery. But there are others who are not so lucky.

Car dismantlers say hundreds of jobs are at risk across Yorkshire because

they have been unfairly dragged into the Government's fight against metal

thieves. They say new laws will add to their costs, drive away business

and destroy years of advances in the Another of the 1.5 million cars

scrapped every year in England is dragged into a breakers yard near

Leeds. Over 80% of each vehicle will be recycled, and what is left

disposed of safely under strict environmental controls. But there is

concern that new laws could unwittingly lead to a huge leap in

dumped vehicles. The new laws are aimed at destroying the market for

the theft of copper cables, usually from the rail network, that that can

often have highly dangerous consequences. Everybody agreed that

the law had to be tightened up to weed out these cowboy scrap metal

dealers who were buying this illegally acquired copper wire. But

from October, the law is widened even further for the first time,

dismantle as part of the regulations. They have to identify

and record every person who wants to sell them a car, and if they

purchase that car for cash, that becomes illegal. We are not scrap

metal dealers. We purchase cars. We will go to a customer and pay in

cash. They will not accept a chat, they need the cash to buy a car or

do whatever. With the cash incentives gone, the odds like this

fear being bypassed. That threatens jobs. Here, one of over 40 in Leeds

alone, this is typical. It is a family business. It will be very

sad, because at the end of the day, we will not get the cars that we

need, because they will not sell them by check, and the street trader

will take them without being the polluted, and scrap them. The Home

Office insists that, as part of every vehicle becoming a scrap

metal, the jobs are buying scrap metal, and the regulations are

applicable. Everybody agrees the thefts must be stopped, but by

dragging in this mantle is into the regulations, it is possible that

they might be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Coming up, getting behind the wheel of some magnificent machines.

Classic cars take to the track at Croft Circuit for a nostalgic

weekend. Now, it's high summer, yesterday

temperatures were in the 30s, and England and Australia's cricketers

are battling it out for the Ashes on the other side of the Pennines. But

believe it or not, the football season actually kicks off in about

This is the oldest professional football ground in the world, in

what is the oldest professional football league in the world. What

could be more fitting in its 125th anniversary season than the big

kick-off being between founder members Sheffield United and Notts

County? This season is kicking Gough 12 days early. The reason, so that

every team can have one extra home match on Saturday. It has been

glorious here today, and David Weir is hoping that whatever the weather

does, his team will sparkle. The numbers that have come out and

have supported us, they have been great, and we want to continue that,

we want to give them a team that is successful, something they can look

forward to watching on a Saturday afternoon.

We might be 12 days early, but there are at least two teams who cannot

wait, what and Bradford came up last season, and they are raring to go.

-- rather rum and Bradford. It is too late to say that times are

changing. They already have done. After winning automatic promotion,

Rotherham fans have been yearning for the next season to start. The

likes of Coventry City and Preston North End had better be ready to

face the modern-day millers. We know the size of the task, if we into

mid-table, that would be a realistic objective. The ambition is to break

into the top group. If we can do that, if we can surprise HQ, there

will be a play-off race. The engines are stillborn on Bradford City's

open top bus. They earned the right to play in league one in a Wembley

play-off final against Northampton. After a season of why spend

humiliating Premier League teams on their run to the league cup final,

we should not be too surprised that the confidence is that they will

have much of what is required to play at the higher level. When I

bump into supporters, they say, really have a go. We will see where

that takes us. Our job is to get the absolute maximum out of ourselves.

And to maximise the potential we have in the squad. Where that will

take us, I could not tell you. will have the answer in 46 matches

With me is a lifelong Sheffield United fan. How weird is it, being

here on August the 2nd? It is crazy, I was reading through

Twitter, I read a tweet from somebody that said they could not

believe the football season was finally back, but I cannot believe

it feels like a matter of weeks. short time since we were watching

the play-offs, it is incredible. time is just long enough for the

disappointment to soak away a bit, but only just. Football fans are the

only people on the planet who are capable of being optimists and

pessimists at the same time. What your feelings, coming in here

tonight, the first game, new season? I was thinking about this

today. Every journey of misery starts with a single step. In that

respect, we need to be here! The expectoration, yet again, is

incredible. I am the same as every fan, I am never surprised by

disappointment, but constantly hoping it will not happen again.

is a surprise how many big names are in this league. How difficult will

it be? For a long while, we were in the Championship, people say it was

a great vision, but this league seems to be heading the same way.

There are some huge teams in there. It will be harder this year than it

should have been last year. Wolverhampton will be a threat, a

lot of other big teams, but everybody thinks they have got a

chance. Yeovil Town are the perfect example from last year. You ought to

be a pundit! Kick-off at about 8pm, about an hour away. The new season

gets under way on August the 2nd. We will have the result in our late

news at 10:25pm. Good luck to Sheffield United and all of our

sides in the respectively. And in cricket, top-of-the-table

Yorkshire are taking on Warwickshire in the County Championship at

Headingley. It looks to have been a hard day. Gary Ballance trapped

though BW. Worth going along to Headingley tomorrow.

In Super League, the Leeds Rhinos scored their third straight win last

night. The Rhinos beat London Broncos 30-18. This brilliant try

from Ben Jones-Bishop put the Rhinos 12-0 up. Captain Kevin Sinfield was

making his 500th professional appearance, and converted all five

team. Sheffield's Jessica Ennis-Hill will

be out of action for three or four months because of an Achilles

injury. She took part in the London Anniversary Games last weekend and

was hoping to go to Moscow for the World Championships later this

month, but had to pull out. She says it's now time to stop chasing

fitness and try to cure the problem. We wish her the best of luck.

Now for a bit of World War II nostalgia. '40s fashions, the music

of George Formby and Glenn Miller, classic cars and military vehicles.

Well, add to that little cocktail the sound of high-octane race cars

and you have the Nostalgia Weekend at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire.

Let's put you behind the wheel of a four military race car. Flat out at

90 plus down the pit straight. Break, into third, through the

chicane, accelerate away. This is motor racing as it used to be in the

60s and 70s. Not a sport for the faint-hearted. You would not want to

contact anything solid. You would do yourself some injury. There was no

carbon fibre, there were no aluminium tubs. Fairly primitive

stuff, and some pieces from road cars that you could pick up from

your local garage. Some of the classic sport and saloons of

yesteryear as well. The Jaguars, and a couple of Lotus Cortina 's. A

great weekend for all of the family, just do not spend too long changing

your brake shoes. Your daughters are looking bored. They enjoy it,

actually. A passion for classic cars, I understand, but when it

comes to Michu vehicles, and all of that re-enactment business, I am

struggling. -- military vehicles will stop --. We set up a static

defence perimeter. Somewhere within Germany, with the Soviet bloc as our

enemies. This is an American jeep, built to last ten weeks, but this

one is 70 years old, part of the military display. I'll put it with

this bunch of slackers. Smarten up, guys! They were totally utilitarian,

they could be taken to pieces and mended. This is fairly universal.

Add to this, Spitfires, 40s fashions and a tank firing demonstration, and

it has the makings of a splendid nest object weekend.

-- Nostalgia Weekend. Thank you for the comment about how

lovely the presenters are looking I am hoping it calls down this

weekend! It has been another warm day today. The farmers have been

making the most of the fine weather. The hay bales there. The next one, a

beautiful one from sunset last night, the Scarborough spa express

crossing the river. It has been a warm day today, we have reached 27

degrees through North Yorkshire. Sunny spells, scattered showers

tomorrow, but it feels a bit colder. The temperatures are back to average

for the time of year. The south-westerly wind will give us a

stream of showers at times, but there will be spelt of sunshine in

between. The heavy showers and thunderstorms are these white bands

of cloud, bringing a scattering of heavy showers, even occasional

thunderstorms. The risk continues through the night, although the

showers ease in intensity as we head towards dawn. There will be some

clear spells, it will be another mile night. Uncomfortable for

morning... Tomorrow, it will be a mild start, there will already be a

scattering of showers in places, and we keep that risk through the day,

into the afternoon, he showers. To fade from the North. South Yorkshire

will pick up a cue showers, but elsewhere, it is mostly dry, with

the best of the sunshine. The wind will be gentle. The temperatures are

around average for the time of year, mixture of sunny spells, scattered

showers. The temperatures are average. On Monday, it will turn

more unsettled. We will see a band of rain pushing up from the

south-west. It will be heavy at first before it turns Cheri later.

But you stay, back to sunny spells, You said, it is like watching beauty