Browse content similar to 14/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Midlands Today with Suzanne Virdee and Nick Owen. | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
The headlines tonight. She was looking for the love of her | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
life but she found the internet dating cheat who cost her her life | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
savings. I had begun to put his -- my trust | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
in him and it turned out to be a complete lie. | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
How or an aeroplane style black box in your car could set you -- save | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
you a small fortune. The redundancy payouts creating a | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
wave of entrepreneur's. If you have a very good idea, you | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
will know that you should be able to make money from it. | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
Her the budding tennis star who helped Britain beat Slovakia in the | :00:49. | :00:59. | |
:00:59. | :01:02. | ||
Davis Cup. Welcome to Tuesday's Midlands Today | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
from the BBC. Conned out of �40,000, the woman who fell in love over the | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
internet. Vicky Fowkes thought that the | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
charming expat she met online bluffed her but he turned out to be | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
an internet love rat who duped her into sending her life savings to | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
Nigeria. The truth only came out when police | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
here discovered the scam and informed her. Tonight she told our | :01:26. | :01:32. | |
reporter that she felt humiliated and had lost her self-respect. | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
I am a professional person, I am usually a good judge of character. | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
I thought I knew what I was doing. In the summer of 2010 Vicky Fowkes | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
signed up to a dating website. Fairly quickly she met a man who | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
told her he was a British citizen working in Nigeria as a civil | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
engineer. At as things developed, week by | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
week we talked about everything and anything under the sun. I began to | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
feel a harmony with him. On the day Vicky was due to meet | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
him at Heathrow she received an e- mail saying he was being held at | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
the Nigerian airport. All week later he said his personal | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
possessions had been stolen and he asked for a small matter of money | :02:16. | :02:25. | |
to help. He gave plausible reasons all the way through why it was not | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
possible to get money from his family and friends and his bank. | :02:31. | :02:37. | |
Because I wanted to help him, to get to know him better, I agreed to | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
send him some money. Over the next few months she sent him almost | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
�40,000, virtually her entire life savings. It was only when two | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
police officers turned up at her house did she realise she was the | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
victim of an international baiting scam. The figures are breathtaking, | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
the losses that people incur. Sadly, I am aware of the at least two | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
suicides that have occurred from people being conned Indies romance | :03:06. | :03:16. | |
:03:16. | :03:18. | ||
scams. -- in these. Figures obtained from Google by the | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
Association of British Introduction Agencies say that 48 % of single | :03:20. | :03:27. | |
women and 52 % of men use the internet to try to find love. This | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
-- the Association say that you should never send money to anybody | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
you are dating online. I am sure you have heard of people | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
who have been caught by these scams, and you think, idiot. Absolutely, | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
how can you fall into it? I am still intrigued by how | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
sophisticated these scammers are. Police say that romance scams cost | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
people in the UK millions of pounds a year and, due to the | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
embarrassment many feel, just 5 % are ever reported. It can happen to | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
anybody. It really can. Once you have been targeted and the initial | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
information has been exchanged, there are obviously sophisticated | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
minds out there working and grooming people. That is what it is, | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
I was being groomed to be financially ruined. Vicky says that | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
thanks to family and friends she is at last getting her life back on | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
track and she hopes that by telling her story it will stop others | :04:30. | :04:38. | |
falling for the same scam. How safe is online dating? We are | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
joined now from our studio in London by the chairman of the | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
Association of British Introduction Agencies. Thanks for joining us. | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
Very brave of the Vicky to tell us her story. She wants to warn others, | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
but this is a very frightening, sad story. This command ruined her | :04:58. | :05:08. | |
:05:08. | :05:08. | ||
self-esteem. How common is this? -- this conman. I hear stories every | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
day, I received phone calls from all over the country. I am afraid | :05:13. | :05:20. | |
she is not on her own. There is one thing I am curious about. Why would | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
you send money to somebody you have not even met? I think Vicky was | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
saying he was so plausible and sophisticated. Many people in | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
Northern -- normal life will not have come across somebody so | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
skilled at lying. Unfortunately this is human nature. I really | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
would advise people to meet people within the country and to be very | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
careful about the sort of dating did you are doing online. These | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
days we take care over credit cards and everything else but when it | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
comes to our personal lives we don't take the same amount of care. | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
When we go out and meet people, it is quite extraordinary. People | :06:07. | :06:13. | |
looking for love are very vulnerable, aren't they? They are, | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
and that is where you really need to talk to your friends, who mostly | :06:18. | :06:25. | |
will say, look, be a bit careful here. Make sure that you do | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
actually meet these people in safe places and never fall in love over | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
the phone. That is a disaster. responsibility do you think dating | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
websites have? It is very sad. At the moment there is no legislation | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
and it is something that we are looking into in this country. We | :06:48. | :06:54. | |
have tried for many years now to get a part sponsorship from the | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
Office of Fair Trading. They came back and said, they decided to | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
change the whole procedure and we have heard nothing since. We would | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
love to see something in place, some code of practice. Thanks very | :07:10. | :07:19. | |
much indeed. We have had loads of Commons. | :07:19. | :07:26. | |
-- comments are. Terry Taylor says, we were scammed | :07:26. | :07:33. | |
out of �600. Kim Storr says that a soldier in | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
Afghanistan said that he needed to send some money to my commanding | :07:37. | :07:44. | |
officer -- offers. Heather said it never send money. | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
Tanya Bagnall said that she met her husband online. It was nearly 80 | :07:50. | :07:58. | |
years ago and now we have two wonderful children. -- eight years. | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
Let's catch up with the rest of the day's news. A woman and a teenage | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
boy have died after a crash involving a car and attract. It | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
happened on the B4362 near Lucton School in Lucton in Herefordshire | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
at around 10 o'clock this morning. Two younger boys travelling in the | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
back of the red Vauxhall Corsa were airlifted to hospital. One is said | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
to be critical. A 21-year-old law student has | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
denied racially abusing Stan Collymore on twitter. Joshua Cryer | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
appeared before Newcastle upon Tyne magistrates after a complaint from | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
Mr Collymore to Staffordshire police. Mr Collymore is now a radio | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
presenter. The latest government figures | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
suggest more than 4,000 people a month are being made redundant in | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
this region but, rather than joining the ranks of the unemployed, | :08:50. | :08:57. | |
more and more are using their redundancy payments to start up a | :08:57. | :08:58. | |
business. Our business correspondent Peter | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
Plisner has been finding how easy or difficult it is to start a new | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
business. It is one of the biggest cost of | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
and -- owning a car, but now you can do a DIY service and save a | :09:11. | :09:19. | |
fortune. Coventry-based Ramp and Wrench is the brainchild of James | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
Brennan. It was one of those conversations | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
in the pub with amateur enthusiasts, not really having be professional | :09:29. | :09:36. | |
equipment to be able to do all of the jobs on your car. | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
I started to do some market research and found out that there | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
were none of these garages in the Midlands so I thought it would be a | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
good idea. And he was right. | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
It is great value for money. I am extremely impressed. | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
Running your own business can be very rewarding but first you have | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
to find the right idea, then there are months of hard work, but if it | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
works out it can be very liberated. -- liberating. | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
That is the joy for Richard Kemp, who along with his wife set up a | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
catering business in 2010 with his redundancy money. It was a big leap | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
for a man who describes himself as a risk-averse. | :10:25. | :10:34. | |
I always had faith in my wife's food, but you never know. That | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
risk-averse person that lurked behind me was saying, is it good | :10:37. | :10:45. | |
enough? Is the market too crowded? One estimate suggests that 70 % of | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
new small businesses are being set up following redundancy. -- 17 %. | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
Generally it is people who have a good idea, they have that spirit | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
and they may be finding it more difficult to get back into work so | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
they are taking that leap and thinking, I have a bit of money, I | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
am prepared to risk it. But before you take the risk it is | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
worth bearing in mind that some estimates suggest that one in three | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
start-up businesses will fail in their first three years. | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
We are joined now by Andrea Campbell from the Birmingham | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
Business Centre. What is prompting so many people to set up on their | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
own? People are looking for various things. Some are at risk of being | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
made redundant, some are just looking at the opportunity, using | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
their inherent skills to look at ways to increase their income. | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
do you help them? We have development workshops where we talk | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
about the realities of doing this and help people structure | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
themselves with a business plan, look at the financial aspects, look | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
at marketing and cover the whole variety. Do you find that they know | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
what they are doing? Some do, some don't. Some people have been in | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
business before and they have come back to refresh their skills, some | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
are in business is at the moment and some are coming in completely | :12:18. | :12:28. | |
:12:28. | :12:29. | ||
from scratch. -- some are in business is. If they have an idea, | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
are you honest with them and say, this is not going to work? We try | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
to be as tactful as possible. We help them recognise why it might | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
not work. Because I think, with all consciousness, we have to be really | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
careful about people investing money, whether through redundancy | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
money or their savings, to come into a business that we think will | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
pan out. What other chances of getting a decent loan? It depends | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
on the quality of the business plan. Banks do want a loan but it depends | :13:04. | :13:14. | |
:13:14. | :13:23. | ||
on the proposal by have in front of Aeroplanes have them and ships, but | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
now you can get a black box for your car. They record details about | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
how our cars are driven, in some cases the data they hold can | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
dramatically cut insurance premiums. They also record useful data in car | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
accidents and they're becoming so popular one firm here is fitting | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
400 a day. Annual car insurance now runs into | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
thousands, not hundreds of pounds for many young drivers, so some | :13:40. | :13:46. | |
motorists are turning to technology to keep their bills down. This car | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
is being fitted with as telematics unit. It's a black box that allows | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
insurance companies to monitor speed, distance and acceleration. | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
Careful driving is rewarded with lower premiums, something the owner | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
of this vehicle is keen to achieve. It is getting to be a bit of a joke. | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
I've already started looking for my insurance policy this year and it | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
looks as though it will be another furred on top of what I'm paying | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
already. -- Another third. The devices are fitted by RS Fleet | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
Installations, a company based in Perry Barr in Birmingham. It's | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
taken on over a 100 new workers to help cope with the demand for the | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
black boxes. The insurance companies are not interested in | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
knowing where you've been. That is not what the issue is. What they do | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
care about is sensible driving. They want to know that you drive at | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
a reasonable speed, in at the correct areas. The increasing | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
popularity of the devices coincides with soaring insurance claims. | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
Whiplash injuries have increased by 70 % in six years for example. It | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
is something the Prime Minister has vowed to tackle. The government | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
says 1500 claims per day are hiding �90 per year to the average | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
insurance bill. Because of that, industry insiders predict the boxes | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
will be fitted as standard within the next few years. Anything that | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
brings insurance costs down is likely to be welcomed by a newly | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
:15:23. | :15:24. | ||
qualified drivers. I was quoted 1500 pounds and enough or �1,630. I | :15:24. | :15:31. | |
cannot get a good job to pay for this. A burden it is hoped that | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
this black box when ease, at least for careful drivers. A be great | :15:35. | :15:45. | |
:15:45. | :15:51. | ||
invention, isn't it? Our reporter is at West Mercia | :15:51. | :15:58. | |
police headquarters right now. How much are they having to say? | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
There is a whole package of cuts. The force is said to make �3 | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
million in savings over the 2012 / 2013 financial year. That fits into | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
a much bigger picture. �38 million is having to be cut overall. That | :16:14. | :16:22. | |
is a process that began in 2010 and will run until 2016. �20.8 million | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
has already been saved. Part of that is the �3 million that has | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
been identified for this year. �17 million has still to be identified | :16:30. | :16:38. | |
in future years. A short time ago I spoke to the shift Constable -- | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
Chief Constable and asked him what reassurance he could give to the | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
public. This is a big challenge. We have to take a big hit on our total | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
budget. We've been planning this now for well over two years. Howard | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
change programme will take another three years. It is happening over a | :16:53. | :17:00. | |
long period. How many job cuts are you facing? 287 were quoted. Will | :17:00. | :17:07. | |
there be compulsory job quotes -- cuts? We are trained to manage this | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
irresponsible way and keep the workforce on side. They are a | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
fantastic group and we needed to carry them with us. You cannot take | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
something like �38 million out of the budget and not have an impact | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
on people. You are closing several stations for example. That is | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
likely to invoke anger. The I don't think there will be anger. We have | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
spoken to the public quite a lot around this and the police | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
authority have done some exhaustive consultation. I think the public | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
understands... Yes, they do like police stations to be open but we | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
are not shutting any police stations. We are trying to make | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
sure they are open in the cases and that the times they are needed. The | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
few years ago we did not have mobiles, tweeting or Facebook so | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
there are lots of different ways the public can contact us. Surely | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
treating a police force is not the same as face-to-face contact. | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
people prefer it. For many parts of the committee, people are | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
contacting us in a way that they never used to. What resources are | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
you sharing with Warwickshire police? Quite simply, the answer to | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
that is we are saying we do it once unless there is a compelling reason | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
not to. Some tangible things that we are looking out of things the | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
public would expect around personnel and human resources, some | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
call management, information technology, the way we use the | :18:33. | :18:41. | |
fleet. What has a Russian been to the Chief Constable's plans? | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
-- What has been the reaction. These cuts are very real but at the | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
same time, this force took on 40 officers from other forces last | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
summer had plans to take on another 20 new recruits in April. This | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
forced has built up a reserve of around �30 million over the last 10 | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
years. This is what the Secretary of the West Mercia Police | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
Federation had to say about it. assurance is West Mercia, as it | :19:08. | :19:15. | |
stands, the financial director is being financially astute. If you | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
get rid of your reserves, where do you go then? That is an issue for | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
us. The chief constable will be doing it live web chat at 6:30pm | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
tomorrow when members of the public can send in the questions for him | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
to answer directly. You can get more information about that on the | :19:33. | :19:42. | |
forces website. Still to come here on Midlands | :19:42. | :19:51. | |
Today: A boating club with no water can set sail again. And we will | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
have some frost-free nights but it is back to winter by the weekend, | :19:55. | :20:05. | |
:20:05. | :20:16. | ||
A Dan with sport. What's the latest Alan Curbishley has been out of | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
work since leaving West Ham in 2080 has confirmed he is interested. It | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
is possible worlds my it offer a 13 game deal until the end of the | :20:26. | :20:35. | |
season and then reassess once the Premier League status is decided. | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
When our number one tennis player, Andy Murray pulled out of Britain's | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
Davis Cup match through injury, a window of opportunity suddenly | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
opened up for Dan Evans. And he certainly grabbed it with both | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
hands. Dan, who's from Birmingham, hit top form to clinch a thrilling | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
victory over Slovakia. Whether it was cricket or hockey, squash or | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
tennis, Dan Evans was never short of options as a youngster at the | :20:55. | :21:05. | |
West Warwickshire Sports Club. His dad played squash, so Dan did too. | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
But when he turned nine, tennis became his passion. And now, aged | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
21, that passion is flourishing into his full-time profession. | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
Because Dan is ranked fifth in Britain, 270th in the world. He has | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
got a natural flair. You can see it straight away. He has timing with | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
the ball. He was always a good athlete. Has he got what it takes? | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
I think he has. He has proven he has the ability and the mental | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
strength. Certainly he has the desire to go on to great things. | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
Dan's still on cloud nine after playing a starring role for Britain | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
in their Davis Cup victory over Slovakia. He was only in the team | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
because Andy Murray was injured. But he managed to win both his | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
singles matches against much higher-ranked opponents. I was more | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
happy tonight did it for everyone else in the team, a sense of | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
achievement. Everybody pulled together for the whole week and got | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
the winner. What was the atmosphere like in Glasgow? The atmosphere was | :22:00. | :22:06. | |
good, especially on the last day with the final set. It was really | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
loud and everybody got behind it. In June, Dan would love to make it | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
third time lucky by winning his first match at Wimbledon. And his | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
long term goal is to make the world's top 100. You are very | :22:18. | :22:27. | |
driven. Yes, I suppose I am. Everybody in the tennis world is | :22:28. | :22:37. | |
:22:38. | :22:39. | ||
driven so it is the ones who are more driven who will come through. | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
Next he's off to play in France and Mexico and Miami, before Britain's | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
Davis Cup quarter final against Belgium in April. | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
The organisers of the Great Birmingham Run are aiming for | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
20,000 runners at this year's event. And a former Olympian will be among | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
them on Sunday, October 21st. Iwan Thomas was a Commonwealth champion | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
at the 400 metres but he now runs distance events for charity. And he | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
says raising money for good causes can inspire anyone to complete the | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
half marathon course. When you do do the race and if it does begin to | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
hit, You ask, why are you doing this? If it is raising money for | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
charity, you keeper digging in. When you get to the finish line, | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
it's a great feeling. When you finish, you will want to come and | :23:21. | :23:31. | |
:23:31. | :23:36. | ||
back and do it again. Work on a �5.5 million engineering | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
project at one of the region's major reservoirs is nearing | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
completion. Chasewater reservoir was drained in 2010 following | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
concerns about the safety of the 200-year-old dam. | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
Today more than a hundred tonnes of concrete was pumped into it, to | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
help control the flow of water. Through the smallest of tubes, a | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
hundred tonnes of concrete's squeezed inside a new dam. It'll | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
help regulate the flow of water from the Chasewater Reservoir to | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
surrounding areas. During flood conditions, the water will build up | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
for this side and eventually it will flow over the top. It will be | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
directed into the canal. The mile- long reservoir was built in 1797. | :24:13. | :24:22. | |
Crucially, it supported local industry, keeping waterways open. | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
But centuries of erosion brought cracks, and a high risk of flooding, | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
so it was drained two years ago for repairs. There was an inspection | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
done by the authorities and that report said that if something was | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
not done to strengthen it, to make sure it was safe, up to 85 lives | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
could be lost. On occasions rescuers had to help a few stuck in | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
the sticky mud. The Chasewater Country Park is also home to a | :24:42. | :24:49. | |
sailing club which hasn't been on the water for two years. We are | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
keen for the work to progress quicker but there is such a good | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
social side, it has kept everyone together. Even though the work is | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
nearly complete, as you can see, this reservoir is nowhere near | :25:03. | :25:09. | |
capacity. But these are the most substantial repairs done here for | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
two centuries. Even so, the rainwater should fill the space and | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
by summer of next year. It is up to God. Staffordshire County Council | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
is a fairly powerful but when it comes to rain, we need to rely on a | :25:24. | :25:32. | |
higher force. Predicting just when a billion gallons of water will | :25:32. | :25:34. | |
fall from the skies seems a perilous business but the sooner | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
the better. Chasewater's a site of special scientific interest, with | :25:37. | :25:47. | |
:25:47. | :25:48. | ||
an array of rare bird and fish species. | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
Well, the temperatures were definitely up today although if you | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
were caught in the winds you probably wouldn't agree. These | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
winds will continue to hound us over the next few days and | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
introduce more cloud. Although it should stay mild. Until the weekend | :26:03. | :26:12. | |
that is. By then low pressure begins to dominate from the North | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
and the source of that air will be a lot colder and then another takes | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
over from the West on Sunday. So if nature isn't confused enough | :26:22. | :26:32. | |
already it soon will be. So tonight, the winds are going to pick up a | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
little more and drag in more cloud with the odd spot of rain but it | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
stays largely dry and a touch milder than last night with lows of | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
three or four so the majority of places staying frost free. So with | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
that as our starting point tomorrow, it'll be duller morning but as well | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
as importing more cloud the breeze is likely to help break up that | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
cloud through the day to give us some sunshine. It'll add a wind | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
chill but temperatures up to 10 Celsius. Tomorrow night even milder | :27:01. | :27:08. | |
with lows of just five. Again dry but it's on Thursday night that the | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
Westerly's kick in and rain starts to flow in from the that direction | :27:11. | :27:21. | |
:27:21. | :27:26. | ||
A look at tonight's main headlines: New figures on the cost of living. | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
Inflation drops for the second month in a row. | :27:30. | :27:33. |