Browse content similar to 28/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening and welcome to Tuesday's Midlands Today from the | :00:04. | :00:13. | |
BBC. Signs of recovery as a multi- million-pound plan his announced | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
for Staffordshire. With the right quality brights there is a real | :00:18. | :00:28. | |
:00:28. | :00:31. | ||
opportunity. Jail for a con man. said, what sort of blind to you | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
want? He hadn't even told the court. -- porch. | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
Syrian exile's here wait anxiously for news of friends and family. | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
And primary school parents, furious as they had teacher takes a week | :00:45. | :00:55. | |
:00:55. | :01:00. | ||
off in term time for a holiday. -- Good evening. Tonight: a group of | :01:00. | :01:01. | |
investors from Staffordshire announce multi-million pound plans | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
for a factory which would see a revival of truck building in the | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Midlands. They've embarked upon a partnership with a firm owned by | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
the powerful Indian manufacturers the Hinduja Group. It's envisaged | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
trucks will be built at a new factory in Longton in Stoke on | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
Trent, potentially creating hundreds of jobs. There are over | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
90,000 people employed at vehicle manufacturers and within the supply | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
chain in the West Midlands The industry accounts for 5% of the | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
regions jobs. And it's estimated that 40% of all foreign direct | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
investment is in the automotive sector. Our Staffordshire reporter | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
Liz Copper has this exclusive report. | :01:43. | :01:50. | |
This is the first long dinner truck. It is a market -- market makers | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
hope will be recognised worldwide. It is being built in Prague in the | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
Czech Republic but will be sought - - sold by a consortium of | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
businessmen from Staffordshire. British manufacturing is not dead. | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
We are making more vehicles are in the UK than we have done for many | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
years, and this is part of the revival to stop so there is hope. | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
The long contract has been developed in construction with | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
Leyland apart of the Indian owned Hinduja. They are teaming up with | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
British entrepreneurs and designers. The name Lord Pym was selected to | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
reflect not just the origins of its investors, but also to appeal | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
specifically to the UK market. found that the brand recognition | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
for long pin in the UK had a British connotation to it. And in | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
general, a believe that the Stoke- on-Trent has an long history of | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
engineering pedigree in the UK. Prague is a city renowned for its | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
cultural and historic importance. It also has a rich manufacturing | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
and industrial heritage. It will be the manufacturing centre for this | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
new venture for the next months. Initially all the tracks would be | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
made in the Czech Republic, but there are well advanced plans for a | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
new factory in Stoke-on-Trent. So although Prague will continue to be | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
the production centre initially, eventually, it is hoped long can it | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
will be the location for a new UK factory. This is a town that has | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
seen the demise of some traditional industries and has a higher than I | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
care -- average unemployment rate. Already they have a sales and | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
distribution base, they are now looking for a site for an assembly | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
plant. It is our ambition to start assembly as soon as we can make it | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
viable in the UK, and to take on apprentices and use the skills | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
there and have them passed on. There is a danger some of the | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
skills might die out. Those long term ambitions could be supported | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
by the most recent sales figures for trucks. Industry insiders say | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
the market is growing. Entering any new market is to challenge but | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
there are great opportunities. It is a recovering market. I think | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
with the right investment and quality product so there is a real | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
opportunity here. As it emerges into the market it faces | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
competition from well established truck makers. But it is hoped this | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
newcomer will herald more success for the Midlands automotive | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
industry. Let's talk now to Jane Gratton, | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
from North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce - this sounds very good | :04:36. | :04:44. | |
news, potentially hundreds of jobs? Yes, this is really good news the | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
North Staffordshire and Stoke-on- Trent. It has the potential to | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
bring a couple of hundred much needed jobs, new skills, taking on | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
apprentices, and wealth creation in this area. For me, it is it a | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
really good sign of increasing confident in North Staffordshire as | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
a centre for manufacturing. What difference to think this could make | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
to the area? I think it will help to boost an already thriving | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
manufacturing centre. -- sector. We had already announced a �32 million | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
of investment in manufacturing plants from local companies, and | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
the businesses I'm talking to around and about the area are | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
saying that they have increasing confident now to bring forward the | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
investment plans they may have postponed during the recession. We | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
are seen a run -- rebalancing of the economy towards making things | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
again, and this is a positive sign. He does sound encouraging. What | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
more can you do as a chamber to try and get businesses to relocate to | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
Stoke and North Staffordshire? put together with our partners some | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
measures. We call it our red carpet treatment. But also, with | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
universities, we have a very strong support package to look at research | :06:07. | :06:13. | |
and development, innovation, design, production and exporting. There | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
really is a strong support network, including a thriving manufacturing | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
group, where businesses are helping each other to be successful at | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
manufacturing. Thank you. And on Midlands Today tomorrow, we'll have | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
a special report on an important landmark for Solihull based Land | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
Rover. Still to come this evening: Getting | :06:32. | :06:40. | |
empty houses back on the property ladder, but will it work? | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
I am alive at Port Vale with the latest on their financial problems | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
as they battle to stay out of administration. He tricked elderly | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
people out of thousands of pounds for building work which was never | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
completed or even started. Tonight, rogue builder Antony Mander is | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
starting a prison sentence after pleading guilty to obtaining money | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
by deception. Mander conned 17 elderly residents | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
in Staffordshire out of more than �100,000, convincing them that | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
building work needed to be carried out on their homes and getting the | :07:06. | :07:16. | |
:07:16. | :07:19. | ||
money upfront. Ben Godfrey reports. Hiding his shame, this is 15-year- | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
old builder Antony Mander, described in court as a Perpetual | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
conman. -- 15-year-old. He spent three years conning pensioners | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
living alone. Sid Bloor's aunt is in her eighties. She paid Mander | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
for a new porch. As her husband had just died - he promised to complete | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
it by the time she returned from the funeral. He didn't bother. He | :07:42. | :07:50. | |
tricked her out of around �25,000. She hardly goes out now because of | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
parasite like him. He had �1,000 per been in the loft, don't know | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
what he did, but he didn't do anything. He would chances like, | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
touting for even the smallest bit of business. He would always ask | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
for cash up front, and then come back asking for more expensive work | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
to be taken on. The problem is that we didn't return to do the job. | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
Such was his desperation, he then drove some of his victims to a | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
cashpoint. Today, he was sentenced to three years and nine months | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
after admitting 29 counts of fraud. He's a repeat offender, with | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
previous convictions for deception. He has convictions dating back to | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
the 1980s. The law doesn't give us the power to ban people from | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
trading. If somebody continues to a friend, then we investigate the new | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
allegations. Trading Standards officials believe Mander tricked | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
his victims out of more than �100,000. Absolutely despicable. He | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
ripped me off for five grand. He is supposed to have done a garage | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
conversion than he did half the work, even sent me an invoice the | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
�6,000. Mander told his victims he was a straight and honest builder. | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
They left court in the knowledge that he's gambled their savings | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
away on betting websites. The mental health support given to | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
an "exceptional" student found hanged from a tree was "woeful", a | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
coroner said today. Melissa Martin Hughes, who was 18, was found | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
hanged by a passer-by next to a children's playground in a park in | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
Cheltenham. The death of Melissa, who was | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
predicted to get top grades in her A-level exams, was described by her | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
family as a "tragedy" which will "not easily fade". Andrew Plant | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
reports. Melissa Martin-Hughes was found | :09:40. | :09:49. | |
hanged in a park in Cheltenham in 2010. Added inquest into her death, | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
her parents said they had made it repeated requests to get | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
professional help for their teenage daughter. But her case simply | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
slipped through the system. She was a complex, beautiful daughter who | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
brought great joy to us all, and we miss her complex -- constantly. | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
would like to say that it goes without saying we feel let down by | :10:14. | :10:24. | |
:10:24. | :10:29. | ||
the system. Melissa had made a cry for help in August 2009. It was | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
then that she was seen by a crisis team - run by the 2gether NHS | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
Foundation Trust in Gloucestershire - there to help with suicidal | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
feelings. But because of an administrative error, Melissa was | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
never seen by professionals again. By the time Melissa died, she had | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
had no contact with a mental health services are more than seven months, | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
and during that time had become more and more withdrawn. It was, | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
said the coroner, in retrospect, an opportunity to help her that was | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
missed. She did not receive a package of care and support that | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
was intended, and didn't have the opportunity to engage with our | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
service. Following her death, we undertook a full investigation and | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
identified a number of shortcomings in the service were provided to her. | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
Melissa had recently passed her exams with the highest possible | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
grades, and secured a place at a top university to study chemistry. | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
Her headmaster said she was a brilliant and exceptional people | :11:18. | :11:26. | |
who would never be forgotten. -- people. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
Police in Coventry have sealed off an area of woodland after human | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
remains were found there. A member of the public made the discovery at | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
Wainbody Wood on Sunday. Forensic experts are now examining the | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
remains while officers carry out further searches of the surrounding | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
area. Three teenagers have been charged | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
with arson following a fire at a school in Sutton Coldfield. | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
Firefighters were called to the blaze at John Willmott school late | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
on Sunday night. Police have now charged a 19 year-old woman, a 14 | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
year-old boy and a 14 year-old girl with arson, criminal damage, and | :11:54. | :12:01. | |
burglary. As our television screens are | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
dominated daily by scenes of appalling violence in Syria, it's | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
particularly distressing for Syrian exiles living here in the Midlands. | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
They're desperately trying to get word of their friends and relatives | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
and spread the news of just how serious things have become in their | :12:13. | :12:23. | |
:12:23. | :12:27. | ||
Four thousand miles from home, Abdul Omar sits down to watch the | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
battle for Syria. There are times he and his extended family in | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
Wolverhampton want to despair, but how would that help. They have been | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
times when I have sat outside the embassy and screamed my head off. | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
But unfortunately, you come back to the real world, thinking, that does | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
not really help. Abdul works with opposition groups - this morning a | :12:49. | :12:59. | |
colleague in Homs is telling him about violence overnight. I would | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
not call it decent size, but you realise it is not the time to mourn | :13:03. | :13:11. | |
any more. The morning you do on your own time. The United Nations | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
has called for an immediate ceasefire but there's no sign of | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
President Bashar al-Assad's regime relenting.. Nadia was raised in | :13:16. | :13:23. | |
Stafford but she's half Syrian and lived in Damascus for two years. | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
have seen videos of people I have known who have been murdered, and | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
places that have been destroyed. It is unimaginable. You cannot escape | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
it. In Coventry, another exile's made it his job to gather reports | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
of killings and shellings and pass them to the media. But there's a | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
price to pay - his elderly mother disagrees with what he's doing, and | :13:44. | :13:54. | |
:13:54. | :14:01. | ||
no longer speaks to him. Even my brother here is scared to | :14:01. | :14:10. | |
come in my house. In Syria, no one talks with me now. Next month marks | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
the anniversary of a conflict seemingly far from over, and the | :14:12. | :14:22. | |
:14:22. | :14:25. | ||
pain's felt far and wide. Primary school parents are angry their | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
headteacher's been allowed to take a holiday during term time, when | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
they aren't allowed to do the same. Parents have been told they could | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
be fined �100 if they take their children out of school without | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
permission from the head. Cath Mackie reports. It was a normal | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
school day at Woodlands primary school in Telford. But among the | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
children and members of staff, there was a notable absence. The | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
headteacher - who's gone on holiday. Angry parents told us that John | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
Demmerling has taken his children with him - something the school | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
refused to confirm. He is the role model for the school. He is the | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
bond supposed to be put in the and scented to the children. We are not | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
allowed to. We found it rather shocking can quite disturbing. | :15:10. | :15:17. | |
he has been working solidly, then why not? The school moved to this | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
new site in January. It was agreed that staff who worked extra days | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
could take time off in lieu - as to pay them the extra would have been | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
too costly. In the run-up to the move, he worked the entire week | :15:29. | :15:36. | |
before Christmas to ensure the new school should open as planned. He | :15:36. | :15:46. | |
also worked through February half- term week to... This revelation has | :15:46. | :15:48. | |
coincided with reports that the Education Secretary Michael Gove is | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
planning to clamp down on parents taking their children out of school | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
in term time. The Department of Education is refusing to comment. | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
The policy here is to allow parents term time holidays only in | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
exceptional circumstances or they could face a fine of 100 pounds. | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
The Governors say Mr Demmerling's case is exceptional. The | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
headteacher himself was unavailable for comment. Thanks for joining us | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
this Tuesday evening - still to come: Agony for Darren Bent, as | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
he's out for the rest of the season. But will he miss Euro 2012 too? And | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
a reversal of fortune this week with Scotland the warmest place in | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
the country at 16 Celsius. But we can hardly complain with highs of | :16:22. | :16:32. | |
:16:32. | :16:36. | ||
13 today. Is March going to be any better? Find out later. New figures | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
show that thousands of people are still on the waiting list for | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
houses and, with building work at an all time low, things aren't | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
getting any better. Now one council is planning to tackle the problem | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
by selling off empty houses at auction if they've been vacant for | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
more than six months, with debts to the authority of more than three | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
hundred pounds. Joanne Writtle reports. Boarded up homes scar | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
streets like these in Tunstall in Stoke on Trent. Now the city | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
council plans to get tough. If a property's been empty for more than | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
six months, and more than �300 is owed - in council tax or other | :17:08. | :17:15. | |
debts, the city council could exercise powers to sell it. We want | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
to bring peace homes back into use, not only to improve the look of | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
this city, but also to make sure that people who have not got | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
adequate properties and places to live, a family home, could use | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
these As we spoke to the councillor near empty houses in Fenton, a | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
landlord with several occupied properties gave his view. A I think | :17:41. | :17:48. | |
a better idea would be to give council to give money to the | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
private landlords and tell us to give a help with that. If they put | :17:54. | :18:03. | |
:18:04. | :18:05. | ||
in a percentage, we will put in a percentage. There are 5,000 empty | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
properties in Stoke-on-Trent. Even though there are 19,000 council | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
homes, 3,000 families on the waiting-list. The homes would be | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
sold at auction, with a planned caveat to the buyer that the | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
property needs to be occupied within 12 months. Those living near | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
empty homes said they were keen to see things sorted out. Just get | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
them all done up and sorted out so people can live in them. A lot of | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
people are out in the street because of the environment around | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
this street. Boarding -- boarded-up houses. The government's announced | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
a cash injection to to help neighbourhoods suffering the blight | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
of empty homes: Councillors will discuss the plans later this week. | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
If approved the authority hopes to bring 200 homes a year back into | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
use. Twice he's been left out of the World Cup finals by England. | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
Now, Darren Bent is facing a heartbreaking hat-trick of missing | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
his third major tournament. Tonight, Alex McLeish said if Bent needs an | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
operation on his ankle, he'll definitely be ruled out of the | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
European Championships in June. But the Villa boss believes he's a | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
young man, who's still got a big career ahead of him. Darren Bent | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
signed off 2011 on a high note away to Chelsea. But if the champagne | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
corks were popping on New Year's Eve... The New Year itself has | :19:19. | :19:29. | |
:19:29. | :19:29. | ||
suddenly turned sour for the �24 million striker. Ten minutes from | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
time in Saturday's game at Wigan, Bent collapsed in agony. It looked | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
serious, and so it proved. For Aston Villa, who need his goals to | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
survive in the Premier League, and for England, who head off to the | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
European Championships in June. these three with the injury to | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
Darren, we hope that that will cover itself before the summer. | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
Last night, on Twitter, Bent said "I'm gutted to be out for so long | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
at such a crucial part of the season, hopefully my recovery will | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
be as quick as possible." But how quick will that be? Jim Walker | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
knows a ruptured ankle ligament when he sees one. And luckily | :20:02. | :20:10. | |
mine's not one of them. The former Villa physio says Bent must have | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
suffered a grade 3 injury... And he'll have to there's no way that | :20:13. | :20:23. | |
Bent will be rushing back. It's a far bigger blow for Aston Villa | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
then it is buying them? Yes. If everything goes well, and if he | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
gets himself fit in the for five weeks before the European | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
Championships, the fact they he has not played a lot of football might | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
work in his favour. I would not rule out the European Cham budget, | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
but being a Villa fan, that is more important that it is right for | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
Villa! This season, Darren Bent has scored 10 goals for Villa and one | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
goal for England. His long term absence is a real body blow for | :20:51. | :21:01. | |
:21:01. | :21:04. | ||
both club and country. Also some bad news for the club in general? | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
The accounts for the Cup had just been announced. Aston Villa made a | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
loss of almost �54 million during the previous 12 months. That is a | :21:14. | :21:22. | |
huge figure. That involves charges of �12 million for changing the | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
football management personnel, in other words, settlements for Martin | :21:26. | :21:36. | |
O'Neill and John what he didn't -- Gerard Houllier a. Presumably Randi | :21:36. | :21:44. | |
learn their carries on bankrolling They invested another �25 billion | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
for the club. There was record levels of income, of much the view | :21:49. | :21:56. | |
million pounds. -- �92 million. It was one of the turbulent times in | :21:56. | :22:06. | |
:22:06. | :22:07. | ||
Port Vale's financial problems have claimed another victim with former | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
chairman Peter Miller resigning as a director as the club struggles | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
with mounting debts. Tonight they take on Crewe, and their fans will | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
be hoping the problems off the pitch won't affect the team. Our | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
sports reporter Dan Pallett's there this evening, so what's the mood of | :22:18. | :22:25. | |
fans tonight? Considering it should be one of the biggest games of the | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
season, it is pretty sombre. Both teams on the edge of the League Two | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
play-offs, but the thing that is dominating the pre-match talk is | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
the financial situation of the club. We wanted to speak to the club, is | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
that they turned it down, and we are out here because they turn down | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
a request from us to film in there. They speak to the supporters' club. | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
What sort of problems are the club in? It is as bad as it could get. | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
Ports -- Port Vale supporters have been disenfranchised. The club is | :23:00. | :23:07. | |
on the brink of extinction. It owes money to HM Marsay, the city | :23:07. | :23:16. | |
council, Ferris companies, and player's wages. -- H M R C. It | :23:16. | :23:22. | |
could be worse than that. The club has been badly managed, and there | :23:22. | :23:29. | |
are people that fear for the future of the club. As a lifelong fan, how | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
does -- how much does it mean? hurts a lot, and I can only | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
reiterate that it is total mismanagement by the board. It has | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
lasted frog -- we have asked for months and months to help them, but | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
they won't talk to us, and we could -- this could be one of our last | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
games. This has been going on for 18 months? 18 months. We tried were | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
with the board, and in December, they closed shop on us. They would | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
not let us use the facilities to have a supporters' meetings. The | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
membership of the supporters' club has shot up, and we are depressed | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
every time they have become to the game. We think you could be the | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
last time every time. Hopefully the team will cheer the fans up, but it | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
seems that administration beckons. That would mean a 10 point | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
deduction. Any hope of promotion this season would be gone. That | :24:27. | :24:37. | |
:24:37. | :24:40. | ||
And you can follow Port Vale's match on BBC Radio Stoke tonight, | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
who'll also have regular updates on Burton's match at Swindon. And BBC | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
Hereford and Worcester will have full commentary on Hereford's match | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
at Gillingham. A seven year old boy's been dubbed a "Mini-Messi" | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
after his performance scoring goals in his local football league. Aiden | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
Smith from Castle Vale in Birmingham has scored 46 goals in | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
16 games. He's now using his talents to raise money for a | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
project set up in memory of another young footballer who was killed in | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
a road accident. He's being sponsored for every goal he scores | :25:05. | :25:14. | |
- and has so far raised �12,000 for Callum's Wish Foundation. At any | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
level, to knock in seven -- so many goals, he is very talented. We are | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
very proud of Aden that he is raising this much cash, and it goes | :25:25. | :25:35. | |
:25:35. | :25:41. | ||
towards the appeal. He looks On the eve of March it's all | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
looking pretty benign - some slight variations in temperatures, a lot | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
of cloud but mainly dry Just a shame we're not bathed in sunshine | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
like that countryside. It's only by the weekend that things begin to | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
change. At the moment, we're being dominated by that rather prominent | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
are of High pressure but as soon as it relinquishes control, cold | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
fronts gain entry and so does low pressure, so it'll turn cooler over | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
the weekend with some rain right now though it's looking dry, a good | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
deal of cloud across the region and where we do get the breaks - | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
there'll be some mist patches. Temperatures dropping to a minimum | :26:12. | :26:20. | |
of eight Celsius. A bit grey to start with tomorrow, then, but as | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
with most days this week you'll find the cloud breaking a little | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
through the day and more particularly it seems tomorrow to | :26:26. | :26:35. | |
the East of higher ground. Temperatures are similar - around | :26:35. | :26:45. | |
:26:45. | :26:51. | ||
13 Celsius with light winds. We may see a few more breaks tomorrow | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
night though - therefore, it may be a bit cooler with lows of around | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
six or seven and the outlook for Thursday and Friday, much the same. | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
Temperatures may be a little lower only because the nights may be a | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
touch cooler so more ground to make up for. There may be a bit of rain | :27:09. | :27:17. | |
on Friday night into Saturday. look at tonight's main headlines: | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
The wounded British photographer trapped in Syria for days has been | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
smuggled out of the country. And signs of economic recovery, as a | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
multi-million pound plan's announced to bring large-scale | :27:25. | :27:31. | |
truck-building to Staffordshire. That's all from us this evening, | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
but on tomorrow's Midlands Today we'll be seeing if Birmingham has | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
found the answer to stopping the huge increase in manhole cover | :27:36. | :27:39. |