Browse content similar to 21/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening, welcome to Wednesday's Midlands Today from the | :00:06. | :00:12. | |
BBC. On budget day - the region's bus | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
and coach operators tell Chancellor George Osborne, "Your fuel duty is | :00:15. | :00:23. | |
killing us." it is a big industry and we have a role to play in | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
supporting rest of the manufacturing industry in the West | :00:26. | :00:36. | |
:00:36. | :00:37. | ||
Midlands. Bridging the skills gap - thousands | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
of young people have a lift on to the career ladder. | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
From this to this, how a motorcycle crash victim is fighting back to | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
fitness. You know when Christmas is coming up and you're getting at | :00:52. | :01:02. | |
:01:02. | :01:06. | ||
present you wanted - it feels like that. | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
Welcome to Midlands today. On Budget day, the region's bus and | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
coach operators told the Chancellor, you're fuel duty is killing us. | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Here in the West Midlands, there are more than 60 coach and bus | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
firms, employing up to 10,000 people. And each day across our | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
region, more than 1.3 million passengers hop on a bus. But with | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
the price of diesel continuing to rocket, some operators have told us | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
they are now spending more than 25% of their income on fuel. Today, Mr | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
Osborne ruled out a cut in fuel duty, so how tough is it right now? | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
In our first Budget report tonight, Sarah Falkland has spent the day in | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Warwickshire. The school runs are over for the | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
morning, Johnsons coaches are back at base in Henley in Arden. Time to | :01:47. | :01:57. | |
:01:57. | :01:59. | ||
fill up the tanks again. Last year this company spent 1.7 �5 million | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
on fuel and this year the reckon it will be over �2 million. And that's | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
why the boss is in the drivers' room listening to the budget. The | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
Government has already said it's cutting the rebate on fuel duty for | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
bus operators by 20% next month. Peter Johnson is now hoping for | :02:12. | :02:21. | |
better news. I do not propose to make any further changes to the | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
fuel duty plans already set out. But there is none. I am really | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
disappointed he could not do more to promote bus travel. We are the | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
solution, not the problem. We can deal with congestion and can take | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
large numbers of people. In fact, the price of diesel is now at a | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
record high in the UK. Even though some of the burden is passed | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
directly to customers in higher fares, parts of the coach and bus | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
industry are struggling. Fuel costs a killing coach operators. There is | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
a major concern among some many companies because of the income it | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
is taking to pay for the fuel. it's not just the bus companies who | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
are suffering. By chance, the only petrol station in Henley in Arden | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
was temporarily closed today. The next nearest is seven miles away. | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
Local business people say they too are finding the high pump prices | :03:08. | :03:17. | |
too painful. The cost of fuel was going to finish small businesses | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
like myself, because we cannot afford to run the vehicles. We find | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
no that we are facing prices because of the climate and we | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
cannot afford to do so, cannot afford to get there. I put a full | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
tank in this morning and it is already telling me I'm running out. | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
And of course, there's still the leftover from Mr Osborne's last | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
budget. A planned 3% hike in fuel duty in August. He knows how much | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
money he is making and relying on that money because it is there and | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
it is ring-fenced. Us poor people have to pay it. A budget for | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
business? Critics say it's not enough to keep wheels of industry | :03:59. | :04:09. | |
:04:09. | :04:13. | ||
rolling. One �54.90 pence for diesel, I saw | :04:14. | :04:23. | |
:04:24. | :04:27. | ||
today. What is the verdict? This budget, so heavily leaked and | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
trailed in advance, MPs I have spoken to in those famous corridors | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
where Major to deliver that verdict even before the Chancellor stood up. | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
Labour were absolutely scathing in the reduction of the top rate of | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
income tax and Liberal Democrats equally celebrated the fact that | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
those higher threshold on income tax will take some of the poorest | :04:50. | :04:58. | |
earners out of the heaviest burdens of tax. Conservative celebrated | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
business-friendly measures such as the changes to corporation tax. | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
They will speak to the shadow business minister and to Karen | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
Lumley, a former company secretary and Conservative MP for | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
Worcestershire. One thing not on that list is any decision to | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
reverse the scheduled increase in fuel duty. We have heard from a | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
coach operator who said it is killing them. We had some difficult | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
decisions to make. We inherited the bigger its deficit of any | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
government cover. What could you have done instead? We have been | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
pulling very strongly for a temporary cut to VAT which that | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
have the immediate effect of bringing down the cost of fuel by | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
three pence, and would also put �450 into the pockets of hard- | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
working families up and down the country and kick-start the economy. | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
That is what we should have seen from the government today but they | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
have missed their chance. Is it really going to reach out to those | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
who need it most, for example, are really small start-up companies? | :06:08. | :06:16. | |
think they could benefit massively so by reducing corporation tax. | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
We're trying to get private jobs and to this country and we cannot | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
survive on public-sector jobs. We have to make Britain and the West | :06:24. | :06:32. | |
Midlands are place that is a good for businesses. The government | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
announces policies which are all well and good but then fails and | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
the implementation of those policies. We have seen the business | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
department failing to get credit ratings on track as they said they | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
would. The number crunchers were all over might interpret the real | :06:48. | :06:57. | |
subtext of this. From a business perspective, our correspondent | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
Peter Plisner has spent the day in Warwick, on the Heathcote | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
Industrial Estate, gauging reaction from companies there. And he joins | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
us now. Peter, how has Mr Osborne's speech been received? Are they | :07:06. | :07:15. | |
still worried about their futures? To make, we are with a company that | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
makes dustcarts and exports and all offer the world. The changes in | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
corporation tax have gone down well here. Elsewhere, it is mostly small | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
businesses, where there has been a mixed reaction. | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
Most small firms need for two copiers but despite that, this | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
company which supplies them, has lost out because of cuts in | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
government spending and reductions in bank lending. Today, they were | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
hoping for help from the Budget. The government promised a reduction | :07:47. | :07:55. | |
to red tape. We really cannot afford to employ people to going to | :07:55. | :08:05. | |
the minutiae I have all the legislation that comes out. | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
upstairs, the company's service manager had a bit different agenda. | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
He was more interested enough in the Budget would impact on him. | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
Improved personal allowances are stepper the right direction. That | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
will benefit a lot of people. Tax avoidance issue, for a high earners. | :08:25. | :08:33. | |
That is something that needed to be tackled. So will the Chancellor's | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
budget help the fitness of small businesses on this estate. It for | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
help this gem which moved here 12 months ago. Increases in personal | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
tax allowance could be good news here, something of the gym's corner | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
is looking forward to. allowance has gone up and people | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
feel like they have more money in their pockets so we will see more | :08:56. | :09:05. | |
members. Transport costs are high for this courier firm, and today, | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
thousands of parcels passed through this depot. The Chancellor froze | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
road tax for lorries but they wanted more. A it will help with | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
the vehicles this size but we run a lot of small vehicles and they are | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
not sure how it will affect them. What I would have really like to | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
see his boring fuel tax. Although most firms expected more help for | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
the Chancellor, there was the realisation today there was not a | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
lot more that perhaps could have been done. A budget to remember? | :09:34. | :09:41. | |
Probably not. What is the reaction here? What did | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
you think of today's budget? It was a steady as you call budget. What | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
we really need is consistency in government policy so we can plan | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
their business. I am pleased with the reduction in corporation tax | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
which means more money in the business for investment, so that is | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
pretty good. Anything you expected to see that did not happen? | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
particularly. The Government talks about reducing red tape and they | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
mentioned it again, but with not a lot of detail and we are not seeing | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
much underground. I would like to see more speed there. In terms of | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
growth, the growth figures were revised. For you and other | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
companies, that much be good for. The that always be good news for | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
everybody. That is positive. Our business is effect is slightly | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
different way because we sell to local authorities. Their spending | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
has been reduced recently as people tighten their belts, but | :10:38. | :10:48. | |
:10:48. | :10:49. | ||
fortunately, now things are back to normal. Week... What about exports? | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
It helped that it keeps the economy on a stable footing. The exchange | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
rate is favourable for us at the moment. As with all budgets, it has | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
to be said, the devil is in the details and that will only happen | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
in the next few days. Peter, there's also some more | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
positive news coming out of Jaguar Land Rover today isn't there? | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed it will be expanding to China. They | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
have agreed a multi-billion pound joint venture with the Chinese car | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
maker Chery. The agreement covers both building JLR vehicles, | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
creating a research and development facility and sales. China is | :11:25. | :11:33. | |
currently JLR's third biggest market. | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
And for the Budget details and reaction to the Chancellor's speech, | :11:36. | :11:44. | |
you'll find plenty of information on the BBC news website. | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
A 15-year-old boy has died after collapsing during a rugby match in | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
Worcestershire. Luke Chapman was a student at Haybridge High School in | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
Hagley. He was taken ill during a game at Baxter College in | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
Kidderminster. The air ambulance was called but he died in hospital. | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
The head teacher of Haybridge read a statement on behalf of the school. | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
We're all terribly shocked and upset by the tragic death of what | :12:10. | :12:20. | |
:12:20. | :12:21. | ||
Chapman. -- Luke Chapman. He was a much-loved friend and student and | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
we will miss him very much. Our thoughts are with his friends and | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
the staff at this difficult time and the school will offer all the | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
support it can to those affected. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham had | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
extra special reason to be proud today as she handed the freedom of | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
the city to five army regiments. One of the 200 soldiers on parade | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
was the son of Councillor Anita Ward. He was shot and seriously | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
injured in Afghanistan 18 months ago. To complete the celebrations, | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
today is his 30th birthday. Giles Latcham reports and there is some | :12:48. | :12:58. | |
:12:58. | :12:59. | ||
The odd man and her son prepare for a big day for Birmingham and their | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
family in particular. -- de Lord Mayor. | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
I am a mother of a serving Guardsman, so it is a big day for | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
This was on parade today, carrying the silver box containing the | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
scroll conferring the freedom of the city. Any vantage point will do | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
when the Foot Guards I town. should be proud of our soldiers. I | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
am. I think it is a brilliant day out. | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
The mayor's son was shot in Helmand 18 months ago. He is still | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
recovering. But he is determined to return to service. People can say, | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
after what you have been through, wouldn't you prefer to finish it | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
there? I think the first thing you get is an immense amount of pride | :13:47. | :13:54. | |
from seeing everybody help you and how everybody reacts. You just want | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
to continue to be part of that. Elements of the Irish, Welsh and | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
Scots Guards, as well as Coldstreamers and gut -- Grenadiers, | :14:03. | :14:11. | |
marched. As she took the salute, the Lord Mayor became tearful. | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
60% of the recruits are from the West Midlands. | :14:16. | :14:23. | |
A lot of people came to see it, and were happy about it. He has gone to | :14:23. | :14:30. | |
Birmingham with the freedom of the city. I'm quite proud. It is nice | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
to be on home turf. Some of the soldiers will provide | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
pomp and ceremony for the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics. Others | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
are soon to deploy to Afghanistan. For the Foot Guards, 2012 holds | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
many challenges. An emotional and special day. | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
Tonight it has been confirmed that a soldier from the second Battalion, | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
The Mercian Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan. He died | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
after an explosion from an improvised device in Helmand. His | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
family has been in Frome. -- informed. | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
On our economy debate on Monday, Lord Digby Jones once again | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
highlighted the employment skills gap. Looking at record youth | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
unemployment in the nation and in the West Midlands, every business | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
you go to, they would always say their problem is they don't have | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
enough skilled people. So what is being done? 4,000 people aged 15-24 | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
are attending a skills event in Birmingham ending tomorrow. It | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
offers an insight into what is needed to launch a career. | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
The Skills Fair has been held annually for a number of years but | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
is increasingly important for young people in a shrinking jobs market. | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
Fifteen-year-old Sophie already has a fair idea of what she wants to do. | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
But she has come to look at other options. I want to go to college | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
and I think I want to go into teaching, possibly. But we will see | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
what happens when I get older. There are more than 50 exhibitors | :16:10. | :16:20. | |
:16:20. | :16:21. | ||
here today, offering advice on many carriers. -- Koreas. | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
This is you go to school, you find something you like and then you | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
find a way of getting into it. So there's plenty for Sophie to see | :16:30. | :16:40. | |
:16:40. | :16:40. | ||
- including motor sports! Or maybe not. This is hard. It just went | :16:40. | :16:48. | |
wrong after the first 20 seconds. So, time for a sharp exit. At the | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
next stall, a number of surprising things to learn. | :16:51. | :17:00. | |
It is different, being in the army. I did not know you could be a | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
teacher in the army. A If you fancy one of the creative | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
industries, there's plenty to see here, even if you need a strong | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
stomach. Just adding some special effects. | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
Quite a lot of opportunities out of there, in television, theatre, | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
photographic work, magazine work. Has there been anything to change | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
Sophie's mind? There are other options, but I'm | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
going to stick with teaching at the minute. | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
4,000 youngsters will visit this Skills Fair, and while may -- many | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
may see a scary feature, others have things to smile about. | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
That wound was realistic! Still ahead: The junior footballers | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
celebrating after finally getting a pitch to call their own. | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
And there's one day this week standing out above the rest. But | :17:53. | :18:03. | |
:18:03. | :18:06. | ||
you will have to wait until later Last night, being reported live | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
from Shrewsbury Town to see if they could extend their unbeaten run to | :18:11. | :18:18. | |
20 games. And the answer is... Yes! The rock solid fortress repels all | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
invaders, including Cheltenham Town. But while it was good news in Leek | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
2, there was bad news for the Blues in their bid to make the | :18:27. | :18:37. | |
:18:37. | :18:51. | ||
who dominated the first half. Nine minutes after the break, Chris | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
Maguire made it 1-1, and the game was turned on its head. This | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
challenge brought a second yellow card for David Murphy, and he was | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
not the only one to see red. Chris Hughton was left fuming. He said | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
the referee's performance changed the game. Portsmouth took full | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
advantage and scored three in the last half an hour. A defeat for the | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
Blues, leading them in the play- offs, but only just, on goal | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
difference. Any later rivals will have mist | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
strode the town's first goal. -- late arrivals. And early in the | :19:30. | :19:40. | |
:19:40. | :19:41. | ||
Our home form has been outstanding. The results have been excellent. We | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
have got to start doing it right away from home. We have turned up | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
the tempo tonight and we have to take that into the away matches. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
One late goal from Marc Richards gave Port Vale three points against | :19:53. | :20:01. | |
Hereford. Better not be lost to an even later goal against Northampton. | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
-- Burton Albion. Spare a thought for Walsall. They scored first | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
through Jon Macken, and with 17 minutes left, they were leading 2-1. | :20:12. | :20:19. | |
But then a last-minute equaliser denied them victory. It leaves them | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
in the relegation quicksand. Wolves said they are disappointed | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
that sales of early bird tickets are down by 18%. Just over 12,000 | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
fans have committed to next season, compared to almost 15,000 at this | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
time last year. Meanwhile, the former manager Mick McCarthy has | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
given his first interview since getting the sack last month. He | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
says he would love to see his friend Terry Connor keep Wolves in | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
the Premier League. If he had left and they had a point | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
is somebody knew, I would not have had such a vested interest in it. | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
But he is a close family friend now, himself and his wife. They are | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
great pals. I have that even more of an interest in it, watching it, | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
and just wishing him well. For the past 12 years, the | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
Eccleshall Eagles have been flying high, but home games have always | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
been a problem. The young footballers have never had a pitch | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
to call their own. But now, thanks to the National Lottery, the Eagles | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
have landed, and they are said to build a permanent nest. | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
-- set to build. Celebrating after winning �50,000 | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
for three new pitches. Eccleshall Eagles have almost 200 players, and | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
there are 14 teams, four boys and girls. They are all excited at the | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
prospect of better facilities. It is brilliant because we are | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
going to have new pitches that we can play on, and there will not be | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
tractors going over them. We have to keep transporting the | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
goals backwards and forwards all the time. It means we can get | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
better goals and stuff. It is going to help the club. It | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
will give us better pitches and the pitch we play on the moment is a | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
bit bumpy. It won't have the lumps in it. | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
These teams are among 13 groups in the West Midlands are sharing more | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
than �500,000 from the National Lottery Fund. The money has been | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
made available to make sure the Olympics has a lasting legacy. The | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
funding will help to bring this used to playing fields back into | :22:37. | :22:45. | |
use and create more sports pages. - - unused playing fields. | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
The team has been playing on rented sides until now. | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
Frequently, when you get bad weather, the pitch is bad and the | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
match is cancelled. In terms of playing on poor quality surfaces, | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
it is chalk and cheese. It just allows more matches to carry on. It | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
also means you get a better run. Work on the new Peters will begin | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
within six months. It is hoped they will inspire many successful | :23:11. | :23:19. | |
seasons for the Eagles. Good luck to them, not to mention | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
Stoke City, away at Tottenham Hotspur tonight. All the action is | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
on your BBC local radio station. The thank you. | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
You may recall back in January that we told you about John Parsons, the | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
motorcyclist from Stoke-on-Trent who had been left semi paralysed | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
after a hit-and-run incident. We are delighted to say he is | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
making excellent processed -- progress at a specialist hospital | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
in Shropshire. Getting out of his hospital bed and | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
into a wheelchair is a major breakthrough for motorcyclists John | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
Parsons. Last time we saw him was two weeks after a hit-and-run | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
driver left him for dead. He spent seven weeks lying on his back at | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
the Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries in Oswestry, paralysed | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
from the waist down. One more go, then. | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
Now he has learnt to stand with the help of a physiotherapist. He has | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
been told he may progress to being able to walk across a room. | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
I have gone from thinking that I would never walk again and that I | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, to being able to | :24:29. | :24:38. | |
walk short distances. I have got a goal, which is to walk out of here. | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
When you are little Christmas is coming and you are getting it | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
presents you want, it feels like that. You get the same excitement, | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
the same drive to do more than you should. | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
John's therapy has been imperative from the start as he learns to cope | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
with the dramatic changes to his muscles since the accident. | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
Staffordshire Police says several witnesses to the accident on the | :25:08. | :25:14. | |
A500 in January have come forward. But they have yet to chase the -- | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
trace the driver. After breaking his spine, John faces longer in | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
hospital as he continued to make progress. | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
None of us know where we are going to get to, but the future is | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
looking good, because he is still knew logically improving. | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
His positive attitude has captained focus. He says if he knew the | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
driver was coming four, he would finally have closure. | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
finally have closure. -- was coming forward. | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
Fantastic news! Now the weather. A lovely day-to-day. It will | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
continue. It looks like we are into some sunny weather, and we can | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
offer you some rain as well by the looks of things. The beginning of | :25:58. | :26:05. | |
the week has been looking decent, with some sunshine and dry weather. | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
Respectable temperatures for the time of year. Really it is tomorrow | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
that is going to surpassed all others. To give us a head start, | :26:15. | :26:25. | |
:26:25. | :26:28. | ||
tomorrow we are looking at a cold Otherwise, not too cold. Lows of | :26:28. | :26:38. | |
five or six Celsius, and then we have got the sunshine burning | :26:38. | :26:46. | |
through, across the region. It will go up to 15 or Celsius, which is | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
high for the time of year. The wind will continue through tomorrow. | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
Higher -- however, the cloud is going to thicken. That will bring | :26:57. | :27:04. | |
in some rain. Not a lot heading up from the south. Hardly any until | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
the middle part of tomorrow night. But all the cloud will keep it mild. | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
Compared to tonight, it is going to be mild. Friday itself is going to | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
be brighter with sunny spells. The be brighter with sunny spells. The | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
same applies for the weekend. Highs of 14. | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
A look at tonight's main headlines: A tax cut for Britain's top earners | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
in the Budget. The rate for them will go down to 45p. | :27:31. | :27:36. |