26/10/2016 Midlands Today

The headlines tonight: news teams where you are.

Detours and disruption - Bromsgrove's ?24 million rahlway

station closes three months after it opened for track improvements.

the first time? How much is this station costing? And now three weeks

after it has opened we have got it closed again.

I am live at the station with the very latest information for

passengers. Also tonight, the Telford MP calling

for a public inquiry into the grooming and sexual

abuse of teenage girls. From Kingsholm to The Somme,

the lost story of the 11 Gloucester rugby players who swapped playing

field for battlefield. One shirt leads to

another and another. How a Wolves fan's story

of his collection raised thousands If I am honest, I took an absolutely

massive gamble and if a book hadn't been a success, I would probably

have to sell the house. And the sunshine eventually arrived

today and what a difference it made. But how is the weekend lookhng?

Thousands of train passengers will face disruption during the next

two weeks with the closure of the line between

The new ?24 million station at Bromsgrove only

Network Rail is closing the route to upgrade the line.

It's all part of a ?100 million project to speed up journey times

Our transport correspondent Peter Plisner is at Bromsgrove

Station for us tonight, but first let's hear from passengers.

Not exactly the train traveller s favourite way of getting to work.

You have to get up earlier to get into work later.

But for passengers using Bromsgrove this morning, buses were taking

the strain on the first of 12 days of disruption.

An extra half an hour, 45 mhnutes, something like that.

This closure's happening just three months after

It would have been nice if they had got everything done at the same time

Inconvenient too for regular traveller Rob Jones.

He's concerned about a lack of off-peak buses.

If you come back and finishdd at 4pm, there is only one bts

an hour to make the connecthon down here so I think

it is short-sightedness on their part.

If there are things we can do to improve,

In addition to bus replacemdnt services from Bromsgrove to nearby

stations, Cross Country trahns from the South West

and Cheltenham are being diverted via Kidderminster, adding up

There are also longer journdys for passengers from Hereford

and Malvern, with many having to change trains in Worcestdr.

And this is the cause of all that disruption - engineering to upgrade

track and signalling and to make a start on a project to electrify

the line and then extend the Birmingham's cross city line.

This is the site of what usdd to be the old station.

The platforms have completely disappeared.

Network Rail say the sequencing of this work means they can only do

it once the old station had been demolished, hence the reason

the new station has closed so soon after it opened.

It is a faster layout, it has got a turning back f`cility

for trains and it also means we have got a line speed increase

as well for the non-stop trains going through here.

So some payback for passengdrs once it's finished.

The closures are happening just as leaffall timetable

Last year there were scores of complaints about overcrowding

after trains didn't stop at certain stations.

And with roadworks still happening on the M5, it'll all adds up to even

And Peter is at Bromsgrove Station for us tonight.

How bad has it been on day one, Peter?

Well, the work is continuing tonight but I think it is just passhng as so

I hope it is not too noisy. I have been here about an hour and I have

seen plenty of buses coming in and passengers getting off and on but

there have been a few issues with the roads today. I think a lot of

people decided not to take the bus replacement service and get in their

cars. Coming down from Birmhngham, several areas seem quite busy, some

even gridlocked. I spoke to one lady who came off one of the busds and

she said they had got stuck in the same traffic and it had takdn an

extra hour to get home tonight on the bus replacement service. And

this in the week when half term is on. They should be fewer cars on the

road. So there is concern about next week and we do have those roadworks

on the M5 as well. You menthoned about the payback for the p`in

suffered by commuters. What is the biggest benefit passengers will see

from this? I think we will see more reliable services, that is ` big

benefit because we have had a signal failures on this line. Some of the

points are life expired and that is a cause for concern. Another benefit

will be the electrification that is going to happen to Birmingh`m and

that will allow the cross chty line to be extended yet and it whll take

the number of trains going from here to Birmingham up to four tr`ins an

hour. Sometimes there is only one train an hour.

More than ?1.6 million has been spent by police forces

across the West Midlands ovdr the past five years

Covert human intelligence sources, as informants are officiallx termed,

provide information on criminal activity.

More than a million pounds was spent by West Midlands Police between 2011

The other forces in descendhng order of spend were Staffordshire Police,

West Mercia Police and Warwhckshire Police.

Now, to find out more about this murky world,

I spoke to a former West Midlands police detective sergeant who'd

He worked undercover for 15 years and used his informants

to convict murderers, paedophiles and drug dealers.

The biggest payment I ever lade was ?15,000 to a man and that w`s

following his involvement in an operation which ran for over 12

months which resulted in as recovering a turn of cannabhs resin.

Normally with drug-related crime, informants would usually be paid 10%

of the value of the drugs rdcovered, but obviously we couldn't p`y him

10% of ?100,000, so the senhor management decided to pay hhm

?15,000 and he was paid ?15,000 in cash.

Ronnie Howard's informants were usually recruited

At one point he had 20 informants on his books.

Once they'd confessed and hd'd gathered all the evidence,

he'd persuade them to become an informant.

They'd be given cash or the judge would cut their sentence,

but they were only paid if their information led to

The informants that I used with what could be described as top drawer

drug dealers, not people who deal outside public houses, people who

are supplying large quantithes of drugs. I am quite satisfied that

they would be giving inform`tion to me about other drug dealers who were

in the same standing as thex work in order that they can take out their

competition and leave the m`rket open for them to deal drugs.

The use of informants is sedn by some as controversial

Today, West Midlands Crime Commissioner David Jamieson

told us that they're an essential tactic in the fight

But it's worth mentioning both his force and Staffordshire Polhce

actually spent less on inside information

The families of those killed in the Birmingham pub

bombings are to be honoured with a special award.

The independent human rights organisation Liberty

is recognising their ongoing campaign for justice.

182 people were injured and 21 killed when two devices exploded

at two pubs in the city centre in 1974.

It is very moving for us. It is hard to put into words how we fedl but we

do what we do for those who aren't here to fight for justice themselves

and if we don't do it, no one is going to do it for them.

Meanwhile, a debate is due to be held by MPs tonight on the hssue

of legal aid for the familids of the victims of the

They're still waiting to find out what kind of financial assistance

they'll get ahead of a fresh inquest into the deaths.

We'll have more on that for you tomorrow.

Extradition proceedings are underway to bring a raphst

Mohammed Alam was convicted eight years ago.

But he fled to Spain and was sentenced to 14 years

He was arrested yesterday in Tenerife.

Wolverhampton Council is proposing to change the bin collection

The possible changes are part of Council plans

Charges for garden waste collections and an increase in Council Tax

An artist's impression for ` planned new bridge in Eastham

The picture was made public by Worcestershire County Cotncil,

who are keen to reassure people in the area that they are

serious about building a replacement by next April.

The old bridge collapsed earlier this year, just as ` coach

load of school children were about to cross it.

The Telford MP Lucy Allan is calling for an independent inquiry

She claims there's still an unacceptably high level

of exploitation of young wolen in her constituency.

Seven men were jailed in 2002 after a major police investhgation

into a child prostitution ring in Telford.

Youngsters enjoying themselves on a night out in Telford

During a Commons debate, MP Lucy Allan called

for an independent inquiry to child sexual exploitation

She said Telford has the highest recorded rate of offences

and it's still increasing, according to Home Office figures.

We need to be sure that we have put right mistakes and that culture has

changed and it isn't about blame but it is about acknowledgelent that

Seven men were given long prison sentences in 2012 for groomhng

Young women we spoke to tod`y agreed an inquiry should be held

If a review is going to bendfit the girls of Telford,

There should be enough power to stop people like that

Because Telford is popular for young people to go out,

A similar inquiry into child sex abuse in Rotherham in 2014 condemned

the authority's failure to react and led to several

But a street pastor goes out in the town centre every wedkend

doesn't believe an inquiry in Telford is necessary.

He says a targeted campaign against the abusers is workhng.

We used to see the same vehhcles week after week with the sale people

in them going around the venues in which we were working.

I can say quite categorically now that those members have reduced

dramatically so that some wdeks now we don't even see a vehicle

My one concern is about those historical victims and their

families and I really believe money would be better spent on providing

appropriately qualified professional help to them in some way.

A review could be time-constming and very costly.

Whether there is an inquiry or not, Home Office staff are soon due

to meet officials in Telford to discuss progress

And Bob joins us. What have the Council and the police had to say

about the calls for an independent enquiry into abuse? Both have sought

to assure the public that they are working with other agencies to

confront what they call a ddspicable crime. They say lessons havd already

been learned in the past without the need for there to be an inddpendent

enquiry or a review. And thdy point out that there was an Ofsted enquiry

recently into children's services at the council and it found th`t it and

its partners will working wdll together to tackle the problem. And

what is being done differently that is helping to tackle the problem?

Until the summer there was `n under 18 's disco held on a monthly basis

at a nightclub in the town. Since July, these have been stoppdd

because it was felt they were perhaps a magnet for creditors. The

organisers have said they w`nt to provide alternative entertahnment

for under 18 is away from the nightclub setting. The police say

that they have several ongohng investigations at the moment

targeting known individuals and that extra resources and manpower has

been put into a dedicated child sexual exploitation policing team.

The message as always is th`t if anyone has any suspicions, they

should contact the authorithes. Thanks for joining us

on Midlands Today. Your detailed weather forec`st

to come shortly. Also in tonight's programme,

the Syrian footballer who fled the war torn city of Homs,

now playing for a Birminghal club How a very special collection raised

thousand of pounds for charhty. We all know what a great success

the Great British Bake off has been. With the rise in popularity of craft

beer, a small brewery in Warwickshire is encouraghng

budding beer-makers Our reporter Kevin Reide's been

finding out more. In the centre of Leamington

Spa in Warwickshire, We are the Rugby Brewers

and we are making a Belgian red IPA. Four teams competing to makd

the best beer. We are Team Torrent and we `re

making a New Zealand pale ale. We are Team Grainfather

and we are making a Porter. We are team Malt Millar and we are

making an American red IPA. Craft brewing is on the increase,

but this brewery gives people the chance to come

in and make their own. You have got lots of

elements going on - I think it is a really interesting

hobby because there are so lany hops and grains you can use

so it is an infinite palettd really. The ingredients you can use now

are as good quality The guys at Team Torrent tatght me

how to brew beer and they h`ve You can brew beer that is vdry

difficult to buy or very expensive to buy and so it is the joy

of creating something from scratch. So after a few hours prepar`tion,

it's time to wait a little. The beers are now in these

fermenters, where they will stay Then they will be bottled and in six

weeks' time the judging will begin. And whilst that happens,

what else to do but sample A hundred years ago on The Somme,

one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War was `t last

nearing an end. The British had advanced just

seven miles at a cost Among them no fewer than eldven

rugby players from Gloucestdr. In the last in a series,

Giles Latcham examines This rare wartime footage

we've identified for the first time as Kingsholm, home

of Gloucester Rugby Club. Even as war raged, it was ftll

of eager spectators. This is the old gymnasium

which the players would havd But this was a club that made a huge

sacrifice in battle - a sacrifice, the scale of which has

only recently become clear thanks to the research of a rugby

player turned historian. You have got lots of guys whose only

pleasure in life is playing rugby. They want to come here,

they want to play, they don't want to do anything else and then

they are sent off to France. They joined up en masse,

inspiring a stampede at a rdcruiting Four rugby players went up

onto the stage and signed up which immediately caused 300 to 400

men to charge the stage and the good and the great

had to retreat until Delving through old newspapdrs

and archives, Martin discovdred no fewer than 30 players were killed -

eleven of them on The Somme. One of the 11 who died,

Harry Collins, need not havd been He lost his trigger finger

in an accident and was decl`red fit only for light duties but hd taught

himself to shoot and bayonet using his left hand instead

and so got himself sent The names of some of those who fell

are listed on a roll of honour erected in the 1920s,

with one at least there is ` direct One of Gloucestershire's town

criers knew his granddad had died on The Somme,

but only recently learned He did in fact play for Glotcester

on nine occasions. When John Price went to join up

he was told the Gloucestershire s were full and instead he was packed

off to the 10th Worcesters to train alongside men

from Dudley and Halesowen. He referred to them as the Foreign

Legion or the Yam-Yams. I lived in the Black Countrx for ten

years so I have a great deal of love for Black Country people

but he could not understand They look at the War Memori`l

and it makes them realise that their ancestors

are not forgotten. As Remembrance Sunday appro`ches,

those who swapped playing fheld for battlefield live

on as legends of Kingsholm. A Syrian refugee who arrived

in the West Midlands in Jantary is hoping to fulfil his dre`m

of becoming a professional Helal Albaar-ini was part

of the official UN relocation programme which has placed 40 people

from the war-torn country The chance to play

for football again. It was my dream when I was xoung

to play in Europe. Now I am in England so I hope to get

that chance with a club herd. Helal was shaping up to be

a professional in his home country of Syria and played for the national

Under-19s, but the war meant his family had to fled

to Jordan before arriving Football was the last

thing on their mind. Helal tried to keep up his training

in Jordan despite immense h`rdship. I would walk six or seven mhles

to training and that was difficult. Now Continental Star FC,

a lower league club based in Birmingham has taken him

on and he has also had a medting Thank you for all

persons in this club. But he says his real dream

is to one day return home. I would like to come back to Syria

to play with my first team and my national team, Syria,

because you know it is my country. And there is more about Hel`l's

story on our Facebook page. Any football fan will tell

you managers come and managdrs go but loyalty to the club badge

lasts a lifetime. So when Steve Plant paid ?50

for his first Wolves shirt, he had no idea that one

day his unique collection would raise thousands of potnds

for charity in memory of his father. Ian Winter has been

to Stourbridge to meet him. 2009, I got a phone call to get back

from work quick. I was told that my dad had been diagnosed with cancer

and basically given three months to live. And that is when Stevd began

collecting Wolves shirts, to give his dad a new interest, a fresh

purpose, by sharing his passion for the gold and black kid. And former

Wolves legends like Steve D`ly, once the most expensive player in

England, shared his support. My favourite shirt is the one with

three Wolves in the middle of the shirt. Wherever you went,

Wolverhampton Wanderers. It was not long before the shirts were flooding

in and Steve's wife had her hands full. Family holidays were out of

the question as they made all their spare cash on some very gal`ctico

items. This is the oldest shirt in Steve's collection and this is

probably the rare rest. It was magical. Even when dad told me he

was in the crowd, that era, wolves really were the best in the world at

that time. And inspired by hundreds shirts, this is the book Stdve

promised to write for his d`d John just before he died in 2012. Three

years later than the three lonths doctors had predicted. A lilited

edition of copies. I am verx proud of what he has done. It has been

worth it. He really has put his heart and soul into that book and it

is there for everyone to sed. It is brilliant and all for a good cause.

If your dad was able to look through the book, what would he makd of it?

He would love it. He was a fantastic person. He was a proper bloke,

pigeon flyer, idolised all be Wolves team. Just a lovely bloke. They wore

the shirt is also the name of a new beer and the proceeds from both are

going to the cancer unit at Birmingham's Children's Hospital.

You can find more on Steve's story and the fund raising he's doing

for Birmingham Children's Hospital over on our Facebook

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness living up to its name.

Yes, we have a change in wind direction which has brought a change

in temperatures which we will soon see but there is a lot of mhst

around this morning. Most of the region was shrouded in it and we got

off to a slow start. It took a long time to live but once it did there

was no stopping the temperatures. The best of the sunshine was across

the north of the region. Here is where it broke through first ball.

Take a look at the temperattres 19 Celsius in Nantwich. 16 Celsius

quite widely and 15 Celsius in Birmingham. If you compare that to

the average for the time of year, ten or 11, we are doing verx well

indeed. It was all down to the change in wind direction. Btt we

have now gained a warmer Westerleigh. Things will relain

settled as we head into the weekend. But through tonight, becausd the

South of the region is closdst to the centre of that high, thhs is

where we are going to see mhst and fog patches developing first of all.

Temperatures will dip to ne`r freezing in the countryside so this

is where we will also get a touch of frost. The coldest spot a btll is

around Herefordshire. We st`rt with the sunshine or mist and fog. That

will lift and once again we will see a lingering of sunny spells with

patchy cloud but it is a drx picture tomorrow once again with

temperatures rising to 14 or 15 Celsius. We have got slightly more

of a south-westerly breeze tomorrow so that will help to chop up the

cloud, lift the mist and thd fog and so we will hopefully be into the

sunshine soon enough. But looking further ahead beyond that, for the

weekend, high pressure still in control to the south but it is

nudging a little bit closer to us and winds are going to be mtch

lighter. There may be a bit of trouble. That could hold thd

temperatures back slightly. Otherwise reasonably mild.

Tomorrow evening we'll be finding about a hair

The hairdressers are based at the County Hospital in Stafford

and specialise in helping p`tients who've lost their own hair

We'll be meeting the woman behind the salon that's helping so many

It wasn't a really good expdrience so I went off and it really gave me

the idea and inspiration, why don't I raise some money and let's build

our own salon. You'll see boxing gloves,

put them on, # Well, well, well,

just look who's here... # # If I knew you were coming,

I'd have baked a cake... # # If I knew you were coming,

I'd have baked a cake... #