13/01/2017 Midlands Today

The headlines tonight... and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

Strong winds and overnight snow hit the region with schools closed

and treacherous conditions on the roads.

Is that the end of it or is there more to come?

Shock for voters in Stoke-on-Trent as Tristram Hunt quits as an MP.

Very tough decision to leave Stoke-on-Trent but being

the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the greatest

museum of art and design, was my dream job and it was not

Could eagles be a way to stop drugs getting into our prisons?

I'm in Ludlow on the trail of a hoard of gold found

And snow for some, bitterly cold winds, and ice warnings

for the first half of the weekend, but a change is coming by Sunday.

More than 100 schools were closed across Stoke and Staffordshire today

Conditions have eased throughout the day but a yellow weather warning

for ice does remain in force for the whole region until midnight.

Winds have made it feel colder too, as well as causing

Among the incidents witnessed by the busy emergency services

was the birth of a baby in the back of a police car!

With two inches of snow, school was out for thousands of children

58 schools closed in the county and a further 47

After a morning tobogganing, six-year-old Frankie was enjoying

a quiet afternoon with her dad, Sean.

A civil servant, Sean would normally have to have a day off for sudden

school snow closures but thankfully he was still on paternity leave.

When it is icy, it is, it is lethal, cos the road here isn't gritted

at all and they struggle to get up and the cars are sliding around

and if anyone's on the road, even the pavements, it

I think they are right, actually, to close here.

But not all parents could see the sense in shutting down

this primary school, and dozens more like it.

Just because it's snowing, they're giving them time off.

And I'm only just here, do you know what I mean?

On higher ground further south in Worcestershire,

the Lickey Hills felt the full force of winter's icy grip.

In Shropshire it was high winds that caused chaos.

In Madeley in Telford, this tree came down on someone's car.

Councils around the regions say they're doing their best

with gritting but, as this accident at Birches Head in Stoke shows,

not all roads are safe, and with no let up in the freezing

temperatures motorists are tonight being warned to take extra care.

Sarah is outside the Royal Stoke Hospital in Stoke for us now

At about 8am before the snow turned to slush, MLA McBride and her

partner were going on an important journey to the paternity unit here

because there are baby was coming. The car didn't agree with the

freezing temperatures and it broke down. They called for help and it

came in the form of a police patrol car which took them in with the

lights flashing. They didn't get to the maternity unit before the baby

was delivered on the back-seat. Mother and baby are doing well and

the father is said to be relieved and the police officers are in need

of a cup of tea! Another example of how the cold weather has scuppered

people's lives today. There's going to be a by-election

in Stoke-on-Trent after MP Tristram Hunt resigned to become

the director of the Victoria Elizabeth Glinka has been

following today's announcement So does this decision

come as a surprise? For those that know

Tristram Hunt I suspect this He had a successful career prior

to becoming an MP as a historian, writing books and even

presenting TV documentaries. And it's no secret that he's more

to the right of the Labour Party and has not been a fan

of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, resigning from the Shadow

Cabinet last year. Here he is talking about his

decision earlier today. It's a very tough decision to leave

Stoke-on-Trent but being director of the Victoria and Albert Museum,

the greatest museum of art and design, was my dream job

and it was not something I have had differences with Jeremy

in the past but I'm now off to be a museum director,

an impartial director of a great museum, and so its not the time

to rehearse those differences now. Another factor that may have

influenced Mr Hunt's decision is that there are big

boundary changes on the way. The number of MPs is being cut and,

as part of that, Stoke-on-Trent which currently has three MPs

is going down to two. That would have meant Mr Hunt

fighting it out with his Labour colleagues Ruth Smeath

and Rob Flello in 2020, for who would run in the two

new constituencies. But as it is, someone else

will now have that pleasure. As I'm sure most people

are aware, Mr Hunt is not a local boy,

and there was some controversy when he was "parachuted"

in to the seat by the national party in the run up to the 2010

general election. Nevertheless, he's been

a high profile figure, and a passionate advocate

for the Potteries, particularly its industrial heritage,

pushing for the city to really play This was what people

were saying in Stoke today. He has got a presence in the city,

I think it's fair to say. He is not local but I think he has

tried his best to represent Stoke. He was going to lose his seat anyway

so he might as well jump. I don't really know what he's done

or what he's been doing, so quitting I don't think

will make much difference. A lot of people will probably turn

round and say he has I think is going to a better job

than the one he has got, probably. And a very nice job too,

with a salary more than double Now, of course,

we face a by-election. Stoke-on-Trent is a solid Labour

city, but we know the Labour Party nationally is not polling well

and in Stoke-on-Trent Central the party's majority has fallen

from a high point of around 20,000 in 1997 to

about 5,000 in 2015. You can see Ukip in

second place there. They were well behind,

but they did come second in 2015 pretty much neck-and-neck

with the Conservatives, so we may have quite a feisty battle

on our hands in the coming months. New figures show how some

of the region's hospitals are continuing to struggle to meet

the needs of patients under Six NHS Trusts spent a day

or more last week either at level three or four,

the highest states of alert. The son of a pensioner

who waited overnight in a corridor for treatment says

the system is broken. Another emergency,

another patient heading In this pressurised winter,

the tightest of pinch points. That's the problem, you can't get

away from that fact. Graeme's dad, Derek,

went to A there on Monday. He spent 15 hours in a corridor,

it was 48 hours before he got It wasn't that they were abandoned,

in any sense of the word. There were staff there,

paramedics and nurses, and everyone was being looked after,

but it was clearly a system that was overloaded and was getting

close to not being able to cope. In a statement, the hospital said

pressures here are continuing but they have robust plans

for dealing with them. It also confirmed that in the two

weeks after January the 4th, -- It also confirmed that in the two

weeks up to January the 4th, 109 patients waited 12 hours or more

for treatment in A Figures out today show,

in the first week of the year, one hospital, the Royal Stoke,

spent a day at level four, formerly black alert,

where comprehensive patient care It spent the next three

days on level three, what used to be red alert,

denoting major pressures, along Shrewsbury and Telford two

days at level three. Russells Hall in Dudley

and Coventry's University An expert on the NHS says

there's no quick fix... There is a need for more beds

but the sort of beds that are probably needed,

or the sort of support that is often needed,

is probably out there in social care or in community hospitals

or community services, so that people can move on to those

services after they've had their initial assessment

and treatment in hospital. None of our A shut their doors

to patients but the demands they're facing were never greater,

the fault lines And the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

has described the trolley waits at Worcester and Stoke

as "a disaster". He was talking to our

Political Editor Patrick So what exactly would he do about it

if he were Prime Minister? At the usual risk of Labour

being characterised as throwing taxpayers' money

at whatever problems come along, he does say the cash must be found

to keep local accident and emergency He is concerned about the one at

Redditch which is being downgraded which he sees as part and parcel of

their problems in Worcestershire. And he clearly feels that this

at least is one issue on which he has strong

public support. The issue has to be

that the shortage of doctors, GP waiting lists and waiting times,

long waiting times in A departments, record numbers now not

being seen within four hours, and a shortage of staff,

let's recognise it's our NHS, we all depend on it

and we all need it. Where is this all heading?

I think the politicians are at the mercy of events and probably even

the weather. The Government do realise

the seriousness of all this. I understand they've set up

a Cabinet Office project to examine health and social care

in the long term. The former Health Secretary Stephen

Dorrell is now in charge of a five-year plan for health

and social care in Birmingham debate is "degerating

into a blame game". Around 100 jobs will be created

in Telford after a car parts manufacturer announced plans

for a new factory. Austrian firm Polytec currently

has its UK headquarters in Bromyard. The company says there won't be any

job losses in Herefordshire. Maternity services

won't be returning to Stafford's County Hospital

after an NHS England review found Consultant-led obstetrics were moved

to the Royal Stoke last January. The review says moving services back

wouldn't make financial sense, and the birth-rate in Stafford

would be too low to sustain adequate A dog trainer has been warned

he could face a prison sentence after allowing his dogs to kill

and injure more than 50 lambs. Charles Ross-Robertson,

from Stanton Lacy in Herefordshire, admitted allowing his two

Rottweilers to be An application has been made

for the dogs to be destroyed. It's a recognised fact that

drugs are being taken into jails and sold there,

something the authorities We've been speaking to a man just

released from Hewell Prison in Worcestershire, which he says

is "rife with drugs". Adrian Mason claims drones,

controlled by mobile phones, Today, the Ministry of Justice has

told us it was recruiting more staff to deal with the problem

of drones and drugs. Here's our special

correspondent, Peter Wilson. But, increasingly, criminals

are using them to fly Straight over the wall, straight in,

guide it to where you want it, Adrian Mason is a

former armed robber. He was on remand six months ago

at HMP Hewell near Redditch. He says prisoners control

the drones with smartphones, Your man has already

got it linked up. He puts it up, you take

control, bring it in. Technology, the government are way

behind with technology. All they can do is try and chase

them down and hook them off with a stick or throw something

at it or just lie in wait. In Holland, security

teams have trained eagles Why should we believe

what you're saying? After all, you've done such

a lot of time in prison. Don't get me wrong, I'm

a hardened criminal. I was in there and I'm looking

at people getting bullied and robbed and collapsing and stuff,

I just couldn't believe how bad it Adrian Mason was shoplifting

at the age of nine. By the time he was 14,

he was in a young offender prison. He's on the straight and narrow now

but says the huge sums of money to be made inside our jails

are beyond belief. You buy a phone out

here for ?50-?100. You can sell it in

there for ?800-?900. Some people are quite happy to sit

in there, in a cell, with a phone for two or three years

cos they'll make five, ten times the amount of money

they'll make out here. HMP Hewell was this week criticised

in an inspection report for high More than 30 drones were officially

sighted near UK prisons in 2015. The government is looking

at the Dutch experiment with eagles. But Today the Ministry of Justice

says it's recruiting more human staff and sniffer dogs to tackle

the problems of drones and drugs. Peter Wilson, BBC Midlands

Today, Worcestershire. It sounds like a Hollywood script

delivering drugs like pizzas Perhaps we really do need a flying

squad! So worried are the authorities that

they're talking to the manufacturers of the drones about programming

the GPS locations of prisons into the drones' software to prevent

the radio controlled planes Last month, rioting at

Birmingham Prison cost ?2 million. That's partly blamed

on the easy access of The Prison Officers' Association say

that just yesterday four drones Yes, drones are a problem

and the problem is getting bigger. They are flying all

sorts into the prisons. We do know there have been tools

brought in, and legal highs Drones can fly straight

to cell windows and drop and the effects of legal highs can

be anything from a prisoner collapsing to a prisoner

becoming extremely violent. Well, they recognise that the Prison

Service is in crisis. 2,500 extra staff

are to be recruited. And 300 dogs trained to detect drugs

and legal highs and those caught using banned substances

will face extra time in jail. Thanks for joining us

on Midlands Today. Overnight snow leads to school

closures in the region, then gales brought problems

on the roads. We've had heavy snow,

heavy rain, frost and gales in the last 24 hours,

but what about the weekend? Beccy's here shortly

with the forecast. We look ahead to what's bound to be

an emotional Wolves-Villa match at of the popular figure

who managed both clubs, And somewhere over the rainbow

is a piano with a pot of gold in it! It's a sight common

across the Midlands, a patch of land strewn with rubbish

after an illegal traveller The clear-up cost runs into hundreds

of thousands of pounds. But what's the choice

for travellers? Bob Hockenhull's been to meet

a man who was locked out of his own business

when the caravans moved on. After unauthorised travellers took

over his industrial site in Tipton last week,

he's installing concrete blocks at the entrance

to stop it happening again. Steve estimates the intruders

cost him ?7,000. He's had to pay for bailiff fees,

extra security and clean-up costs as the travellers left piles

of rubbish behind. It's disgusting that normal,

everyday people going about their everyday life can be

faced with something like this overnight and an expense

that we shouldn't have to incur. The trespassers were

so brazen, they even put It says, "We live in this

property, it is our home When they left, the travellers took

up residence half a mile away. With the West Midlands

dealing with nearly 300 illegal camps a year,

the Police and Crime Commissioner He's organised a summit

in February to find better ways There has got to be mutual respect

between the travellers There is no proper

coordinated activity between councils right the way

across our region and we need to work more closely with police,

local councils, and also to see if the law

needs to be changed. Travellers groups will also be

invited to the talks. Their representatives

say more official sites are needed and will ultimately

save the authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds they're

currently paying in legal Dan's joined me and,

after the shock news about Graham Taylor yesterday,

I'd have thought a highly emotional atmosphere ahead of the

Wolves-Villa match at Molineux Think you are right. I was at the

training ground this morning and many staff are still in shock.

Wolves and Aston Villa have revealed their plans to pay tribute

to former manager Graham Taylor before tomorrow evening's

The 72-year-old's death from a suspected heart attack

There will be a minute's applause before kick off and floral tributes

will be laid by players past and present.

Tributes to Graham Taylor dominate the back pages

of today's newspapers, and no wonder.

Almost everyone in football seems to have a story about how the former

Villa and Wolves boss touched their lives.

The flying winger played for Taylor at Villa, Wolves and Watford

and was given his England debut by him.

Everyone used to call him their dad because he followed them

everywhere they went, but it was nice he gave me my

international debut, which I'm really, really proud about.

It was great a person like that liked me as a player,

but again I can equally say he had a massive influence on my

career and I'm really, really grateful for that.

The current occupant of that post would love to repeat his feat

of leading the team to promotion at the first attempt.

I think I speak on behalf of us all that we are all shocked,

and of course, he worked at this club of ours here twice

We've got people here this morning who are devastated by the news.

At Molineux they're preparing a special insert for tomorrow's

programme to mark the meeting of two clubs so heavily influenced

Graham Taylor may not have been manager here very long but everyone

in the club says he played a huge part in setting up the modern

academy, which has produced so many talented young players for the club.

That's what they are telling me, which is testament to his ideas,

and speaking to one or two of the staff who were here with him,

they think the world of him, so I think it's a really huge

After the minute's applause, the first whistle will blow

and everyone will be hoping for a match to provide

the final fitting tribute to Graham Taylor's memory.

and like the rest of football still reeling from news

So many stories continuing to surface.

Among the best today was Graham being the best man at a Watford

The request was made at a book signing.

Let's switch to the other side of the world for some tennis,

and Birmingham's Dan Evans is really going well.

Evans is through to his first ever Tour final.

He beat Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov in three sets in the semifinal

The final is tomorrow morning and next week it's

And back here in the cold - a huge game for Wasps

It's a must win game at home to Toulouse tomorrow.

They top of the English Premiership and top of pool two

But it's tight as they're level on points with

So to guarantee a place in the quarterfinals they must win

For more than a century, an upright piano stood

in the corner of a room, with no-one aware that

It wasn't until the piano found a new home in Shropshire

and the piano tuner started renovating, that the

Lindsay Doyle has been investigating.

What has been described as potential treasure,

a substantial amount of gold has been discovered in an upright piano

A piano which has had several owners, I'm told, over 100 years.

This gold was discovered by its new owners who found

The piano was tuned and this discovery was made.

Beyond the fact that it is gold, we know very little.

But the discovery was reported to the finds liaison

officer at Ludlow Museum, Peter Revel, who does

Peter, can you tell me what this discovery is?

As you said, the hoard was found when a piano tuner was repairing

and tuning the piano, and uncovered this mass of material

and what we are looking today is to try and tell the story

of that, or at least find somebody who might know something about it.

This could be declared treasure under the Treasure Act, couldn't it?

Because it is less than 300 years old, the Coroner has to find,

that it is made of gold or silver, that it is deliberately hidden

with the intention of recovery, and most importantly that every

effort is made to trace the original order or their heirs and if we can't

This isn't the first hoard you have come across, is it?

This is one of the better cases that we have, which was purchased

which was purchased by Ludlow Museum.

This is the Bitterley Hoard.

The Bitterley Hoard, which is 120 coins, found

This was found by a metal detectorist, which is the normal way

I don't expect a member of the public to get in touch

Well, of course, the most famous hoard ever discovered

in the Midlands was the infamous Staffordshire Hoard.

That was declared treasure under the Treasure Act.

Now just out of interest, to let you know,

?3.5 million, almost 3.5 million was raised

by the West Midlands to keep it here.

That money went to the metal detectorist who found it

So just saying to the people who own the piano, just saying.

For now, from Ludlow, it's back to Birmingham.

I often wondered what happened to that old piano of mine!

So time for the weekend weather after a tumultuous 24 hours.

We had some golden sunshine today. It is not all bad news but if you

are a fan of the snow this might not be what you want to hear. We had

some falling snow this morning. In some spots it stayed a pleasant

winter wonderland. But a few milestone below -- a few miles down

the road, it was just like a crisp January day with grey clouds and a

little sunshine. But we have seen clearing skies through today. As a

result, we are likely to see temperatures falling, meaning we

have another yellow weather warning. Temperatures will start to drop and

it is going to be very chilly, sub zero. The warning covers pretty much

all of the region. Melting snow, lying snow, on top of that some

showers, they will move down from the north, through the Cheshire Gap,

quite likely at times, a wintry mix -- lively. Will DH Lee night.

Tomorrow starts with showers continuing to move down through the

region. Then we will start to see things coming drier and brighter

further east. The Welsh will keep cloud on the Welsh border with

showers continuing but they are likely to follow as sleet or rain. A

change is coming. High pressure is trying to build in from the west. A

weather front will move south through the north of the country

ringing some rain for Sunday so we will start to see things getting

milder as we go through the end of the day tomorrow and overnight,

showers first and then rain. It is a return to this for Sunday. Wetter

and milder. Back to where we were before the cold snap. A miserable

Sunday, quite grey, plenty of rain and the new working week has a great

start -- grey. Elizabeth Glinka will be

here at 10.25 with your late update. Have a good evening

and a wild weekend! Parents are facing an explosion in

the number of children saying It was like a battle, like in a war

zone. She would literally scream. Although the stories that we tell

are fictional, at their core