20/03/2017 Midlands Today

Potentially saving lives: how pioneering technology

from Birmingham University could spot concussion

You will have players who say, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I want to go on.

You do this test, I think those questions go away.

There's been a 15-year campaign to recognise

the link between dementia and heading a football.

Four people injured after a double decker bus crashes into a house

during the morning rush hour in Coventry.

It was 6:30, and we heard a very bang-bang noise,

No longer heading for landfill - how used nappies and tampons

From the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors to Herefordshire,

Shropshire and Worcestershire - on set filming

And, for some, the weather today was like something

But it's the vernal equinox, and that means the start of spring.

So can we expect warm temperatures and sunshine?

It's a risk faced by football players every time they take

to the pitch, but experts in Birmingham are now hoping

concussion could be identified in a matter of seconds

If their research is successful, it's hoped players could instead be

prevented from rejoining the game and risking more serious injury.

As Laura May McMullan reports, the technology is now

being looked at by at least one Premier League club.

Both appear, certainly in Dawson's case, to be out cold.

Injuries are part and parcel of the game,

Evidence is mounting it can affect the brain.

This virtual reality device is called an Oculus Rift,

and something similar is currently being trialled at some college

soccer games in America with a neurosurgeon pitchside.

And along with clinical assessments, it can help to detect

Dr Michael Grey has been conducting a trial with the device

for the last three years, and he's brought it along to show

Have a look at the whiteboard that's up here and

The idea of the test is getting the brain to do two

Someone with concussion would be off balance,

For somebody's that's healthy, that's one of the biggest

The club doctor isn't concussed, but a concussedd player would show

a clear mismatch with his balance and vision.

You will have players that say, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I want to go on.

Do this test, or one like it, I think those questions go away.

You've had a go of the device yourself, do you think this

I think we're looking for functional tests that allow us

And technology such as that, it could potentially be very helpful.

With our virtual reality balance test, we're having

the brain do one thing, and then we challenge it

And it's only by doing this that we can see subtle changes that

might not show up any standard neurocognitive test.

In his day, Andy Gray, former Villa, Wolves and West Brom striker made

He too believes technology could help.

What football has no excuse about is embracing

It can't say, we don't have the money.

Paying millions and millions of pounds to footballers,

and then worrying very little about the health.

So, good football learned from other sports?

New rule changes have been introduced to reduce head injuries,

and every player now receives concussion training.

The challenge is when we allow players to get back out on the pitch

Because the next one, the same blow, may cause a more serious injury.

For current players and youngsters, just a few hundred pounds

on new technology could help to prevent

The family of former West Bromwich Albion star Jeff Astle

are calling on the football authorities to do more

to prevent players suffering serious head injuries.

Astle himself died 15 years ago at the age of 59, and a coroner

blamed dementia brought on by repeated trauma to the head.

His daughter Dawn recently had talks with the head of the PFA,

Gordon Taylor, but walked out as she felt they weren't

putting enough pressure on football's governing bodies.

You can see more on this on Inside Out at 7:30 tonight,

It could have been so much worse - that's the verdict of emergency

workers after a bus crashed into a house in Coventry

Four people walked away from the scene with just minor

injuries after the bus collided with a car before smashing

Amazingly, the impact caused the whole house

Severely damaged throughout, the impact to this house on Keresley

Road in Coventry, after the number 16 bus ploughed into it at around

6:45am. I can't comment on the speed, but it

has knocked the building off its footing a couple of inches. So you

can imagine the force is required for that.

The bus was travelling from the city centre, and went straight across the

roundabout. You can still see the tyre marks embedded into the grass.

It carried on over the roundabout and ended up in the side of the

building on the other side of the road. There were only two passengers

on the driver on the bus at the time of the accident. Incredibly, all of

them escaped serious injury. My main thought was for the driver,

but he was all right. I was scared for him or than me. I thought, it

he's all right, anyone in the house, that's the main thing. I knew I was

all right because I was walking, it's I just wanted to make sure he

was all right. Next door, the property and the

family living there felt the effects of the crash too.

We heard a very bang-bang noise, and we were shocked. Without Sunday had

maybe hit our cars outside. And he's all there was a buzz inside the

house, and we were shocked. It was just a lot of shaking, the

whole house shaking. This afternoon, the owner of the

house will still coming to terms with what had happened. The upstairs

room hit by the bus was the children's bedroom. Actually, last

night, they were staying elsewhere. -- factly, last night, they were

staying elsewhere. Ben is still at the scene

in Coventry for us tonight. What's the latest

you can tell us, Ben? The house has been shored up behind

me. You can see it's been done like that to make sure it won't fall

down. They've been doing that all Dave. I can tell you at the time of

the accident, there was two cars, one was hit by the bus, and the

other one was driven by this man. Tell me what you know?

Basically, I was on that junction, next thing you know, there was a

black Discovery coming towards town. He then had the bus, it was control

of the vehicle, went flying over the islands, hit the black Discovery.

Within seconds, I would have been hit and my life would have been

over. BMI passenger would have had no chance, will only in a little

Vauxhall Corsa, we wouldn't have survived.

I think it was lucky it was this time, and hour later, it would be

much worse. An hour and a half later, that bus

would been full of school kids. I used to get that school -- bus to

school, you talking hundreds of schoolkids. Rub in an instant,

you're talking about a disaster. I can tell you the investigation is

going underway, quarterly everyone involved is not injured badly at

all. A pensioner's been jailed for four

years after knocking down and killing a three-year-old girl

on a pedestrian crossing. Poppy-Arabella Rose Clarke

was walking across Chester Road in Boldmere in

Sutton Coldfield last July. Poppy died in hospital - her mother

Rachel was seriously injured. 72-year-old John Place admitted

causing death by dangerous driving. A security guard is in a critical

condition in hospital after he was beaten unconscious

at a factory in Brierley Hill. The 73-year-old was attacked

after he challenged an intruder at metal factory Stoke Forgings

in Vine Street yesterday afternoon. He was found by a colleague

around five hours later - Police are studying CCTV

and carrying out forensic Police are investigating

after a family's pet dog was killed Six-month old cocker spaniel Rorie

was hit while walking with his owner The family say two youths

on mopeds drove off despite attempts made by passers-by

to stop them. A funeral has taken place of a

leading campaigner in the 1984 minor's strike. Arthur Scargill

turns out to pay his respects to the 60 60. Mrs Proctor was a secretary

of the action group, and later became a city councillor.

House prices are on the rise and, according to research by the online

Estate Agents Rightmove, the growth's now being driven not

The company says the increase reflects growing interest

in the region, but also a shortage of properties in some price ranges.

Elizabeth Glinka has been taking a closer look

So, Elizabeth, this sounds like good news for the Midlands,

The increase reflects a buoyant market,

people are feeling confident, people are moving to the region

As we've heard in the past, the Midlands is now the number-one

location for 30 and 40-somethings relocating from London.

But, of course, it's not that simple.

Price rises can also reflect a shortage of supply.

Lets have a look at the the figures that Rightmove have put out today.

The average house price in England and Wales this month

is over 310,000, just a few hundred pounds under

the previous record, which was recorded in June last year.

The average here in the Midlands is, as you'd expect, lower -

But prices here are going up faster than almost anywhere else.

In fact, at 4.2%, we had the second-highest growth

rate in the country, behind the East Midlands.

And while we know London is mega-expensive -

their average is just under 650,000 - their prices are going up

at a much slower pace than ours, less than 1%.

So why do the experts think this is happening?

There's an increase in investment from businesses

There is an increase in confidence amongst buyers,

and there's an increase in confidence amongst sellers.

And also, in terms of mortgages, mortgages for those people who can

get them are a bit easier to get then they used to be years ago.

Now, perhaps they would say this as their living depends on it -

but agents in the Midlands told Rightmove they expect prices

to continue to rise in our region by between 4-5% over

The most expensive part of our region, that's Warwickshire,

where the average property price is now 286,000.

Now, we don't know what's going to happen with Brexit

But at the moment, it remains pretty competitive out there -

great if you own your home, not so good if you're trying to get

Now, if you're eating your tea - brace yourselves.

This isn't exactly the most fragrant of topics, but intriguing

A multi-million pound plant's opened in West Bromwich to recycle nappies,

The company running it says it's the first if its kind.

It'll stop thousands of tonnes of waste ending up in landfill

and instead turn it into fuel for power stations.

Our environment correspondent David Gregory-Kumar has

This is 50 tonnes of nappies, sanitary protection and incontinence

pads. In this country reduces a pile like this every three hours. This

waste has been put into the bin in your cubicle, toilet, or perhaps in

a nursery. That waste is being collected, but

difficulty is, where does it go? Was of it is going to landfill.

So this new recycling plant as part of a multi-million pound attempt to

devote this waste from landfill and turn it into something useful. So

first you had to shred the waist and use a magnet to get rid of all the

metal things you don't want. So all the metal things end up here. In the

past they have found handcuffs, forceps, and even a purse with a

passport in. Today, there's knife and fork in here for some reason.

Then you squeeze out all the liquid, and the result is a dryly bail ready

for burning in a power station. A process that is much less smelly

than I was expecting. What we're doing doesn't create any

extra odours, so we're managing and dampening the odours that are

created. This waste is wrong commercial

sites, offices and care homes. But in the future, Kidd has collected be

necessary -- the household collection be possible?

People didn't know what to do with this waste once was collected, now

we know what to do with it, this could be a great opportunity.

Back at the start, another six times have arrived, but it is six times

that won't be going to landfill. -- six tonnes that will be going to

landfill. Thanks for joining us

on Midlands Today, this Pioneering technology

at Birmingham University could spot concussion

in footballers almost instantly. Roller-coaster weather at the

moment, meant to be the official start of spring, Rebecca will make

sense of it later, I hope. As you quite rightly said, this is

the vernal equinox, marking the start of spring. But it looks at

no-one told the weather. Perfect for this chap this morning. Some might

be start of spring meteorologically, meaning that starts on March the

1st. Whatever your view, sunshine and warm temperatures wouldn't go

amiss. I'll be back with the forecast a little bit later.

How important are the buildings in the centre of our towns and cities?

For most people, they probably define a place, particularly if it's

blessed with ancient buildings steeped in tales of old.

Well, Coventry, with nearly 2000 years of known history,

has been chosen to be one of the first areas in the country

to be given the title of Heritage Action Zone.

The plan is to raise the city's image and profile

Commentary was famous for its medieval architecture before at the

devastation of the Second World War. Then it became famous for its

innovative post-war rebuild. The entire centre was completely

rebuilt, free from traffic, open and modern in spirit.

The decade has seen the fortunes of Coventry rise and fall. Now, the

inclusion of the city in a Heritage action zone aims to remind the

country of the hidden gems on our Street.

We hope this will be a catalyst to encourage people to do things in

Coventry and appreciate the full depth of the heritage they have

here. The city's market building have

already been given listed status. But could the post-war precinct,

inspired by an Italian piazza, also benefit from listed status?

One of things we're going to be doing is looking at whether there

are other buildings worthy of listing, and if the is a

conservation Centre possible? This hopes to unite everyone that in

the potential of unlocking the potential of their own streets,

rather than creating something new. It's not about creating new stuff,

it is about hanging on to the good stuff, making a difference to real

buildings, like the ones were looking at here. Which have seen

better days, and could see better days again.

The architecture in Coventry has always been a talking point, whether

it's the concrete or the medieval. Coventrians already is know what has

won their hearts and minds. It may not be pretty, but it is a

start. Like anywhere, so it is good and

some of it is not so good. Coventrians are accustomed to

change, now they're leading the way in encouraging others to recognise

the heritage potential of the city. Onto sport, and Dan's

here to discuss the weekend action. A great win for Albion over

Arsenal - but are they getting Possibly not, as there is so much

talk about the future of There was even a banner flown

over the ground by plane But later there was another one

supporting him. But Albion were clinical

from corners, with Craig Dawson Albion are eighth in

the Premier League. Stoke City are just

a place below in ninth but they lost 2-1 to Chelsea due

to Tim Cahill's late winner. It was a great game and no disgrace

losing to the runaway leaders But let's hear from the Albion

goalscorer Craig Dawson. But, like said,

the delivery was great into the box, and, obviously,

it's a strength of ours. It's a great performance,

and important for us to bounce back and put in a great

shift, and it's massive In the Championship,

Aston Villa and Wolves Birmingham earned a good point

against the leaders Newcastle. But Burton Albion lost an 8-goal

thriller to slip closer Villa won their game

at Wigan with two goals First through James Chester,

and hen Scott Hogan to lift Steve Bruce's team to within 11

points of the play-offs. Ivan Cavaleirho set

the ball rolling at Fulham. And two more in the second half

from Andi Weimann and Dave Edwards Nine points out of nine is well

worth blowing your own trumpet. # Oh, when the Wolves

got marching in...#. Which is exactly what happened

on the Tube, as Wolves fans Goalkeeper Thomas Kusack

was Birmingham's man of the match, with a string of fine saves

to keep a clean sheet In sharp contrast, Marvin Sordell

scored twice as Burton raced into a 3-1 half-time

lead against Brentford. But the visitors stormed

back after the break to grab four without reply

and win the game 5-3. It was a similar

story in League One, where Franck Moussa scored

twice to put Walsall But Southend had the last laugh,

with three goals in 20 minutes to boost their own play-off chances

at Walsall's expense. Sam Foley's opening goal helped

Port Vale to win their relegation Ryan Taylor doubled Vale's lead

before Louis Dodds gave the Shrews Tomorrow, Port Vale travel

to Coventry who lost again, And Cheltenham lost by the same

score to Cambridge in League Two. And we had two teams

involved in the semifinals of the FA Vase this weekend -

but sadly neither have No, Bromsgrove Sporting

and Coleshill Town fell just short. Bromsgrove were away

to Cleethorpes Town. They began level at 1-1,

but lost Saturday's game 1-0, so that's a 2-1

defeat on aggregate. Coleshill trailed South Shields

2-1 after the home leg. This spectacular opening goal

from captain Julio Arca was the pick as South Shileds won 4-0 on the day,

6-1 on aggregate. Blues Ladies won through

the FA Cup quarterfinals. Let me take you away to a tale

of tempestuous love set in the wilds But - and this might

raise an eyebrow or two - this new film adaptation

of Wuthering Heights is actually being shot in the Midlands -

with scenes in Herefordshire, The director sold her house

to realise her dream of making the film, as our arts reporter

Satnam Rana has been finding out. About five miles from the Welsh

border lies the village The castle ruins look over

the village and I'm coming into the churchyard now, and a filming

crew has taken over. The Church of St Mary and St David

today, a film set for the adaptation of literary classic

Wuthering Heights. Here because of director

Elisaveta Abrahall, But isn't Emily Bronte's novel based

in the Yorkshire Moors? It would've cost us an absolute

fortune to schlep up The locality around here

really does lend itself We have a fantastic amount

of Shropshire hills - Cleehill is desolate

at the best of times - and it really has the same

sort of vibe. we hope that Yorkshire

will forgive us for that. What's more, this director has

raised the ?100,000 budget You can't always get

the job you want, can you? So you've got to make the job

you want sometimes, Filming has also taken place

across Shropshire, Worcstershire and Gloucestershire -

this, Chanvenage House. Opportunities have bene created

for local orgaisations - today, KC Horse Rescue

and, of course, locals It's nice to have something

like this going on in the village. It's totally different to

what we usually have going on here. I think it's very exciting, it's

such a lovely spot here in Kilpeck. And such a famous shurch,

so it's nice for it to be My wife sent a photo

of myself and the dog, and they said, yes, please,

we'll have the dog! And Cathy is played

by a Herefordshire actress too, It's been really relaxing, oddly -

I haven't had to do a thing. I fell asleep at one point,

so that was pretty good. Expect a host of emotions in this

film, which will be released in time for Emily Bronte's 200th birth

anniverary in July 2018. So, without any dithering, let's

scale the Wuthering Heights with Rebecca.

You've always reminded me of Heathcliff, I think it might be the

hair. The weather was slightly Bront -esque today, it was cold and

bleak, and it was wet. Through this afternoon, we begin to see the

clouds parting, and it was a pleasant end to the day. But it was

noticeably breezy, and that breeze is incredibly chilly. So as we head

through the week, we will see those strong gusts of wind continuing. And

we have rain to come by the end of the week as well. This was a rain

that crossed this morning. Behind that, the ice are packed closely

together and it is coming from a cold sores. Then we have this

weather system working its way in through Tuesday and Wednesday. The

high-pressure hopefully arriving by the end of the week to settle things

down. But for tonight, colder air, unsettled spells above us. It could

be wintry over the moorlands. Overnight we see temperatures

falling to freezing, so a cold but bright start to the day tomorrow. It

is bring, remember, so some sunshine to come, and it is strong. If you

get any shelter from the wind, you will notice that. But then these

scattered showers blow in from the West. They will be lively at times,

but moving quickly. Temperatures down on last week, seven Celsius

Lichaj. We moved through tomorrow, and we will see these showers

tomorrow. Heavy downpours there, but we start to see the temperatures

left a bit. So we start to see a change in wind direction. From

Wednesday, even though it is wetter, temperatures will improve. There

will be some sunshine at times, and by the end of the week, we will

start to see our temperatures do better and a little more settled.

I'll have the weather for the week ahead at 10:30pm, hope you can join

us then. That was the Midlands Today. I hope

you can join us this evening. Bye-bye.

The 24-year-old man has been charged with murder.

You made sure an innocent man is charged!

What gives you the right to say that he's innocent?

If police wrongdoing is part of this, I want to know.

Huntley's definitely hiding something.