03/03/2017 Points West

A group of street salesmen from Bristol, who say they're

raising money for good causes, deny they've been

They sell leaflets across the country in the name

of children's cancer prevention but concerns have been raised

that they could be mistaken for a charity when they're not.

Two street vendors from the Bristol-based organisation

filmed by a passerby in Northampton recently.

Their leaflets offer dietary advice in exchange for donations.

What worried the man filming was what appeared to be charity

I think it was the collector's full intention that people should

give money in the belief that they were giving to charity.

A council licensing officer said the leaflets were misleading

because they feature the names of two charities.

Since they weren't licensed for charity collections she asked

The group behind the leaflets is called Salubrious Periodicals.

It has a mailing address here in the centre of Bristol.

A representative said they set up Salubrious Periodicals

after their son underwent tests for cancer because they wanted

to raise awareness of carcinogenic foods sold to children.

They say all the vendors we've mentioned in this report were acting

legally and they'll take steps to ensure they maintain

They say any customers who feel they misinterpreted the transaction

They wouldn't tell us what percentage of their money

The two charities on the leaflets told us they have received money

And now they want their names removed.

Today this former employee, who wants to remain anonymous,

His mother died of cancer and he wanted to help raise money.

But he left after four months saying that he discovered

while he was the organisation wasn't linked to a charity.

It was not a good thing he was doing if he wasn't paying a charity

because he wasn't proving to us he was paying a charity, we didn't

We contacted the company about the claim but they haven't replied.

The Charity Commission says it's aware of the concerns

They say street fundraisers should have a local authority licence.

Adding that transparency with the public is key.

A police search at the former Swindon home of the murderer

Christopher Halliwell has finished with no significant discoveries.

Specialist officers have been checking the garden

and garages of two properties for nearly two weeks.

Halliwell's serving two life sentences for killing Becky Godden

A driver who crashed while using his mobile phone,

killing a man from Swindon, has been jailed for three

24-year-old Lewis Stratford from Oxford was arguing

with his girlfriend when he caused the crash on the A34 last June.

His girlfriend Meg Williamson met Stratford face-to-face,

as part of a scheme called restorative justice.

A tree's been planted today in memory of Bijan Ebrahimi,

a disabled man who was murdered in a vigilante attack in Bristol.

Last year a police constable and a community support officer

were jailed for failing to protect him.

And today the chief constable gave another public apology

The scheme to electrify the Great Western Railway has been

The Public Accounts Committee says it's a stark example of how not

The work is already up to three years behind schedule and more

Now there's concern that several sections, including around Bath,

will never be electrified even though ?130 million has already

Our political editor, Paul Barltrop, reports.

The trains of tomorrow, costing us dearly today.

The report by MPs highlights the millions of pounds paid to lease

new electric trains, which can't yet use the tracks.

Installing the wires has proved very challenging,

With costs soaring, the government indefinitely deferred

electrification on the section between Chippenham and

The report demonstrates how badly planned, conceived and delivered

this whole project has been and for us in Bristol

and the West Country it's really worrying because we were promised

electrification but it now seems we're not really clear

what the benefits are, or indeed if it's ever going to happen.

All the electric trains are having to be fitted with diesel engines.

On a visit to a Wiltshire firm which provides parts for the new trains,

the Rail Minister defended the change.

Technology now means we have what are called bi-modes,

trains that can run on both electric and diesel.

It's not environmentally clean. It's not as fast accelerating.

It brings benefits to the passengers, more rapidly

The report highlights the ?130 million spent on preparing

for electrification in places where it's now been indefinitely

deferred, such as here in Bath where the line was shut for

six weeks in the summer of 2015 and there are more

This time the work's definitely needed.

They're lengthening the platforms to take the new trains

which will start running in the autumn.

But it means more inconvenience for passengers.

Network Rail insists the project is now on track for completion

Paul Barltrop, BBC Points West, Bath.

Police are trying to trace the owner of a pair of socks handed

to a charity in Taunton with ?1,000 tucked inside.

No-one's sure whether it was a mistake or a genuine donation

We'll be back with bulletins across the weekend but from me it's

goodnight and I'll leave you with Ian Fergusson

Low pressure is dominating through the course of the weekend.

There will be rain around at times but equally there will be

Indeed, on Saturday there will be a fair amount of dry weather

about for a good number of you, some bright weather

There will be showers, more particularly out

towards the West initially, they will migrate further eastwards

Sunday will start with a band of rain, some of that quite heavy

and then through the afternoon some brighter weather about but again

We've had some showers around through the course of this evening,

drifting their way north-eastwards, dying away now as we continue

into tonight, temperatures about five to seven Celsius

By tomorrow morning it is looking like we should get under way

on a dry note and for some of you a fairly

That will extend on those conditions in the east into at least the early

Conversely out towards the west, a bit more cloud, some

Notice how some of those drift their way further eastwards

through the afternoon and evening but still some pockets

Temperatures tomorrow about nine to 11 Celsius.

Good evening, mixed fortunes this weekend. Today we saw a fair share

of rain. This is the view one of our weather watchers in Doncaster. Not

particularly inspiring. This weekend there will be some rain, but some of

us will get away with a dry start. This is the satellite and a lovely

day in northern Scotland. But cloud and rain and thunder and lightning

in this area. Our main area of rain is stuck across Northern Ireland and

Scotland. Some snow over higher ground. And windy. Four or five

degrees in Glasgow and Belfast. Seven or eight for Cardiff and

London. In the morning a miserable start in the east of Scotland with a

cold wind. A lot of cloud and rain. And