01/11/2016 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith.

The private firm running thd Sussex hospital transfer service

loses its contract after months of criticism for delays.

It was never going to work long-term. I'm delighted it's going

to end and we hope patients will get a better transport service they

deserve. Work begins to remove a verlin

infested mountain of waste that's towered over homes

in North Kent for five years. Also in tonight's programme,

an apology for the young mul told to stop breastfeeding in Mothercare

but only after her complaint Lighting up Lewes; historic photos

taken of people during the First World War create ` unique

exhibition we'll be live in Lewes with the story, and we chat

with the artist who created the original book covers for the

Harry Potter series. The private company responshble

for non emergency ambulance services in Sussex has lost its ?90 lillion

contract for 'unacceptable Coperforma has faced harsh criticism

for long delays in providing NHS patients with hospital

transport since it took over Tonight a leading patients'

group welcomed the news, saying 'it can't remember a failure

of this magnitude'. The contract was due to run for six

years but a new ambulance provider has taken over

the service immediately. Our Health Correspondent

Mark Norman reports. Four days a week Mike needs

transport to hospital for khdney dialysis. For the last seven months,

he's not known whether he'll be taken to the appointments. Ht's

incredibly frustrating. It's annoying enough to have to go for

dialysis, but then to know that you are waiting for the transport is

annoying even more so. Your thoughts on Copaforma not having the

contract. I was going to sax I'm delighted, because they are no

longer capable of running it. They were awarded the contract for

nonemergency ambulances and patients have dealt with the fallout ever

since. Angry staff not paid, angry hospitals picking up the pidces

angry MPs, angry unions and angry patients. In the end it was the fact

patient safety was compromised that was the final straw. The service is

very fragile. In addition to that, we have received communicathon from

Copaforma that whilst performance has improved, the service is not

economical for them so we h`ve agreed an exit arrangement. Which

begs the question, pushed or did they jump? A combination of both.

For the unions and MPs who've repeatedly called for them to be

stripped of the contract, this feels like vindication. Short-terl the

news is absolutely fantastic and myself and the members I've spoken

to already this morning are absolutely delighted that fhnally

what has been seen as a dis`strous error in Sussex has finally been

corrected. The improvement has been there but it was never going to work

in the long-term. I'm delighted that it's going to come to an end and we

hope patients will get a better transport service they deserve. The

service will be taken out bx south central ambulance service whth them

taking complete responsibilhty by April next year. We are told

patients don't have to do anything and shouldn't notice any ch`nge in

provider. Less than a week after Coperforma

took on the service in April they had to apologise after hundreds

of patients missed appointmdnts The GMB union claimed lives

were being put at risk. In July one of Coperforma's

sub-contractors, VM Langfords went bust, after it was bought

by a former bankrupt with a history of involvement in failed

ambulance companies. Two months ago another

sub-contractors refused to carry any more patients,

as they hadn't been paid - This has been a disastrous contract

from the beginning. From thd very start of the contract back hn April,

at its worst, Coperforma were only answering 23% of the calls that they

had in a timely fashion. The loss of this contract comes

after a catalogue of In May, the seven clinical

commissioning groups covered by Coperforma's contract highlighted

significant problems. In June, Sussex MPs held an urgent

meeting with NHS managers And in August, an independent report

concluded a 'series of mist`kes and missed opportunities'

were to blame for the probldms suffered by patients

at the start of the contract. Let's go back to our

Health Correspondent Mark Norman who is in Lewes -

you're at the offices where the Clinical Commissioning Group

took the decision on Coperforma what now for patient

transport services? Interestingly, I asked earlher today

whether or not Coperforma would get financial compensation. The answer

was there is an incentive in place for them to make sure this contract

goes smoothly between now and April and this handover process. H ought

to add, south central have been given this contract because of

concerns around patient safdty, may not keep it. There's going to have

to be a whole new tendering process at some point next year so patients

and staff may yet have to f`ce another patient transport company

running the service here in Sussex. Thank you.

They've pleaded for five ye`rs for action to be taken to clear

a 40-foot high mountain of waste which has blighted their holes,

and finally today work began to remove the 20,000

The waste tip, used by councils in the south east, has been

the subject of High Court c`ses and Environment Agency prosdcutions.

But it was only after a deal saw the land taken over

by Bromley Council that the removal could start.

Residents have never before been happy to see a lorry load of waste

here, but for the first timd in years, it's actually leaving this

site. Since 201 #1rks the rubbish

mountain's grown and grown. It's heaped misery on those living

nearby. For the last five ydars constant smoke, smell, rats. You

will be pleased to see it go? I ll have a bottle of champagne when the

last lorry leaves. At 40 fedt high and 18,000 tonnes, landowners said

they couldn't afford to cle`r this and Bromley Council had to step in

and buy the land. I don't w`nt to lay the blame with anyone in

particular. Bromley never w`nted this to happen, we didn't lhcence

it. The important thing is for the benefit of the locals that this is

being cleared away now. Alan who lives yards away, knows who he

blames. Well, the Environment Agency really because they licensed it and

knew the tonnage that was stpposed to be maximum and they just let it

build up. The Environment Agency is putting the majority of the ?2.

million clean up bill. Thred truck loads down, hundreds more to go up

to ten loads a day over the next 20 weeks, but at the end of th`t time,

the rubbish mountain should be gone. It will be transported a short

distance to a facility locally where it will be sorted so we'll look to

take out any soil that we c`n recover, metal, wood and pl`stic,

and recycle as much as we c`n. The heat generated by the rubbish

reaches hundreds of degrees centigrade.

Sara is at the site for us now. What is the plan for the land whdn it's

finally cleared? Because part of the deal was that

Bromley Council would buy the land, they can guarantee it won't be

turned into a waste tip agahn. It might be hard to believe but that is

actually part of the green belt and speaking to the council leader

today, he said they are going to consult with residents with a view

to making it open land again. There are lakes behind there and that

would open them up, make thdm much more accessible for people. In the

meantime, the Environment Agency says it welcomes work starthng here

and that it will continue to investigate those who dump the

rubbish there in the first place. In a moment, the coroner promises

a far reaching investigation into the deaths of seven yotng men

on Camber Sands this summer. Hundreds of members of The RMT Union

descended on Parliament tod`y to protest against changes

to the role of conductors ahead Govia Thameslink Railway have said

they'll withdraw their offer, including a ?2,000 bonus if any more

strike action goes ahead. But, today, that was dismissed

by union leaders as a "thre`t" as they vowed to continue

their fight to safeguard For months, they've been protesting

outside stations in the south-east. But today, the RMT Union took their

fight over changes to the role of conductors to Westminster. Change in

job titles does not change the safety and the critical rold of the

second person on board. That's what the company have to come to terms

with. They can't bribe or intimidate us. Another 48-hour strike hs

scheduled for this Friday, coinciding with Bonfire Night. It

will be the eighth strike this year and further walkouts are pl`nned

over the next two months. Pdople's patience and sympathy is st`rting to

wane. The train guards are hmportant and I think they are a reassuring

presence. It's obviously a very complex issue. I wanted to go to the

Lewes bonfire and the strikd is going to be on the Saturday, it has

to be deliberate. Sergio moved to London from Surrey after getting fed

up with Southern's poor service He's been given permission by a

judge to sue for ?500 for trains he couldn't get on and those that were

cancelled. He told the BBC ht could set a precedent for more cl`ims I

feel humbled that my tiny ?400 claim turned into this big thing which may

possibly mean justice and something of compensation for thousands of

people. Govia Thameslink sax moving conductsors to a new role of on

board supervisor will improve services to passengers. It said it's

ready to talk with the RMT Tnion but with no meeting, it's difficult to

see what happens next. A ferry spotted a man 12 miles off the Kent

coast on Saturday afternoon in a kayak. Reports suggested he had been

living in Calais which was demolished last week. The m`n has

been referred to Home Officd officials.

A man who died after getting into difficulties in the se`

at Camber Sands was trying to help another man who was drowning,

36-year-old Mohit Dupar, from London, was pulled

from the water on July the 24th and died four days

The man he was trying to help, 19-year-old Gustavo Silva dd Cruz,

was pronounced dead at the scene, later that day.

Our reporter Natalie Graham has been at the inquest in Hastings.

So Natalie, there's been no verdict yet?

No. After hearing the details of how both men died, the coroner said he

was going to adjourn the inpuest because of the similarity they bore

to the deaths of five men a month later. On August 24th, five young

men, also from London, had `ll come down to camberg sands to enjoy the

warm weather. They were there with over 20,000 other people, btt they

got into difficulties in thd water and all five of them drowned. We

heard today from the beach patrol team who said the events of this

summer have really shocked dveryone who works at chasmberg. There was

also a petition launched to try to get lifeguards on the beach --

camberg sands. The coroner said he'd look at the issue of whether there

should be more lifeguards or any other safety measures taken to

prevent any more tragedies `s we saw this summer.

A Hastings arts organisation which works with people with severe

mental and physical impairmdnts has been awarded nearly ?600,000

in Arts Council funding for a new nationwide project.

Project Artworks has won wide recognition for its pioneerhng

approach to visual art created by people with severe physical

and mental impairments working alongside a group

The funding will go towards a major nationwide scheme called Explorers

which will see art and films exhibited across the countrx.

Robin Gibson has tonight's Special Report.

For project art works financial support's come as a major

acknowledgement of its ground breaking work. The artists here see

these workshops not as classes or therapy sessions, they are to them

more like collaborations with everyone learning from each other.

We made sticky tape... It's reflecting the light, isn't it? I

would like to dispel the myth that it's all about us doing good work,

it's always got as much frol the work I've been able to give. An

important element is that those involved like group founder Kate

Adams are all working artists. It's nicely framed. She currentlx has an

exhibition of her own work hn Robertsbridge. This is the sun and

this is Venus... Very moving. That perspective is

important. Over years, projdct art works has taken the lead in growing

similar organisations and the new money has brought the opportunity to

create a nationwide visual `rt project called Explorers. At the

moment, people with disabilhties are having a very difficult timd because

there are so many cuts in sdrvices and support for them. So at Project

Art works, we want to continue to work along -- walk alongsidd them

and support them in their lhves The funding will be shared with a number

of partner organisations and it will involve creative projects and public

exhibitions to be held over coming years.

They hope that may open people's eyes and help change perceptions.

A private patient transport service criticised for delays in taking

patients to hospital has lost its NHS contract. Thousands of people

had signed a petition calling for the Health Service to end its

agreement with Coperforma in Sussex. Also in the programme: I suggest you

take extra care, Mr Potter. Loss of limb will not escape you... And we

meet the artist who created the original covers for the Harry Potter

books. And we have a cold bright d`y in

prospect for tomorrow. I'll have the details for you in the forecast

later in the programme. Since the 1850's, the Reeves

family in Lewes have been taking photographs of people

in the town; their homes It s believed to be the olddst

continuously run photographhc Now research into their

extraordinary archive has ldd to a unique exhibition in the town,

linking pictures taken during the First World War

with the places their subjects lived; Piers Hopkirk

is in Lewes now. This is Lewes high street and, for

the last 150 years, Edward Reeves' photographic studio's been based

here and here within its vatlts they have uncovered something really

rather remarkable. An extraordinary insight into life

in Lewes, a diary of the evdry day as war waged across the channel

This family of three childrdn and mum reading a letter. Presulably you

can read the story into it, but presumably father's sent a letter

from the trenches and they `re going to send him a picture to show

they've read it and how happy they are to hear from him. From lilitary

vehicles massed on the south downs to the farming that continudd amid

military training, the picttres paint a portrait of the homd front,

a contrast to the bloody turmoil in the trenches.

It has been quite a journey of discovery really and I hope we are

doing the families justice hn showing these old pictures because

it's really bringing their relatives back to life in a way and I hope we

can perpetuate their memory. It s been an amazing experience. The

pictures were round in Reevd's library of negatives stored away f

for more than a century. Thdre are boxes and boxes of photographic

history. The collection's bden painstakingly archived, a process

that is revealing the storids behind the pictures. What makes thhs place

even more special is that it's kept its ledgers and account books and,

more often than not, all Victorian plates get preserved and people

throw the paperwork away. So you get Victorian man with beard, btt we

know it's Mr Hunter, we know he lives in Sun Street, we know what he

was paid, I mean it's just the most exciting research project I can

think of. More than 60 photographs have been

placed in illuminated boxes in the windows of shops and houses across

town, an exhibition shedding new light on wartime Lewes.

And here are two of them located in the window of this curry hotse,

showing soldiers in this buhlding in the First World War. It's rdmarkable

to think that in 1914, the population of Lewes was just 10 000,

but they had 11,000 soldiers here. A woman from Kent told she couldn't

breastfeed her baby in a Mothercare shop at Bluewater Shopping Centre

has finally received an apology Zoe Frangou from Swanley

complained to the company about what she felt

was "completely But she heard nothing from them

until she posted her feelings on social media and her comlents

sparked a huge response Mothercare say they fully stpport

breastfeeding mothers, Zoe says she was breast-feeding her

son in a quiet part of the Mothercare store at Bluewatdr when

she was asked by a member of staff to stop. Mothercare, you thhnk it's

a safe haven where you can go and sit down and be supported to feed,

to change your baby. Just utterly wrong, it's morally wrong and

actually it's illegal as well to tell a woman she cannot bre`st-feed

on your prom six. Of all thd places, Mothercare. Despite the 2010

equality act making it unlawful for a business to discriminate `gainst a

woman breast-feeding, it sedms there is still work to be done. One mother

from Eastbourne took legal `ction against a school after the head

teacher asked her to stop breast-feeding in the school hall. A

mother from Kent said she w`s made to feel humiliated after behng asked

to stop breast-feeding at a swimming pool. It's when people are `sked to

leave the Prem sits six or go and feed somewhere which is tot`lly

inappropriate -- premises. @ woman has a right to say, no, I al staying

where I am. Parents at Bluewater today were horrified. It's

Mothercare, it's in the namd! Don't you think in! I think that nowadays,

you can do that sort of thing as long as it's discreet, as long as

you are not on full display and upsetting people. Mothercard's

apologised and told us they offer full support so mothers can nurse

their children anywhere on their premises. They say, on this

occasion, staff at the Bluewater store didn't adhere to guiddlines

and they are now investigathng. Zoe's sister who happens to be a

midwife says young mothers need more support. Made her feel really sad

that this is the day and agd that we live in where people still think

they have the right to tell someone where they can or can't feed their

baby. Zoe says her experience hasn't put her off breast-feeding but it's

highlighted the need for more young mothers to be aware of their rights

about breast-feeding in public. They're among the most famots books

ever written and the film adaptations have been

seen by millions. But before they were transformed

for the big screen, the Harry Potter novel illustrations also ignited

the imaginations of children Now an exhibition of that work

and the artist behind two of the books has gone

on display in East Sussex. More than 6.8 million prints

of the Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban

have been sold. When the Prisoner of Azkaban

was released in 1999 it bec`me the fastest selling British book

of all time, more than 68,000 copies The original artwork for both books

sold at auction for over ?30,00 . Our reporter Briohny Willials went

to meet the artist Cliff Wrhght No-one blames you, Harry. Mhllions

have come under the spell of Harry Potter since the first book was

published nearly 20 years ago. Before the films, it was thd

pictures on the cover that sparked the imagination of readers, a

gateway into the wizarding world and, for the chamber of secrets and

the prisoner of Azkaban, it was dreamt up by one man from E`st

Sussex. When I first got thd call, Harry Potter wasn't well-known at

all so to me, when the phond call came it was just another job but it

was when the third book, Azkaban came out, that it went nuts all over

the world, of course. At th`t point, yeah, very, very strange. Alazing,

of course, but also very strange. The books are translated into 6

languages and have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. It's not

just the final pictures that are on display here. There are pencil

sketches and drawings which really show the process that cliff went

through to design those iconic images. There's not a lot to go on

in terms of what they are known look like. There is no face shapd that

Harry has described. He's ddscribed adds the hair that never behaves

itself, we know about the glasses and the scar, but apart frol that,

we don't know what he looks like from the text, and the other

characters, so it was interdsting to find the faces. Page 394. Btt he did

and now they are amongst thd most famous in the world.

A lot of talent in this part of the world. Time to get a check on the

weather now. It's November, are we facing our first frost?

Yes, a chilly night in prospect tomorrow and today it's started to

feel a little cooler. Yesterday we had highs of around 20, for tomorrow

we are going to do well to get out of single figures. First thhng, lots

of sunshine. We have been sdeing more cloud cover around. Th`t is a

cold front and we'll see cooler air behind it. Through tonight,

overnight temperatures drop to around two or three degrees,

initially a lot of cloud, btt towards the early hours of Wednesday

morning, clearer skies. A cool, bright start to the day for

Wednesday and lots of sunshhne throughout the day. The are` of high

pressure, the reason for th`t. We have light winds but they are now

from a north-west direction adding a cool feel. Average for the time of

year is 11 or 12 and tomorrow, a little below that.

As we go from Wednesday over into Thursday, in more rural spots, we

are expecting temperatures to drop into freezing and in towns `nd

cities, to around two or three de-Gregs, so a chilly, frosty start

to the day for Thursday and again a good deal of sunshine around,

feeling cool with highs of 01 or 12. A shift through to Friday, we are

going to be seeing a cold front Further outbreaks of rain. Behind

it, toward the weekend, we'll see outbreaks of rain potentially for

Bonfire Night as well. Before we get there, lots of try and bright chilly

weather. We don't want rain for Bonfire Night, that's no good.

Sorry! You could change that. I m back at 8 and 10. 25. I'm b`ck

tomorrow, have a lovely evening Bye.

He's a scientist, brilliant apparently.

But you may be bringing people over here who did things during the war.

I will not work for you. I will not work for the British Government

Let us not let the past haunt all of our actions.

You've got to do something! It's only you that can!

When were you going to tell Whitney about the loan?

MICK: All you've got to do is show up.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong yesterday.

and you've got to do it before the wedding.