17/02/2017 South East Today

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

And I'm Ellie Crisell. Tonight's top stories:

Two years of harrassment and bullying so bad, it made her ill -

a former ambulance worker's claims about her experience at SECAMB.

Months of appeals, threatened fines, endless paperwork and a bailiff -

all because of a face-down parking ticket.

So you push. You push and it was a good push. The baby born in a car

park, delivered by strangers, now meeting up for the first time since

the birth. Extraordinary love letters written in a time of war and

prejudice, rediscovered in Brighton. And we chat with the former Strictly

Star Pasha rehearsing his latest spectacular show in Kent.

A former worker at South East Coast Ambulance Service has told

this programme that she was so badly bullied there for two years

it made her ill, and she had to leave the job she loved.

Ambulance technician Jane Thomas says the bullying was widespread

The trust has been under intense pressure this week

after a leaked report revealed historic allegations

of "horrific, cowardly and devastating" acts of bullying

against staff at their call centre in Kent.

The trust has told us that they are working hard

Ian Palmer has our exclusive report.

I am so sorry for the people that are working at SECAMB that are still

being bullied. It just can't go on, it can't go on any longer. It has to

stop. I'm afraid we have had an issue with that report technically.

Our health correspondent Mark Norman joins us and Mark -

you have been speaking to senior members of the trust this week?

I have. They strongly recognise that they have had a problem for a number

of years although they are adamant that some of these cases are

historic dating back between 2-5 years and they say that the staff

involved in bullying have been sanctioned and have not been

promoted. They are running a diagnostic review, talking to staff

try to get to the bottom of what is going on and they are using examples

of how other trusts have dealt with it. They've had 14 cases of bullying

this year and they say that shows staff are confident they can report

bullying and harassment when they see it. I spoke to one ambulance

driver who said it mixed a tough job even Tupper. This trust needs real

leadership. It does not have a full-time chief executive, chairman,

head of HR, and Chief nurse, and they need that in place if they are

going to sort out some of these issues. We have now got that report

from Ian Palmer looking into the situation at the South

East coast Ambulance Service. Jane Thomas was a technician with the

SECAMB for 14 years. She left two years ago after suffering what she

describes as repeated bullying from a colleague. I was expecting a baby

in September, I miscarried in Christmas Day. And he made a comment

about my weight in the duty room in front of several other colleagues

when I was passing through. And they all laughed about it. Jane Thomas

joined what was Kent ambulance in the year 2000. She was happy and

enjoy the work. Based in Thanet, that changed in 2012, when she

questioned a co-worker's professionalism. The 50-year-old

mother of one raise the matter with senior managers but she says they

fail to act appropriately. When you haven't got the support, who do you

turn to? You have your line manager, that you think, you hope, you can

trust and they perhaps don't want to know so you go the next stage

further and they are not interested. Revelations about bullying at SECAMB

have centred around historical allegations at the emergency call

centre at Coxheath. A confidential report was leaked this week,

describing a culture of favouritism and nepotism with staff receiving

abusive and anonymous phone calls and female staff being called

obscene names. In response, the trust says...

The trust goes on to say... But that is not good enough for the MP for

Eastbourne, who spoke to the BBC earlier this week. I am suitably

appalled. Beyond disappointed. I am very angry, have these allegations

do come through then serious questions need to be asked. Jane

Thomas now lives in North Wales, but she says she constantly fears for

the welfare of the SECAMB staff that she left behind. In July 2014, I

said to myself I have got the go. There is no way out for me. And I

had to give up a job that I loved doing very much. And it still

affects me, to this day. And I am so sorry for the people that are

working for SECAMB that are still being bullied. It can't go on. It

can't go on any longer. It has to stop.

A dispute over a ?1 parking ticket led to a 14 month battle with East

Sussex County Council which saw Baylis try to repossess a woman's

car. The wind blew that it facedown onto the dashboard. After months of

disputes and independent parking tribunal has ruled in her favour.

The council says it is seeking clarification on the decision and

will check its rules. It was a ?1 for two hours to get that led to

this woman's 14 month legal battle. She regularly pays and displays in

this car park at Seaford and the problems began on a windy winters

day. I am a volunteer at the theatre three or four times a week. And I

was helping with the school pantomime. It was windy, December

2015, very cold, the children had arrived early with their teachers

and I was rushing to get them into the theatre. I bought a ticket as I

always do, put it in my car, and the wind must have flipped it over as I

closed the door. And the ?50 penalty charge was issued. She told East

Sussex County Council what had happened and sent in her ticket.

Season has further evidence that the ticket had flipped over but officers

refused to back down. More appeals and the County Court hearing

followed. And then Baylis, to take away her car. A tow truck and a

bailiff turned up with a lady threatening to drag away my ?11,000

car for a ?1 parking ticket that I had bought. It was absolutely

incredible. You are not going to pay the fine? It got beyond ridiculous,

six appeals, bailiffs, and all for a ?1 ticket that I had bought.

Eventually a government independent tribunal sided with and the ?400

that she had to pay the bailiffs has now been refunded. The fact that

then pursued its relentlessly, it seems me that someone has really had

quite a vicious streak in them and instead of exercising their

discretion that common sense would suggest, has pursued this

relentlessly and at the expense of taxpayers. East Sussex County

Council says it issued a penalty charge notice because it had

happened to Paul before, back in March 2015, when she was given a

warning. The matter is now closed for Paula but the council is seeking

clarification from the tribunal over its decision.

In a moment, delays on the Delay Repay scheme - Southern Rail

customers are still waiting for their long-promised compensation.

A lorry driver accused of bringing down a bridge on the M20 in Kent

by driving dangerously has appeared in court.

Alan Austen from Darlington is also charged with criminal damage.

The incident happened last August, when a lorry hit a footbridge

crossing the M20, bringing it down onto another HGV

Simon Jones reports from Maidstone Crown Court.

A first court appearance for Alan Austen.

Magistrates heard he was driving a lorry.

The trailer was loaded with a dumper truck and an excavator when he hit

the pedestrian bridge, causing it to come down

It caused ?1.5 million worth of damage to the bridge

and more than ?150,000 to the equipment.

It caused travel chaos over the August bank holiday weekend.

Mr Austen did not enter a plea to charges of dangerous driving,

causing serious injury and criminal damage.

This was a brief court appearance lasting just a few minutes.

Magistrates decided, because of the seriousness

of the charges, the case should be sent to the Crown Court.

And that hearing will take place on 17th of March.

A motorcyclist who suffered three broken ribs in the aftermath

of the bridge collapse spoke about what had happened

The bridge was coming down, almost like in slow motion to start

with, because it was eating its way through the lorry as it was coming

down but then it tore away from the other side.

As it came down it came through the back of the floor.

The motorway was shut for more than 24 hours.

What remained of the bridge has been demolished.

Simon is live now at the M20. Will that bridge actually end up being

replaced? The bridge used to be on the stretch of motorway. It is now

completely gone. Highways England have said there would be a new

bridge but they could not give as a timescale. They said it might arrive

when there is work to convert part of the motorway into a smart

motorway. When it was removed it was a huge operation. The motorway have

to be closed for almost three days, 100 people involved, so putting up a

new bridge is going to be a tall order. And this is the main route

into the port of Dover, and Eurotunnel.

New problems have emerged with refunds for passengers

who were delayed on their journeys on Southern Rail.

The company promised they would be compensated for the chaos

on the service since industrial action began last year.

They told passengers it would be in touch

with them in the New Year - but thousands haven't heard a word,

and today the company admitted that technical problems mean

the scheme is itself now facing big delays.

For ten months they have put up with delays on the trains.

Now they are having to put up with delays on getting

One commuter from Haywards Heath is owed ?350.

What is really sickening is that the compensation

that we were promised for months, there is such a mess

Two things, it seems, have gone wrong.

First, Southern have failed to get in touch by e-mail

with many of the 40,000 passengers they have details for.

They promised them they would be contacted in early January.

Today, they couldn't tell us how many they had contacted so far.

Second, a special web portal has failed

This was meant to be used by the 44,000 or so passengers

who Southern don't have details for themselves.

Possibly because they bought their tickets through another

organisation, their Oyster card, for example.

The only good news for passengers is that Southern have now

abandoned their deadline of March 31st for people to contact them.

My own personal experience, I phoned up Southern Rail

and they said I'm not in the system even though I have an electronic

account, I'm not on the system, which is truly unbelievable,

because my e-mail is too similar to someone else's, apparently.

Pretty much the same as every other aspect of Southern Rail.

We have to go through so much pain to get what we're actually

One passenger pointing out on Twitter...

Southern would not be interviewed about this today but they hope

that their web portal will be working next week.

It is yet another frustration for passengers at the end of

John is at Shoreham by sea station. What is the latest advice the

passengers? The week ahead, let's start with a glimmer of hope. Aslef,

the union that cause a shock when it relied it had not reached agreement

with sullen, said it was to get back around the table early next week.

They have said that they do not want ACAS, the arbitration service on

board. But then what to read into that but it looks like talks could

be back on the table. The other piece of news, a strike from the RMT

union going ahead on Wednesday but it does not have the Aslef drivers

involved. That led a bullish Southern to say, last time RMT is

were on strike the ran three quarters of services and this time

we think we can do better than that. This is our top story tonight: Two

years of harrassment and bullying so bad,

it made her ill - a former ambulance worker tells us

about her experience at SECAMB after this week's leaked

report into historic allegations of bullying

against call centre staff. The Ambulance Service says

they are addressing the issue. I am Pasha, join me later to find

out more about my new shoe. And join me later for the latest weather

details. -- my new show. In the 1970's, as a child actor,

things were looking very rosy for Donald Waugh -

a regular on TV in Grange Hill, a role in the hit film Bugsy Malone,

and on stage in the musical Cats. But things shifted as he grew

up - and he went into Sadly that didn't go so well -

his venture failed, and he ended up homeless and for a while,

living on the streets. Now he's putting his own,

sometimes very tough, experiences to good use -

he's started a self help arts charity, working with people

marginalised by society. For tonight's special report,

Robin Gibson met him at the group's Colourful, striking and intriguing,

this is definitely art. At the distance there is a delicate beauty,

but close-up there is a huge amount that disturbs. The list eyes will

say that it is rubbish, and in a way, they are right. Donald comes in

and explains who he is and what he does and what he is intending to do

and he says I would like you to give me a bag of your rubbish. And I

said, well, it is rubbish. He said you will be surprised what I can

create with it. Black bin line to make the garment, crushed bits of

oil... It is chucked out stuffed grape on mannequins and photographs.

It has been created by groups of people, street workers, disabled

people or those with addictions, this is the man who has brought them

together. Donald Waugh was a child actor. He was on Grange Hill and in

the iconic movie, Bugsy Malone. His life seemed charmed but he ended up

destitute and on the street when his career as a property developer went

wrong. I lost everything. I started to drink and became an alcoholic and

ended up on the streets. When you lose things and your life becomes a

mess, if you rebuild your life again you are never the same. One of the

key things that keeps me going everyday is gratitude. He still in

temporary housing but he formed pavement to catwalk, part arts

organisation, part self-help group, which uses the talents of

marginalised people to make art that sells to make money to help continue

the work. The mouth was stitched on this. One good side and one bad

side, stitched, were people still to keep their mouths quite. This is a

first public outing. Things used by throwing away people to people to

try to bring about change. Could there be any experience more

stressful than going into labour and not making it to the hospital in

time? That's exactly what happened on

Monday - when Jadine Arnold ended up giving

birth in the car park at Tunbridge Wells

Hospital. Fortunately two good

samaritan's were there to help out and thanks to having been an avid

fan of the TV show Call The Midwife, Today they got the chance to meet

baby Bohdi, and his proud and grateful

parents in somewhat less stressful circumstances - and our reporter

Chrissy Reidy was there, too. Mother and baby reunited with the

date the woman who helped deliver her son and the back of the car and

a hospital car park. Becky and Sue had pulled into the space. I

screeched up in front of their car and ran round to the window and

asked if we could dig into their space. I reversed in. She then said

that the baby was coming. I didn't believe her. I went round to see and

clearly it was coming so I ran into the hospital. I got there, to the

back of the car, and suddenly the baby 's head was there. Maarten had

gone for help leaving Sue with his wife and baby Bohdi decided that it

was now or never. I said, you have got to push, and you push and it was

a good push, and a little shoulder appeared. And suddenly, he came out.

And I caught him in the towel. I could have been just on my own that

happening and perhaps if someone else was not there they might not

have guided him out as out as well as Sue did. So, yes, just so

incredibly lucky. Sue was holding the baby wrapped up in a towel,

trying not to cry, because this was my first son that I have always

wanted, he was there. Sue had been at the hospital with it before

because her husband had passed away and it was nice to bring another new

life into the board after losing another one. Which was lovely. It

was a special moment, but rather surreal. The families were only able

to meet today after Sue's daughter made an online appeal to find them.

I did not imagine her being a midwife. And delivering a baby boy.

It was totally weird. Luckily, I watch Call The Midwife so it was in

my head! Baby Bohdi ways 9lbs and is doing well, and he has brought more

happiness into the Albany realises. -- enter the world than he realises.

Pasha Kovalev is a professional dancer who found fame

on Strictly Come Dancing - his highlight winning

the contest outright in 2014 with Caroline Flack.

These days he spends his time out on the road, touring his spectacular

In a few weeks it will be coming to Folkestone -

and today he was in the town, rehearsing with local dancers

who will be getting the chance to perform on stage along side him.

This must make it a very special day for those dancers. Yes, very special

day. They were also excited. Pasha came to watch them rehearse and was

giving them advice and it is greater then Timmy meet an icon who has

turned a passion into a career. It is something that they are all

excited about when the show comes here in April.

Pasha Kovalev wowed audiences when he lifted the glitter ball trophy in

2014 with Caroline Flack. Ten. Ten. Now he's bringing his showbiz

sparkle to Folkestone with his own show. It is close to my heart

because it is kind of my life story. It is me growing up as a dancer,

struggling along in the world, moving from Russia to the United

States and the one Broadway, on TV, touring the world, and coming back

here to the UK forced Strictly Come Dancing.

The first performance and he has enlisted the help of a local dance

group. I am so excited. It is going to be so good. I never thought I

would have an opportunity like that but being a big fan of Strictly Come

Dancing, it is absolutely amazing. He is so professional. He is so

inspiring. You see him on TV all the time. And it is just really

exciting. It is going to be like hard-core, let's do this. Not just

the dance groups are excited. Everything is there, beautiful

costumes, all of the styles that you have seen on to become Banting, the

walls, the foxtrot, passionate tangos, it is a show for the entire

family and we're all going to have fun. He might not any longer have

the strictly judges to impress but he is still hoping to get top marks.

If you want to come and watch it will be here on April five. -- April

the 5th. An extraordinary collection of love

letters written during the Second World War have been

discovered in a trunk in Brighton, detailing the hopes and dreams

and fears of a young couple All the letters were sent

between the pair to army camps around the country.

Both signed the letters with the same initial - G -

and never their full names - because, for both of them,

revealing their love publicly could have had

the direst of consequences. They do not know that it is love. He

exchanged hundreds of letters with his sweetheart and always signed

with the initial, G. More than 70 years later it has been discovered

that G stood for Gordon, and Gilbert had been in love with a man. It

stunned us to start with because we had seen that all of the letters

were from a girlfriend because of what they talked about then it was

the realisation that we had uncovered a gold mine of

correspondence between the two men. The letters are from infantrymen

Gordon from Devon, but no picture of him has yet been found. They were

uncovered nine years ago in Brighton, NI house clearance, but

very nearly could have been lost. Do one thing for me in deadly

seriousness. I want all of my letters destroyed. Please, darling,

do this for me. Till then and for ever I worship you. The letters will

be read this weekend at the history Festival in Shropshire organised by

a couple among the first to have a civil partnership 11 years ago. Here

we are looking at something so personal, so loving and so caring

between two guys in the Second World War. Even back in the late 70s it

was a very different world. Still very restricted. It was hard to find

a partner for life. The illicit letters were written at a time when

Dearlove would have been illegal, but the words are filled with

happiness and hope for a more progressive time. Wouldn't it be

wonderful if our letters to be published in future in a more

enlightened time, and all the world could see how in love we are? And

the world has a glimpse of that forbidden love, decades on.

Time now for the weather with Rachel.

It is going to get even warmer, fantastic! Lots of sun sign around

this afternoon. The cloud that we saw first thing broke up during the

afternoon. Towards the weekend it is going to be staying mild. Today we

had highs of 13 Celsius. Heading through the weekend, particularly

Sunday, we will see highs of 13, 14, maybe even 17 by Monday. There will

be some rain around, first thing on Sunday but for most of us in the

South East corner it should be dry. Clear skies mean that there will be

some mist and fog of an act but again very mild. Temperatures

dropping to around five Celsius. Any early mist and fog burns back. We

still have this area of high pressure. Once again it is going to

be brightening up by the afternoon, still with that south-westerly

airflow. Top temperatures reaching highs of 11 or 12 degrees. Going

from Saturday into Sunday, we will see this weakening weather front,

not bringing much in terms of rain, but it will mean more cloud cover.

The winds pick up a little bit. Mild, overnight temperatures around

five Celsius, and a damp start Sunday but that front players and

again it brightens up with highs of around 13 Celsius. Heading into the

new week, for Monday, potentially some breaks in the cloud cover and

we could see some highs of 17 Celsius. The average for the time of

year is around eight. There will also be a good deal of cloud. Even

so you cannot argue with 17 Celsius. Monday into juicy, some rain for a

time, towards the weekend, bright for the most part, dry and mild. --

Monday into Tuesday. We're back with a late news at PM. I

will see you next week. Have a great weekend. Goodbye. -- the late news

at 10:30pm.