19/12/2016 South East Today

Today's main headlines in the South-East:

A record ?2 million fine for Southern Water

after a raw sewage leak closed beaches in Kent.

Sussex MPs meet with the Prime Minister and Southern Rail to

We'll be reporting live from Uckfield.

After a settled start, the week is turning wet and windy with gale

Southern Water has been fined a record ?2 million for allowing

a "catastrophic" level of sewage to pollute the sea around the Kent

coast, resulting in sanitary pads, condoms and other matter washing up

on seven beaches around Thanet in 2012.

The beaches were closed to the public for more than a week.

The judge at Maidstone Crown Court slammed the company,

saying it was slow to react and failed to get to grips

Southern Water has "apologised unreservedly".

Our Environment Correspondent, Yvette Austin, reports.

Cleaning up the beaches of Thanet back in 2012.

Today the court heard how there were two major incidents

within days of each other, leading to catastrophic pollution.

And since months before, the pumps at the Foreness Point

plant at Broadstairs hadn't been functioning properly.

When the heavy rain and storms came, the pumping station was overwhelmed

and vast quantities of raw and semi-treated sewage spilled

4th June, 2012 was a busy Bank Holiday time for Thanet's

beaches, but people reported feeling nauseous at the sight of sewage

There were dead fish and numerous water activities

The impacts of the pollution incidents were really serious

for the local environment and for the local economy,

so the signal to water companies more generally is that they need

to continue to make investments in sewage infrastructure.

Judge Adele Williams said the court found it hard to understand how

the directors and shareholders of the company could be

satisfied with its record - 160 convictions over the past 16

years, including a ?200,000 fine after discharging sewage

After three pumps failed in East Worthing, ten miles

of beaches were closed for four days in September 2012.

And a half a million pound fine for discharging untreated sewage

into Swalecliff Brook in July 2013, killing local wildlife.

I would like to apologise unreservedly for the multiple

failures of the waste water pumping station at Foreness

We will continue to invest in our network and our pumping

stations to ensure that the bathing waters remain amongst

They've made ?120 million profit, they have consistently damaged

the tourism industry in Thanet over the last few years by the inadequacy

of their maintenance, and nobody seems to realise

The company says it has now minimised the risk.

Winter will no doubt test the system.

Our reporter Ian Palmer has been following this story.

Ian, what has Southern Water done to minimise the risk

They say they have invested ?4 million in equipment, and there is

another ?6 million of investment is further down the line. It was that

commitment to water quality that helped the presiding judge decide

what the level of fine would be. Had they not sure on that commitment the

fine would have been much more. But critics are saying tonight that a

company that has delivered 120 macro him pounds worth of profits for

shareholders this year, that ?2 million fines simply wasn't high

million fines simply wasn't high enough.

Senior Conservative Nicholas Soames, MP for mid-Sussex, has been meeting

with the Prime Minister and head of Southern Rail this evening

The dispute, over the use of driver-only operated trains,

has led to the worst disruption on the railways for over 20 years.

After today, there are still ten days of action scheduled,

which could affect more than 300,000 commuters.

Earlier today, the MP for Lewes called for

As MPs, we've also had the letter from the independent rail operator

to say driver-only operated trains are safe.

There isn't a safety issue with these, so either the unions get

back around the table and sort this out and deal with the issues

that they have, or we bring in legislation that where your

independent rail operator says there isn't a safety issue,

Our reporter Lucinda Adam is at Uckfield Station now.

Lucinda, the Prime Minister's Office has said that she's not

considering anti-strike legislation, but there was harsh

Yes, we have heard that this legislation is very much still on

the table. Theresa May accused the unions of having contempt for

ordinary people by launching the strikes on Christmas weeks,

alongside similar industrial action by postal and airline workers.

Commuters I spoke to earlier in Brighton were not impressed by the

Prime Minister's temp two show that she was on the side.

Theresa May has a history of showing contempt

It is affecting ordinary working people, for sure.

But I suppose, yeah, especially at this time

of year it's unkind, with people trying to get

What we are seeing now is the Government are also sticking

two fingers up to us because, ultimately, the Government

is footing the bill, so us taxpayers are picking up

the bill and we are the people who are suffering.

The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, Tim Loughton,

is bringing forward a Rail Ombudsman Bill to be debated

Currently compensation relies on passengers claiming. Tim Loughton

says that isn't good enough and he wants to create a fund that

effectively finds real operators every time a train is the later

cancelled and passengers would claim from that. He says that real

operators currently don't have any incentive to bring this dispute to

an end because it is not hitting them where it hurts most, in the

them where it hurts most, in the pocket.

A court has heard how a 'human cannonball' stuntman died

at a daredevil show in Kent, due to what prosecutors described

as a "flagrant disregard" for health and duty law.

Matthew Cranch was killed when a safety net failed to catch

Scott May and his company, Stunts UK Ltd, are due

The number of migrants in a camp in Dunkirk

Six people have now come forward to allege they were victims

of sexual abuse at football clubs in Sussex.

Sussex Police has revealed that the reports of historical

sexual abuse relate to six different coaches.

None of them relate to either of the county's highest-profile

teams, Brighton Hove Albion or Crawley Town.

The investigation into allegations of historical child sex abuse

in football has spread to Sussex, with the police confirming

they are looking at six separate reports of sex offences

The claims are being investigated by the force's

It is always very complex if it's a non-recent

case of child abuse, as these cases are, so they take not

just weeks and months, but often years to put cases

together as well, but the police take them incredibly seriously.

The FA and NSPCC have already launched this

video about child safety, as allegations have surfaced

The issue was raised at a recent meeting about policing in Sussex.

So even though it might have occurred ten or 20 years ago,

it's really important we find out who the offender is that

the allegations are made against, are they still working

with children, and we take any here-and-now action

And today another victim spoke about being abused.

Paul Collins, who played briefly for Charlton Athletic,

was groomed by former Chelsea scout Eddie Heath.

Paul had kept the secret from his family for more than three decades.

I was so frightened to speak out because I never had

Eddie was like a father figure, and I just felt so alone

and trapped, but I say to people now, no matter what sport

No-one can stop you doing what you are doing.

Paul Collins' story is just one of many emerging

Now let s see what s on the cards for the weather in the coming week,

The weather looks to be turning rather wet and windy. December so

far has been mostly dry and very mild. As we head to the week,

particularly by Wednesday, we will see heavy rain at times and strong

winds as we look towards Christmas. Through tonight by contrast it is a

settled picture. Still quite a bit of low cloud and relatively mild.

Overnight temperatures dropping to three or 4 degrees. Quite a damp

start to the day first thing. But it is an improving picture. By the

afternoon we will see bricks on the cloud and temperatures will get up

to eight or 9 degrees. Cooler than last week, but still pretty decent

for the time of year. Gentle Southeast would lead breezes. Into

Wednesday, outbreaks of rain for a time again during the tail end of

the afternoon. Temperatures slightly milder at nine or 10 degrees. The

winds will start the pick-up. Into the estate, we hold onto the rain

for a time. We will save high pressure from Thursday into Friday,

then that eases away and once again we will see strong winds and

outbreaks of heavy rain as we look towards Christmas Eve and Christmas

Day itself. This is the picture but Thursday. Summary rain around with

the morning, improving during the afternoon with temperatures reaching

of seven or eight degrees. Friday should be settled with the winds

easing off at the time, highs of 9 degrees. Here is the

The rest of the weekend, some rain around, windy, but with dry and

bright spells. Heavy weather is brewing, it will

not reach us just yet. It will take a good few days before the stormy

weather reaches us. At the moment, it's just potential, nothing is

certain, but it will be different to what we've had over the last few

weeks, it's been so calm. We have a jet stream raging out of North

America making a beeline for the UK. It has peaked at jet level