22/12/2016 South East Today

Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Today's main headlines in the South East:

They stepped in during the fire dispute.

We reveal the army's drawing up plans to help deal

Grounded at Rochester Airport - two men are found guilty

of attempting to smuggle drugs into Kent on a light aircraft.

The Christmas weekend looks mostly dry, mild and very windy.

BBC South East Today understands that the British Army has been asked

to put contingency plans in place to step in and ensure commuters get

to work if the chaos on Southern Rail continues.

This programme has learned that military leave could be cancelled

and soldiers instructed to drive buses to help deal with

Juliette Parkin has this exclusive report.

Trains cancelled, delayed and days of no trains at all.

This programme understands enquiries have been made about numbers and how

many could be released if needed to transport passengers on buses.

Should the Army be drafted in, do you think, in these situations?

If it helps get people to work and saves a

If it does go ahead, the move is reminiscent of

the firefighter strike 14 years ago when Army

personnel were drafted in

using Green Goddess appliances from the 1950s.

The Lewes MP says the current rail crisis has hit an equally

with no trains at all on strike days for those on the

When I called for this weeks ago, some people

It was not to call the Army to drive the trains,

some people thought I asked for that, but it is literally to ask

for help to transpoert people, because on strike days

there is no bus replacement at all, nothing.

The ongoing dispute between the RMT union and Southern over

changes to the role of guards started in April.

The strikes have led to the worst rail disruption

The dispute affects up to 500,000 commuters and further

strikes are planned at the end of this month and in the New Year.

New figures for recent weeks show only 56%

The figures show they have been in steady decline

It is not just about what is happening at the immediate moment.

The Ministry of Defence said it does not have any plans to deploy

military personnel in response to the strikes.

We have learned leave may be cancelled and Army drivers

could be called upon in the worst hit areas.

Our reporter Ian Palmer has been following the story.

What is the RMT union saying tonight?

Paul Cox, the regional organiser of the RMT has told the BBC the

government does not need to bring in the army, it needs to settle this

dispute. The government has always said this disagreement is between

the operating company and unions and it must be said that if it did

intervene it could make any negotiated settlement between the

parties even more difficult to achieve. This strike has gone on for

almost ten months. What it has highlighted is there are fundamental

problems with the service and asking the military to drive buses frankly

around the south-east is not going to solve those problems. Thanks.

If you've have strong feelings about the strike

and its consequences we'd like to invite you to take part

in a special Question Time style debate about the ongoing crisis.

It's being held on Sunday the 8th of January.

If you live or work in the South East and want to be

in the audience, send an email to [email protected]

with your name, address, daytime phone number and tell us how

After prisoners tonight took control of a wing

at Swaleside Prison the Chairman of the Prison Officers Association

has told the BBC that it's a "difficult place to work"

This picture is reported to be from inside the prison on the Isle of

Sheppey tonight. At least 60 inmates are believed

to have been involved The Prison Officers Association said

the extent of the disturbance The rest of the prison

is said to be secure. Two men who took part

in an elaborate plot to smuggle ?2.4 million worth of cocaine

into Kent have been found A light aircraft carrying the drugs

landed at Rochester airport, This is what cocaine

with a street value of almost ?2.5 million looks

like. Here it is unpacked by officers

after a man due to whisk it Jan Polak claimed he had no

idea there were drugs in the shopping bags

he picked up. The jury at the Old

Bailey did not believe him. The drugs were picked up

from a small airport in northern Holland, arriving in Rochester

at quarter past 12. At the controls, Dutch national

John Buwalda, who told police he The prosecution said that was just

a useful camouflage Normally the small airports

will have no law enforcement possible then to land,

maybe offload goods, without any real difficulty,

without encountering somebody

from the border force or the police. John Buwalda had taken

the cocaine in a suitcase and booked into the neighbouring

Holiday Inn hotel. Then Yan Polak transferred the drugs

to two shopping bags and left. His van was parked in the adjacent

retail park and had a hidden compartments designed

into the seats. But both he and Buwalda

were arrested within minutes. The judge told them they would be

sentenced in the next three months and they should both be aware

that there would inevitably be The maximum for a crime like this

is 20 years in prison. A former Charlton Athletic youth

footballer who says he was abused at the club as a teenager has spoken

to this programme about how he's still struggling to come to terms

with what happened to him. Over the past few weeks,

club after club has announced it is investigating claims of abuse

within the sport. Our reporter Lauren Moss went

to meet Paul Collins at his home. Playing football was

Paul Collins' dream. A dream he said was

shattered by the abuse he suffered at the hands

of talent scout Eddie Heath

while he was a teenager He always said, "Hello,

Collins, how are you?" Slap your leg, "You played well

today", and he would move his hand up to the top of my

thigh and squeeze me. But his hand would go deeper

than what he should have done. He'll just carry on as normal

like nothing had happened. Paul said the abuse

went on for years. into a little room

and he'd rub you down. There was times I lay

there and thought, I hope somebody When he walked away

from football he locked Three days later, he

wants to look at them again and show his wife

for the first time. I knew this moment

would come eventually. Since last month when other former

players came forward saying how they were abused when they were children,

the NSPCC has received Paul has kept the memories of

what happened to him locked up in a garage where he grew up

more than 30 years ago. He believes his story, like many

others, may only be the tip

of the iceberg. These paedophiles will

always gravitate towards situations where they can get

access to young people. I would not be surprised

if we do see other sports and other areas

of society with similar

problems coming to light. In a statement, Charlton Athletic

said there is an internal investigation under way in the club

and they are taking the matter seriously, working

alongside the police. believed to be the biggest in

history, continues. That's it from me, we'll

have the national weather in a moment, first here's

the forecast for the It has been a beautiful day with

high pressure to thank for that. Going through tonight we will hold

onto clearer skies and the wind is going to be picking up. Overnight

temperatures of five or 6 degrees. Lots of sunshine first thing

tomorrow. A really blustery day for us. Eventually in the tail end of

the afternoon we will see a band of rain and looking to the Christmas

weekend we have got storm Barbara about, and for us in the south-east

we will mostly see that in terms of the wind. A blustery afternoon

tomorrow, temperatures reaching nine or 10 degrees, and going from Friday

into Christmas Eve, that is when we really see the wind picking up.

Storm Barbara mostly affecting northern Scotland but a blustery

evening for us all. That rain rattles through as a result and

behind that, clearer skies, falling temperatures and we start Christmas

Eve on a bright and chilly note. The itself, it's not white, but it's

warm. Temperatures could reach 15. I suppose you could say today was

the calm before the storm. A winter chill, plenty of sunshine, but more

wintry showers in Scotland, more snow over the higher ground. Some of

this snow will melt for a time tomorrow because there is wind and

rain coming in from the Atlantic. So we'll leave the Highlands behind,

head out and look at the cloud here, this tell-tale hook of cloud,

signifies a storm is developing, this is Storm Barbara, of course, it

is a deep and deepening area of low pressure, rushing towards the

north-west of Scotland. Steppingening the winds and bringing

rain into the north-west by tomorrow morning. Ahead of it fairly quiet.

Already the showers in the north less wintry. Fewer and clearer

skies, across England and Wales for a time, it could be chilly. One or

two mist and fog patches. Out to the west winds pick up later, cloud

increases and the rain arrives and very quickly tomorrow across

Scotland and Northern Ireland it'll