02/01/2017 South East Today

It's emerged tonight that the man who died in suspicious circumstances

in the early hours of New Year's Day was 25 years old and his

death is being treated as a major incident.

The man, whose name hasn't been released, fell to his death

from four storeys high, crashing through a corrugated

plastic ceiling at a property in St Leonards.

This evening, Sussex Police announced that five people,

all in their twenties and thirties, have been released on bail

after being questioned on suspicion of murder.

The two women and two of the men are from the town,

Rail commuters have been expressing their frustration

at the annual rise in fares - this year, on average, just over 2%.

That means an annual season ticket from Brighton

to London is now ?4,200, for a service that barely

And as Ian Palmer now reports, the dispute is having

a knock on effect on some South Eastern commuters, too.

New year, new rail ticket price rises.

The increase comes on the third day of an RMT strike.

Travellers in East Grinstead say they are not happy about paying

But in view of the problems with Southern Rail in

the last little while, I'm quite annoyed about it actually.

I think the price of rail fares now is

extortionate and I think that it would be a lot easier to tolerate if

the trains actually ran consistently on time

and we knew we could get to

and from work, and to and from London, the way

I think they've got a bit of a nerve putting

The annual increase in fares is being introduced because

the Government wants passengers to fund a larger

I feel acutely sorry for the Southern commuters who have

experienced the troubles over the past few months,

but what we did was say to these people, in recognition

of the trouble you've been through, we are going to give our regular

customers on that route a month's free travel.

In addition to the season ticket holders' compensation

rebate, Southern says because its services have

not been good enough, it's also going to freeze its

cheapest advanced fare tickets for the ninth year in a row.

But the dispute over the role of conducters on

The ten month strike has caused misery to

It's even affecting commuters on the south-eastern line in Kent.

There's some trains in particular, like the

6:31 from Sevenoaks, which, on a strike day, you cannot get

Another strike is due to begin on January 9th.

It may be a new year, but the old problems have

Meanwhile, a campaign's been launched to compensate drivers

who are fed up paying for the Dartford Crossing,

only to find themselves stuck for hours in queues waiting to use it.

But as Mark Norman explains, it'll need 100,000 signatures to stand

Rush hour at the Dartford crossing, and queues,

like this one, are a familiar sites to those who use it regularly.

People like Annan, who commutes from North Kent

For him, what's more frustrating than sitting in traffic

is the fact he has to pay for the pleasure.

A situation he has decided to do something about.

These delays are unacceptable and they're getting worse day by day.

Therefore, I have launched this petition calling

for drivers to be compensated in the event of long traffic delays.

Annan's petition is calling on Highways England to compensate

drivers who get stuck in traffic and if he manages to get 100,000

signatures, then the idea will be debated in Parliament.

One motoring organisation has concerns about the proposal.

You can never really be completely sure who is to

It could be on a Highways England managed stretch of

road or it could be on the crossing itself,

or it could just be that

So it's very difficult to be able to pin the blame.

In practice, it might be a little bit more difficult to operate.

It shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes,

but I've spent three or three and a half hours doing the

If not, at least 50% of the money should be refunded.

In a statement, Highways England says the Dart charge

is successfully speeding up journeys at the Dartford crossing

after being introduced to relieve severe

congestion and is a medium-term solution.

Meanwhile, they are continuing to work with partners to

tackle congestion, especially on the approaches

For now, Annan's commute continues and whether it changes in the

future, well, that, he hopes, will depend on the success of

It is cold and frosty. We got falling temperatures out there. All

due to clear skies. Wide frost throughout the night tonight,

exhibitors below freezing in the morning. Even as low as -3 or 4

degrees. Mist and fog patches first thing. They should clear and we will

have sunshine for the first part of the day. Workload introduced in the

afternoon, occasional brighter spells but cloudier than it has been

today. Top temperatures of four or 5 degrees, still staying cold.

Throughout much of this week, pressure remains high but there is a

weak weather front moving through on Wednesday. Again, that keeps the

feed of Clyde, it may even be thick feed of Clyde, it may even be thick

enough for the odd spot of rain. It will be quite as cold first thing in

the morning, in the afternoon we will see tempters recovering to 7

degrees. Taking a look Good evening. It's been a dry and

bright day across most parts of the country today. Despite the chilly

feel to the weather, there has been some sunshine. Clear skies as the

sun set in east Essex. With those clear skies around, temperatures are

plummeting, particularly across southern parts. Here we see the

coldest temperatures. We could see icy stretches on untreated surfaces,

pavements and roads first thing Tuesday morning. Not quite as cold

towards the North West. Cloud moving in here through the overnight

period.