21/12/2016 South Today - Oxford

Welcome to South Today. for the news where you are.

Coming up: Parking in disabled spaces without permission.

The council sting to catch drivers using blue badges that

And the stress of trying to see a GP - the patients demanding

improvements at a surgery which they say is failing them.

Why aren't you putting more doctors in? The rural was at heaving point.

There wasn't a spare seat available. Everyone was waiting to see the

emergency doctor. Drivers parking in disabled spaces

by using blue badges that don't belong to them have been targeted

in a clamp-down in Oxfordshire. Hundreds of badges have

been checked this week My wife had a brain

haemorrhage and two strokes. This man's using his wife's

blue badge while he goes As you can imagine, he wasn't very

happy when he was brought up on it. My wife can't walk, she's never

walked for the last 20 years and I only ever come

here for her, nobody else. But a lot of people would say your

wife isn't with you. Well, I know that, but I only shop

for her and have you ever tried So, essentially, the gentleman

pulled into the bay, there was only one person in it,

so I was concerned that the person holding the badge either

had to be him It is currently considered abuse

of the badge system, so therefore I have a duty

to retain the badge. It will be returned to the owner

of the badge and they'll be given an explanation as to why

it was retained and warned of their future conduct in relation

to the badge. Blue badges are used

by Oxfordshire County Council to help disabled people park closer

to their destination, But bosses say a number

of people abuse the system. Those that actually need it,

who need the space, A lot of people just

don't give a damn. "I need somewhere to park, sod you,

I'll go a parking space." Since this operation

was launched on Monday, hundreds of badges have been checked

by city council officers working A number of badges

have been confiscated. Most offenders receive a warning

but, in the worse cases, fines for up to ?1,000

can be issued. The county council says blue badges

are a vital lifeline for people with mobility problems and can be

the difference between independence Oxfordshire is to receive ?800,000

to help prevent homelessness. A team will be set up to help those

most at risk of becoming homeless. A debt advice hub will be

created, and there will be a network of helpers

assisting vulnerable adults. Patients in Reading say

they're being failed by their doctor's surgery,

describing it as being The Circuit Lane surgery

was taken over by a private It was meant to be a new start

following a difficult period As just one of 10,000 registered

at the Circuit Lane surgery, Chris Giles knows what it's

like to be patient. This week he waited three hours

to be seen by a doctor All hell broke loose,

is the appropriate word. People just reacted by saying that

we've had enough of this. Why aren't you putting

more doctors in? Everybody was waiting to see

the emergency doctor. The problems at Circuit Lane

started in September 2014 when doctors resigned en masse,

citing issues with recruitment The NHS took over in January 2015,

and less than two years later handed the surgery over

to One Medical Group The surgery would not

agree to an interview, but it has told us it has plans

to make improvements, saying it's trying different ways

to meet the health and well-being needs of its patient population,

like introducing a new walk-in clinic to increase access

to urgent on-the-day care. But on the NHS website patients have

left their own feedback, giving the surgery just one star

out of five. The surgery says it continues

to work closely with the local Clinical Commissioning Group,

but in the meantime, when they need to see a doctor,

patients like Chris hope they won't have to keep swallowing

an increasingly bitter pill. An Oxfordshire woman will have

to spend Christmas 4000 miles away from her husband

because he was refused a visa They claim the decision

is wrong because they meet Pictures are the closest Julia

gets to her photographer They met while teaching in Oxford

and were planning their first I've never felt so at home

with another individual and I can kind of gush, actually,

about him and about us. I just feel really blessed

and I think this is the kind of relationship that people want

and that they look for and that I think that's quite

elusive for most people. I don't, we don't,

take it for granted. The internet is the best way

for the couple to see each other. Vikram's lived in the UK for eight

years but now he's back at home I try and sleep a lot because, yeah,

it passes time quickly. As a freelancer, proving income

was complicated but she insists she provided the Home Office

with all the necessary documents and the couple fulfil

immigration requirements. In a statement the Home Office says

it's satisfied that the case It adds that officers have explained

the appeals process to Julie and Vikram but no appeal

has been received. Now Julie's local MP

is fighting her case. It's not the first time

Ed Vaizey has been embroiled Last month we told you about

an Oxfordshire man whose family was been torn apart

after his Chinese wife was told I frankly feel the immigration

service is not doing the job that we pay them to do,

which is to allow people who have fulfilled all the legal

and bureaucratic requirements to come into the country to live

here with their loved ones. The couple are waiting to hear

the result of an appeal If that fails, they say they'll move

to continental Europe until a new visa application

can be processed. A year after they moved in,

people living on a housing development to the east of Reading

say they've still got major The homes in Loddon Park

were built by Taylor Wimpey. Residents claim they're prone

to flooding, have no insulation and some of the beams haven't

been fitted properly. In this area above my front door,

the plasterboard has had to be removed because they needed

to check the insulation... This was meant to be

Wendy Howell's dream home. But 12 months on and that

dream is a nightmare. In fact it's being propped up

by the ceramic tiles I've got fitted That's what's holding up,

RSJ supports the entire brickwork Wendy says there's problems

with the insulation, She's so fed up she's taken her

frustration out so all can see. If you saw the show house,

you would think, do you know what? If I buy this house,

I can have that. Yes, I live on a building site,

but I didn't expect One I would tell

anybody who can listen. Nobody from Taylor Wimpey wanted

to appear on camera today but in a statement they regretted

any inconvenience They said they were committed

to carrying out any remedial works and all inside jobs should be

completed by the end of January, and all problems should be fixed

by the end of April next year. The development here

is still being built, but the local MP says work

should have stopped. They've fobbed off residents and me,

to be honest, time after time and now we've reached a point

where this really can't Wendy's now been told

that she and her family will have to move out in January whilst

repairs are made. At a time when she should be

packing Christmas presents, Alexis is next with the weather

forecast for tonight Rain will eventually clear

through the evening and the first part of tonight and once it does

the skies will clear and we will see some patchy frost,

mist and fog patches develop through the early

hours of the morning. Temperatures tonight will drop below

freezing in the countryside, down to around -1 Celsius,

these are temperatures It will be a murky start

to the day tomorrow. That mist and fog will lift

and once it does there A very slim chance of a shower for

western areas during the afternoon but generally dry and the breeze

will start to increase from the West during the course of the afternoon,

with temperatures reaching a high Through tomorrow night the winds

will increase even further. This is Storm Barbara affecting

the north of the country. For us in the South

we will have a period of rain later on Friday,

with it strengthening winds. We could see wind gusts between 40

and 50 mph and eventually the rain will clear through the night

into Christmas Eve. As we look ahead to the rest

of the week, tomorrow will be a lovely sunny day with light winds,

winds picking up through the More cloud on Friday

after a bright start, the winds turning very strong later

in the day. good for us. Mild by the time we

reach Christmas Day. Hello there, there is wet and very

windy weather on the way in the run-up to Christmas. The worst of

the weather to the northern half of the UK. We have a strengthening jet

out of North America that is propgating across the Atlantic.

Rushing our way. Picking up low pressure, deepening them, tracking

them to the north-west of Scotland, hence the wind and rain. Tonight, we

have gale force winds in the north-west of Scotland. Wintry

showers here. There is still come rain to clear