09/01/2017 South Today - Oxford

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

Coming up: Claims a young offender's institution has

A report says there aren't enough prison officers to keep

The homeless people who've moved into a disused car showroom -

The boulder that fell onto a railway line -

I will have the weather for the week ahead shortly.

Staffing cuts have put inmates and workers in danger -

according to a report on Aylesbury Young

The Independent Monitoring Board says pay and conditions for staff

The report also warned of rival gangs of teenagers

Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution houses some of the most

violent and disruptive young men in the country.

Keeping around 400 inmates in order is inevitably a challenge,

and the Independent Monitoring Board says there simply are not

The report says cuts to the number of staff have made this place

more dangerous for prisoners and workers.

Also, there is a gang culture which is making it difficult to run

some training programmes and get prisoners around the prison.

The Ministry of Justice says 2500 extra prison officers

But the Prison Reform Trust says wages are too low

to attract skilled workers to Aylesbury.

The young men in Aylesbury are not being kept occupied,

their energy is not being used and they're not spending

And some of that is simply because the money hasn't been found

to recruit the people to keep workshops open,

so good facilities are standing idle.

The report highlighted the hard work staff put in to identify potential

In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said:

The prison is also working more closely with police

so inmates who break the rules are properly punished.

Campaigners angry about the lack of provision for homeless people

in Oxford have taken over a former car show room.

They've created sleeping areas, put a new lock on the entrance

A petition asking the site owners for permission to stay until March

has been signed by hundreds of people.

Welcome to Oxford's unofficial homeless shelter.

For the past two years, this former car dealership has been empty.

But some residents decided to move in after finding

Personally, I'm here because I don't want to see anyone freezing to death

That is something that has happened in other cities around

the country and I think that's completely unacceptable.

You know, buildings lay empty while people freeze,

And yes, it's not the most beautiful building, but it's safer and warmer

14 homeless people are now living here, benefiting from a roof

It's a bit of a godsend, really, because

I feel like I can get somewhere, you know?

Like, I can start applying for university and get things done.

We don't want to be a thorn in anybody's side,

We've seen an opportunity, a building that's not being used,

that can be utilised and can take a lot of people, and we have people

here to make it safe, so there is no hazards,

no danger, in fact, if anything, it's a life-saver.

It is not the first time a disused building has been taken over

This site is owned by Wadham College.

It said it had not decided whether to take legal action

Rail services have been disrupted after a large boulder fell onto the

track in Gloucestershire. A boulder, six feet by four,

which came tumbling down a steep It was fortunate a train

on the other line spotted it first Engineers have been on the track

near Kemble all day, It had clearly broken

through metal netting and cables, to minimise the impact of

landslides. We have had some minor

falls from time to time, to help the cutting wall stay

in place. Well, it was not designed, built,

to cope with anything of the size that we saw falling

onto the track today. Trains from Gloucester to Swindon

have been able to pass through here at five miles per hour,

but commuters wanting to get from Swindon to Gloucester have had

to use a bus service. That may continue while

Network Rail's investigations We need to check that

all the signalling equipment and the actual track itself is safe

to run trains over. It is pretty robust,

but it had a serious knock today. We are also taking some

investigations into what is still up there on the cutting wall,

to see if there is anything else which is likely to come down

and what we need to do about that. The tight, rocky ravines

here are a known problem It is close to the Sapperton Tunnel,

which has undergone major repairs in recent years

because of instability It could be that CCTV or remote

movement sensors could be installed here in future,

which would raise the alarm A man's been seriously injured

in a crash where a lorry shed part of its load of Cotswold stone

onto a car. It happened on the A429

near Northleach this morning. Two of the people involved were left

with minor injuries. Next: What cyclists see

on rubbish collection days - Drivers have been on bikes -

as part of a safety awareness Swapping the comfort of their heated

HGVs for handlebars and These bin men and women are seeing

what it is like being a more vulnerable road user

and have been taking part in a safety course

with Cyclists come in your blind spot,

it makes you more aware, doing this I had a scary experience

with an articulated lorry overtaking me so I am

highly aware of cyclists. It is quite scary being out

there on the road and It is the first time

Aylesbury Vale District Council has brought in this type of course,

which works out to be about ?90 per To put them in the position

of somebody cycling or on a horse or whatever, gives them the benefit

of seeing what it is like from where their position is in

the road, and I think they will benefit from

that Three months ago,

this lorry driver was sentenced to ten years

in prison for driving his lorry into the back

of queueing traffic on the a 34,

killing a woman and three children. He had been using his mobile phone

will stop most lorry drivers do take care when out on the roads

and the idea of this course is to develop

their skills even further. These lorry drivers

are testing their coordination and awareness skills

by looking out for different hazards and trying to stay

as safe as possible. The course also involves

some class relearning. But for now, the drivers

can forget about their bin loads and focus on brushing up

on their bike skills. Adina Campbell, BBC

South Today, Hillsborough. The government has committed to ?50

million worth of improvements to the a 54. One will see improvements to

the pear interchanges in Oxford and the other involves installing CCTV

traffic sectors and driver information displays on the road.

The weather is next. After a mild start to the week, some

sunny spells and from midweek, it will feel colder so through

Thursday, that is when the really cold air will set in. Overnight we

are looking at clear skies. The winds will start to increase and

temperatures will fall to three or four Celsius so it will be a cold

but many dry start the day tomorrow. A bright start of the cloud will

increase quickly during the latter part of the morning and through the

afternoon we may see some outbreaks of rain. A lot of dry weather as

well and temperatures will reach a high of seven or eight Celsius.

Through the cause of tomorrow night, patchy rain is still a possibility.

Burying an answer cloud, some clear spells and are continuing brisk

wind. Temperatures tomorrow night down to a mild seven Celsius. It

will be a mild start on Wednesday. We're expecting a jump-start with

drizzly conditions first thing about writing through the afternoon sun.

Still a fair amount of cloud and also the as C in the afternoon with

temperatures reaching nine or 10 Celsius. It is through the latter

part of Wednesday and into Thursday that really cold air will start to

dig in. Straight from the north, coming in from the Arctic and on

Thursday there is the chance almost anywhere that we could have a wintry

showers. A mixture of rain, sleet and even snow, but we are not

expecting any regulations. Through Friday, a similar scenario, quite a

brisk northerly wind with one or two isolated wintry showers.

Temperatures on Friday is struggling to a high of just two or three

Celsius so it will feel bitterly cold. This is the weekend, still

remaining chilly with a northerly wind setting in and will be some

wintry showers at times so it is certainly going to feel cold over

the next precipitation we get will be of a

wintry nation and Thursday is one we have to watch out for. The weekend

outlook, it stays chilly with a northerly wind and possibly frosty

nights. The national weather