08/07/2013 South Today

to South Today. Tonight's top stories: The Post Office accused

them of theft and fraud but were postmasters actually the victims of

a faulty computer system? 60 firefighters tackle heath fires

in Dorset as soaring temperatures continue.

Did a pot hole prove pot luck? A heart patient thanks a hole in the

road for his speedy recovery. The ambulance driver was laughing

with the rest of us, her exact words were, I probably saved him because

he hit a pothole. And where have all the hedgehogs gone? A university

aims to tackle the decline of a and false accounting and some have

been sent to jail but they insist they have done nothing wrong. Around

100 sub-postmasters claim they are victims of flaws in the Post Office

computer system. The Horizon system was introduced in 1995 to record all

transactions. It's used in more than 11,000 branches But a year ago

independent experts were appointed to look at the system after apparent

shortfalls in takings. It followed the intervention of North East

Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot. The initial findings from those experts

are being published this evening. I'm joined now by Nick Wallis, a

journalist who first reported the story for the BBC. Nick, this has

been a long running saga. Yes, this appears to have been going on for

years. I first became aware of it in November 2010 when I was contacted

by the husband of eight postmistress who had been sent to jail for fraud

in the Post Office. She maintains that it was due to errors in the

Horizon accounting system. As I investigated, I found more and more

people who had been affected by this and it did seem that they had a

case. Often the money would have been alleged to have gone missing

but there was no proof of it going anywhere else. All these people

didn't have criminal records and they were utterly convinced of their

innocence. Unfortunately, some of them took to desperate measures to

cover up what had gone wrong cause they were worried about it being

discovered. Many postmasters live in isolated areas and are not financial

experts. When they are told they cannot keep trading unless they make

up the shortfall, the panic. One woman found herself false accounting

and order to try and make good the books and she found herself in all

sorts of trouble. I got to the end of the week and I was �2000 down so

I rang the help desk and they told me to do this and this and the

number doubled right in front of my eyes in three minutes. I had to

repay the �4000 which I didn't have so they took it out of me wages.

resorted to signing of accounts which she knew to be wrong and that

led to her trial. Many people in her community contributed to a funds to

help pay back the money that the Post Office said she owed. He

started leaning on the Post Office to investigate what they said was a

fundamentally robust process. They commissioned another report. Can you

tell us what the report says? literally just come through in the

last half hour so I haven't had time Post Office have agreed to set up an

statement which I have just had an interim report and the full

report will be out in the autumn. I imagine in the meantime,

sub-postmasters will be digesting this report before making any

comments. The hot weather is here and so is

the first heath fire of the summer. It flared up on National Trust land

at Studland in Dorset and at its height, around 60 firefighters were

tackling it. Let's cross to Steve Humphrey who's at the scene. We are

just across the water from pool and Bournemouth. The fire broke out and

emergency services were called around 1:30pm. The temperatures were

around 30 degrees Celsius and that made conditions very tough for the

firefighters. The temperature makes firefighting more hazardous and one

of our colleagues has gone to hospital suffering from the effects

of the heat. Fire Service have little doubt that the fire was

started on purpose. We believe that it will be a deliberate fire but we

are looking at because. It is extremely important area so we want

to do as much as we can to protect the wildlife and the environment. It

is important that we all enjoy that in a safe way. This is the first big

heap and fire in this part of Dorset of the summer. It could have been so

much worse if not for the prompt response of the emergency services.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for The Thames Valley, Anthony

Stansfeld, is going to have to repay some of his travel costs following

an audit of his expenses. Mr Stansfeld had been criticised for

using public money to pay for some journeys into police headquarters.

Later he was given a personal driver to take him to work. Following the

audit, �142 will be deducted from his salary. He will be allowed to

keep his driver and car. It's a vision for the future that

also embraces the past. Almost 4000 new homes are to be built at the

former Aldershot military garrison site. The Wellesley development,

approved last week, will give a new lease of life to some historic

buildings and open up many areas to the public. David Allard reports.

This is one of the former words and you can see we have cleaned it up a

bit. This disused Victorian hospital is about to be transformed. This

could be converted into houses or flats. The Cambridge Military

Hospital closed in 1996. After years of neglect, it's now one of the

listed buildings that will be central to the new Wellesley

development. It is a huge amount of responsibility and we keep getting

reminded of it by the local residents. It is very iconic and you

can see the wonderful clocktower. That's only part of what's proposed.

There'll be 4000 new homes in total - 35% of them social housing.

There'll be more community facilities, based around the

existing road network. Two new schools will be built, open green

spaces preserved. I think the good news for this area is that it will

create choices for people were they do not have them at the moment. We

want to bring forward the development but keep its best

attributes. I hope it comes back into use. We don't need more houses.

It will just clog things up. We do have a problem in this time with

housing. More job opportunities, hopefully. The first phase of

building will start at the top of Queen's Avenue in the next few

months. In 20 years' time, this area which has been closed to the public

for so long should be a thriving community once again.

Hundreds of employees at Wiltshire Council will soon know if their

application for voluntary redundancy has been accepted or rejected.

Senior managers at the council are meeting this week to sift through

the applications. They need to cut around 400 posts, 340 of those are

full time positions. Letters to inform staff of the outcome of their

application will start being sent out next week. Still to come in this

evening's South Today: She helped change the face of women's football

four decades ago. Ahead of the European Championships, Sue Lopez on

the glory years with Southampton and the future of the women's game.

They are loathed by motorists and can wreck cars but can these also

save lives? It seems driving in an ambulance over a pothole could have

helped save the life of one Wiltshire granddad. 65-year-old Lee

Ray was being taken to hospital with a dangerously high heart rate. He

says when the ambulance hit a pothole, suddenly jerking him

upwards, his heartbeat returned to normal. Chrissy Sturt has been to

meet him. Ray was exercising on a cross

trainer at home when his heart rate shot up. It was a suspected heart

attack and paramedics arrived in minutes. That meant an ambulance

ride at speed along here. And an encounter with one of these. We were

going along at the good old pace and we had a pothole. We looked at the

monitor and the heart rate was 60 beats per minute. Something had

happened to the heart that had got it back beating as it should have

done. Normally patients would have been given an injection to return

the heart rate to normal but Ray did not need such an injection. Is shot

to the heart is one measure that is used and that heads to that pothole

had given me that treatment effectively. Doctors say it is

impossible to make a clinical link but for now, Ray's attitudes to

potholes has definitely softened. would take her grandchildren past

that routes to school. It is fair to say that I have cursed pot rules --

potholes in the past. The state of the roads are appalling and I have

cursed potholes in the past but that one is special.

One of the residents parks his car behind his flat. But the land to the

right belongs to an adjoining property. Until the 1970s, the flat

was part of the hotel. But most of the species can only be accessed by

driving across land still owned by the hotel. In January, the Hotel

wrote to residents and asking them not to park the. Now they are

seeking an injunction and anything up to �60,000. Getting a solicitor

's letter out of the blue. We tried to contact them to ask for a

discussion. They have refused to talk to us. None of the residents

has been here more than 16 years and the needs formal support for the

case. If they can prove that they have driven the car is over that

space since the 1970s then by lot we will have the right to continue to

do so. The owners of the flats have until Friday to trace former

residents and decide whether to continue to fight the cause.

Nine female police officers from the Middle East have just completed a

ground-breaking leadership course at the College of Policing in

Hampshire. The delegates spent five weeks on what is the first such

course specifically for women. Here's our Home Affairs

Correspondent, Alex Forsyth. It has taken these women more than

just a plane journey to get here. Some are among the first in the

country to become female police officers. It is a profession which

in many Middle Eastern countries has only recently been opened to women.

In the beginning some people didn't accept the idea. They said this was