12/03/2014 South Today

looking pretty good. Dry in most parts with sunshine around.

Hello. Tonight: The coach hire business which has gone bust owing

hundreds of thousands of pounds. Southampton loses out to Liverpool

over European funding for a cruise terminal. Worthing council does a

deal to get out of the contract with NCP but for how much? I would always

say that I would not accept this. It should be in the public domain.

Saints introduced their new chairman fresh from Olympic success. I would

give a freshness and we will freeze the pitch. No!

A major travel broker in the south has gone bust owing almost ?700,000

to coach operators. The Berkshire`based Momentum Coach Hire

Limited ran a broker website which allowed customers to book travel

online with other coach operators. A number of these operators were not

paid for the coaches they provided and say they have been left with

debts. Rob Powell has been to meet one of those firms affected by the

collapse. I have come to an industrial estate

to meet a coach operator who Socchi is owed thousands of pounds for

journeys she sent vehicles on but was never paid for. I know I am not

going to get any money. Business going forward is very difficult at

the moment but we are all working to try and go forward. It is just a

very big struggle. This operator say the coach company ran up the debt.

Momentum would take online bookings and pay the coach operators to

provide the vehicles. In January, the firm went past `` bust. They

owed almost ?70,000 to coach operators, none of whom will be

repaid. Momentum's website is taking bookings because soon after going

into administration, another firm bought up all of its ongoing

business and took control of the website. Andrew Riley who was a

direct of this company was also I `` a direct of the company. I feel very

bad that they are carrying on business as usual. The former

director told the BBC he regrets any company lost money. He said:

Mr Reilly also said customers will be unaffected going forward and that

all bookings and deposits will be honoured. The Southhampton charity

which works in areas of social deprivation says it has been left

?3000 out of pocket. They say a coach cancellation last year forced

them to call off a recount `` weekend long hike for a group of

students. It was something I was looking forward to an something I

could put on my CV. I have been on lots of trips and there has never

been an issue before. I didn't believe it at first. It was

devastating. It was an opportunity for me to change myself into who I

wanted to be. Trading Standards confirmed they had been looking into

the company that had to stop its investigation after the firm and

demonstration. Horizon says is towards compensation. They said they

would give us a refund. We asked for the expenses that they incurred

expenses that we received because of the cancellation. We heard nothing

from them. Andrew Riley says the coach wasn't available because her

rise and didn't pay for the booking soon enough. He has offered a refund

of their booking fee but disputes any further compensation is owed.

The mother of a terminally ill man who died at home in Hampshire has

been telling an inquest about the night of his death. Matt Simmonds,

who was 39 and from Chandler's Ford, relied on a ventilator to breathe.

The inquest has already heard evidence from a pathologist that he

died because his artificial ventilation was interrupted. Briony

Leyland was in court. The inquest heard Matt Simmons had a rare

genetic disorder. He had been ill since the age of 14. In between

operations come he had been able to lead a normal life but by 2011, his

health had declined and he was unable to walk or talk and needed a

ventilator to breathe. He spent several months at Southampton

General Hospital. His mother told the court he wanted to spend his

last days and weeks at the family home in Chandlers Ford because they

all knew he didn't have much time left. She said on the day he was

discharged, she was thrilled to have him home and was looking forward to

having some quality time with him. He died later that same day. The

nurse who had been looking after him jump on the day said in the evening

she changed over his ventilator to another one with the help of the

night nurse she said once they had done it, she saw his chest rising

and falling and later she went home. Asks if she accepted his death had

been precipitated by no ventilation, she said, "I accepted but I don't

understand how." His mother said she felt his stillness and passed her

hand over the tube that comes from the ventilator and felt nothing

coming from it. She called out for the night nurse who felt for a post.

She said a nurse stood by the right`hand side of the bed.

Something clicked and air started coming through. She said she

accepted her son had passed away but asks if she was able to say

goodbye, she said, not really, it happens of May.

There's been a call in the Commons for more defibrillators in school. A

Romsey teenager owes his life to the device after he collapsed at the

Mountbatten School last Thursday. His local MP Caroline Nokes raised

his case in front of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today, at Prime

Minister's Question Time. Last Thursday, a pupil collapsed. The

only reason why he is alive is because they had a defibrillator.

What will you do to encourage more schools have more different

narrators? The port of Southampton has lost its

fight with Liverpool over European funding for a Merseyside cruise

terminal. The south coast port had protested that using public money to

build a rival amounted to unfair competition. Our Transport

Correspondent Paul Clifton is here. At the end of a long`running battle,

Southampton has lost out? Southampton is the overwhelmingly

dominant cruise port in Britain. In fact it's the busiest in Europe.

Seven years ago, Liverpool opened a small rival but only for day visits.

It was built with public money, whereas Southampton is commercially

funded. Liverpool later decided to use that for more lucrative

turnaround calls, where passengers leave and join a ship. Southampton

and other ports objected. They said it was unfair use of public money.

European Commission officials have now ruled that the public funding

granted to Liverpool is in line with state aid rules. Meanwhile Liverpool

Council has agreed to pay back most of a ?9 million UK Government grant,

because that was deemed to breach rules. Today, predictably, Liverpool

council was delighted and Southampton council thought it was

the wrong decision. I am really glad about the court hearing. We don't

see it as a battle with Southampton. We feel there is enough

in the cruise industry to benefit both cities but we are extremely

delighted with the result we have had. We don't think it is fair in

Southhampton. The cruise terminal is entirely built on private money and

that should be the case for all competing cruise terminals in the

UK. What has the European Commission actually said? In its ruling, it

decided: The use of the infrastructure would be insufficient

to cover the investment costs over a period of 20 years.

Why was Southampton so keen to fight this? In cruising terms Liverpool is

a minnow. It has 46 cruise calls this year, Southampton has several

hundred. It really isn't a threat. But it could be. Southampton is now

home to Cunard. But Cunard was a Liverpool company. Next year it will

run its first voyage from New York to Liverpool since the 1960s. You

can see the commercial attraction. Americans re`tracing the route of

their forefathers, the Beatles heritage and so on. Southampton

fought this hard, and Southampton lost. But one of the city's MPs,

John Denham, said he would consider appealing against the ruling.

Still to come in this evening's South Today ` Tony is keeping cool

on a day dominated by ice. We will be previewing Basingstoke Bison's

final tonight. We will also be hearing from the new chairman of

Southampton football club and he knows a little bit about ice hockey

or so. `` also. Sussex Police are to start

using a controversial unmanned drone. The ?35,000 helicopters will

be used in an initial trial in and around Gatwick Airport, the force

saying they will help make the county even safer. But civil

liberties groups are deeply concerned, worried that the flying

video cameras could be used to record and spy on people with one MP

branding them sinister and questioning whether they will be

safe. They will be gathering film footage and it can be used to ensure

any unforeseen activity that goes on and can be monitored. It can be used

where the safety of offices is paramount when you can't necessarily

deploy police officers. You can check from the air. A senior

Worthing Borough Councillor has resigned in protest and asked the

police to investigate the handling of the termination of a contract

between the council and car park firm NCP. It's believed the council

has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation to the car park

provider but the two sides have signed an agreement keeping details

of the settlement confidential. Sean Killick reports. For the past ten

years, NCP has run council car parks. In 2009, a pilot scheme was

agreed to reduce parking charges with the Council underwriting NCP's

last `` lost income. Now it is not being renewed and there is a battle

over how much compensation NCP is due for its losses during the pilot

scheme. NCP sued the Council for ?1 million that is before a High Court

hearing, the two sides reached an out`of`court settlement believed to

be for around ?700,000 but neither party would confirm that sum. They

issued a joint statement saying that it was an amicable settlement and

that both sides agreed it would remain confidential. That outraged

Council cabinet member, Tom, who has resigned from the council in

protest. I always said I would not accept a gagging order on this. Why

is the money going to NCP? It should be in the public domain. I resigned.

Today, there was mixed reaction. I guess the compensation should be

paid but as a taxpayer, it is not very good. I agree with him making a

stand on principle and resigning. Worthing council should tell us why

they have put that amount of money. In a statement, the force told South

today: Meanwhile, from April one, charges

in the multistorey car parks involved would drop from ?1 70 an

hour to ?1 an hour. From a parking row in Sussex to a

much happier car parking story along the coast in Dorset. If you've

driven into Bournemouth recently, you'll have noticed the

multi`coloured building taking shape on the Wessex Way. Decked out in

sunshine colours you may be forgiven for thinking it's a piece of art,

it's actually a new car park. And it marks the start of

multi`million`pound plans to give the resort an economic boost. Chris

Robinson reports. The opening of a multistorey car

park isn't headline grabbing news. It looks rather boring but when you

come outside, its colours are warm and inviting and it has got people

talking. It as a vision interest. A lot of car parks are dull and

boring. It could cause accidents if people are looking. It might be

something to think about. I like it having some, `` some colour. This is

the view on the busy Wessex way. The panels offer a ray of light all year

round. The car park is in the first completed stage of a ?40 million

regeneration stage of the town. Bournemouth is open for business. It

is colourful but I don't think that is a bad thing. Car parks need to be

something a bit different so we actually attract more people to ask

what development is. Opposite our student flats. The new residents

move in this autumn. Down the road is more homes. 14 sites are

earmarked for development across the town as well as private hotel and

leisure developments closer to the seafront. This car park stands out.

It sends a great message. It is a bright beacon of development

activity. The car park opens to the public from Monday.

On to sport and a big night for isotopic `` ice hockey in Hampshire.

Basingstoke Bison are hoping to end a long run without silverware in the

second leg of the Premier League Cup. And ice hockey is a bit of a

theme of Tony's sports spot tonight he's live at Planet ice in

Basingstoke. It is the second leg of the Premier League final. Navy ``

Basingstoke have a lead. They are getting the ice ready. This machine

smooths the ice. Look how fast that is going to be tonight when the

teams get out there on to the rink. More on the ice hockey in a moment.

It has been an ice hockey Day because I have been to meet a man

whose life has been all about ice hockey. Ralph Krueger has just

really `` returned from the Olympics and he is now a public face to the

Southampton regime. I went to see him earlier. I will bring a

freshness and we will freeze the pitch. What I bring is experience in

the sports world and an understanding of what they need. I

will not in anyway take responsibility or be involved or get

in the way. I to create an environment where everybody can

concentrate on what they are here to do. He is very different to his

predecessor who rarely spoke to the media. One of my biggest walls as

chairman will be to create a great platform of communication at all

levels, where people can express themselves. It is a major

responsibility that I have taken on here, to build those vehicles of

communication inside and outside the organisation. A question for fans.

If the club for sale? It is not. Catherine is embracing the

environment. Soon she has had her presence known, she has been visible

in and is coming to games. Can you keep the manager? The answer isn't

very sexy. We need to be successful on and off the pitch and we will do

everything possible to have the best possible team here together. It is

clear he wants to grow Southampton commercially and has an initial

opinion on the thorny subject of playing games abroad. If I look at

what the NFL playing at Wembley does for the NFL worldwide, it is

certainly something that needs to be part of the discussion. One last ice

hockey question. Who is your money on tonight? I have to cheer on

Hampshire and wish them a really good match that night. I will slide

into that environment once in awhile to remember how cold it can be

playing the sport that grew up playing. It is called in Basingstoke

tonight. The full interview is on the BBC sport website right now. A

busy night of football last night. This was the start of a terrific

night. It's got even better in the second half with this free kick. It

doubled the lead. Nick Blackman weighed `` waded in to make it

three. After this folly, the Royals scored three in nine minutes. Leeds

came back with two quickfire goals. This header was converted. Austin

popped up with the goal of the game. It still finished as a miserable

night for Brian McDermott it on the anniversary office sacking.

Elsewhere, Portsmouth continued to find goals hard to come by. Chances

came and went at Burton Albion. The outcome was a goalless draw.

Tonight Bournemouth aim for a third consecutive Championship win.

In Racing, a great afternoon for the West Sussex trainer Gary Moore and

his family. He saddled the winner of the big race ` the Queen Mother

Champion Chase. Sire De Grugy romped to victory with Gary's son Jamie in

the saddle ` ahead of the Mick Channon trained Somersby. Great

celebrations for the family ` Gary also has a stake in the horse. The

other owners, who include a hairdresser, a sweet salesman, and a

plumber, were pretty pleased too! 14 years since any silverware for

Basingstoke Bison 's. Tonight, they could lift a trophy in the cup

final. Here is the thoughts of Doug Sheppard. We are confident. We are

in a pretty good spot here. We are hoping to carry that on tonight. 4`1

up and how much of an advantage is that? You have to approach the game

and we will approach it like it is goalless. We have been pretty strong

at home all year. Our fans have got behind us. We want to reverse that

form. It has been a long time since you have got some silverware. What

will it be like to lift the trophy tonight? Our fans have been

unbelievable and have always got behind us. No nerves? We are not

nervous. We are pumped up and ready to go for it. They want to hang

another pennant next to that one. We will have the result at 10:25pm.

Now to the weather. It has been glorious. Long may it continue.

A stunning shot of a Red Kite and stunning blue skies too.

We have had some beautiful sunshine and tonight, we can expect clear

skies for a time but dense, patchy fog is working its way in. We start

with those clear spells. A fine day. We may see a touch of frost early on

as temperatures head down to three Celsius. The fog and mist starts to

spill in and by the early hours, we can expect some dense, patchy fog.

Some spots could well have some problematic travel disruption first

thing tomorrow through the morning rush`hour. Stay tuned to your BBC

local radio station. We have that fog to around ten o'clock in the

morning. Eventually it is set to shift and we are left with bright,

sunny skies once again. There will be some cloud around at times. It

feels pleasant with highs of 40 Celsius. Plaques along the coast a

little bit of sea mist. Looking ahead to tomorrow, it is a repeat

performance. Visibility is an issue through the course of tomorrow

night. We see clear skies for a time and then the fog spills back in. We

may see some problematic fog at times on Friday morning. Through the

day on Friday, the sunny skies are developing so it is feeling fine

with temperatures into the mid teens. I pressure is our neighbour

for the weekend. We have some settled conditions for Saturday and

Sunday. It looks like we will see more of a breeze. Here is the

summary. That is it from us this evening. We

will have more on that ice hockey game at 10:25pm. We are back

tomorrow at 6:30pm. Enjoy your evening, good night.