13/02/2017 South Today

widespread drug abuse and security failings at one of Britain's

Road to nowhere - anger as thousands of Motability claimants

I think the most frustrating thing is actually how

hard I have worked to walk, to go back to work, to live my life

and I feel like I have been penalised for that.

Police investigate an attempted murder tonight after a man is shot

Why the Senior Service is looking for seniors

And wanted - a sweet-toothed taster sought for a job

It may sound an easy job but it's not as

They're regarded as a lifeline for hundreds of thousands

with long-term health problems and disabilities.

Some 620,000 people use the motability scheme

which provides leased vehicles, mostly funded by the Department

for Work and Pensions, costing in the region of ?55,

But applicants for the scheme are now losing their allowance,

and handing back their cars, at a rate of 800 a week.

Many who previously qualified for them under

Disability Living Allowance are no longer eligible under

the new Personal Independence Payment, or PIP.

So far, some 47,000 customers have already had

Leah DeBus lost her leg in a motorbike accident five years ago.

She has a prosthetic but finds it too uncomfortable

She used to have a motobility car but had to hand it back after her

The decision was that I'm not entitled to any

With no mobility benefit, Leah lost the ?55 a week

She can no longer work because she can't

get there and is now totally dependent on benefits.

I had to turn down the new job that I had managed

to get, I had been for an interview, due to the location I couldn't get

I think the most frustrating thing is

actually how hard I have pushed myself throughout this last five

years, how hard I have worked to walk, to go back to work,

to live my life and I feel like I have been

They have taken it away from me and now they have

made it difficult, you know, impossible, nearly to live the life

Becky Lewis says she could lose her specially adapted car

because she too has an artificial leg even though like Leah,

They think I might not be disabled enough because

They don't classify a prosthetic leg as a walking aid.

Wheelchairs, crutches, anything like that is

classified as a walking aid, apparently legs aren't.

Now that I've walked more than 20 metres that

ATOS says its assessments are done by health

The Department for Work and Pensions says decisions for

PIP are made after considering all the evidence from the claimant and

And that anyone who disagrees with the decision can

I just don't understand how they can say that I don't have

enough of a disability to warrant mobility.

Leah plans to appeal the decision but it is just one more

battle thousands of disabled people could do without.

Well, you saw Rebekah Lewis in that film.

She's still waiting to hear if she can keep her car.

She came into the studio, from her home in Stubbington,

and told me what it would mean to lose her Motability car.

I would become pretty much housebound and very

reliant on public transport or patient transport

For the government, it is easier for them to give me my benefit money

What did the person who came to assess

He said that actually if I had lost both legs

that I would definitely be guaranteed to keep the car.

I was quite surprised, quite angry and upset,

really, that it had to be that disabled in order to guarantee help.

So you talk about being disabled enough.

They seem to change the rules and regulations quite a lot.

I think it depends on who you see as to how they interpret the paperwork.

But they seem to want you as disabled as possible so that they

If you are half and half, then it can give them

So they don't work in a grey area, you are

saying it is the tick box system and if you tick the box,

I mean, the government will say this is a way of

saving money but it is also a way as, if you like, sifting out those

And there are a lot of people who have abused the system in the

past but I think the paperwork and the whole assessment process now has

gone extreme and gone the other way and now they're punishing people

who are genuinely disabled, who are struggling

What do you think the solution is, then?

I think they need to take more notice of your own GP,

your consultants, maybe have an assessment once,

see how things are, see how disabled you are and leave it at that,

rather than dragging you in every two or three years to go

Rebekah Lewis, thank you for talking to us.

You can see more on Rebekah, on Inside Out, tonight

A man has been left with life-changing injuries

It happened in Waterlooville in Hampshire.

Police have arrested a man and a woman on suspicion

At ten to one last night, a man was shot in the head at this block of

flats just outside Waterlooville. He is still in a critically ill

condition in Southampton General Hospital with life changing

injuries. He has not been named but it is believed he is in his 30s and

the police have been here all day carrying out breast examinations and

talking to local people. Some of whom have told me that they are

shocked. -- carrying out forensic examinations.

It is, it is unnerving that it's right on the doorstep.

I know a lot of people that live on this estate

and they are very nice, law-abiding people and I don't think

I have been here four years now, five years and I

An hour and a half after the incident, armed police went to an

address in Leigh Park where they arrested a 37-year-old man and a

38-year-old woman on of attempted murder. No charges have yet been

brought and the police are very keen to point out that this kind of

incident, this kind of shooting is very rare in this part of the world

indeed. Back to you, Valley. -- Sally.

Dealing with the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer's is traumatic enough.

But meeting the spiralling costs of care for that person

Now a Hampshire man is setting up a petition calling

for a parliamentary debate on the issue.

Peter McManus had to find nearly ?400,000 to pay for the care

We met at Oxford will we'll both undergraduates in the early 60s.

Three years later, we got married. We started a family. In her 60s,

Margaret began to lose her memory. She went for a brain scan and that

it confirms that she had outsiders. Margaret went into a home and it

cost ?4000 a month. Repeated assessments always gave the same

answer. Margaret was said to need social care, not medical care

meaning Peter was the one who had to pay. She lacks mobility, she was

incontinent as is usual with Alzheimer's. She had to be fed. She

could not do anything for herself. She could not talk, these symptoms

which are fairly typical of advanced Alzheimer's, despite having all of

those, she wasn't considered to have a primary medical need. No one is

denying the system is unfair. In 2011, the government said there

should be a ?70,000 cap on care costs -- 70 2000. These would have

shielded older people from large bills, especially those with complex

care needs. But in the face of huge costs, the government has delayed

bringing in the changes until 2020. She was in care in total for just

under eight years. And the total bill ended up just under ?400,000.

Today, Peter launched an online petition in the hope of forcing a

Parliamentary debate on the issue. It is something that the Alzheimer's

Society says is deeply unfair. The strain of having a wife or husband

or a mother or father with outsiders is a terrific strain itself. The

strain of how you're going to cope with pain up to ?50,000 each year, I

think that is horrible. -- cope with paying up to 50,000.

A man's been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman fell

to her death from a third floor flat, in Southsea, at the weekend.

It happened in Clarendon Road yesterday morning.

The 46-year-old who was arrested has been released

Weather for the week coming up with Alexis and Lewis Coombes

is looking ahead to Bournemouth's big game tonight.

The lights on, the TV cameras have a right. Can must halt their slide

down the Premier League? We will have a preview shortly. -- can

Bournemouth. And it seems that name might be more

apt today than it's ever been. Because a so called "Dad's Navy"

of former sailors is being sought to fill key posts on Portsmouth's

new aircraft carriers and other ships because of a shortage

of skilled personnel. With its ships, submarines and

aircraft, the Royal Navy needs a lot But it has been facing a skills

shortage and to plug the gap, some people over the age of 60

could be allowed to serve. Here in Portsmouth,

the home of the Royal Navy, people I spoke to today said

they don't think that's a problem. I think it is sad

that they haven't got the people that are coming

the bottom as engineers to do it but obviously the experience

All those old seaman who are drifting

around at the moment doing nothing, they could be back on warships doing

If they were trained appropriately, they knew what

They've got skills and experience, yeah.

The latest figures show the Royal Navy

and the Royal Marines have a manning deficit of 2.2%.

An advertising campaign was launched last September to try

The Navy is offering trained ex-regulars

It says there will be opportunities to

serve on the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers and

One former naval officer says it's not just the Armed Forces

who are having a problem recruiting engineers.

There is a national shortage of engineers in this

country so the Navy is fishing in quite a small pond to get

It takes a long time to recruit and train people and the

Navy seems to be putting a lot of effort, quite

rightly in my opinion, into retaining people in the Navy of

-- or getting back people who left a year or two ago.

Today, the Navy said in a statement, the upper age for

service is normally 60 but if there is a service requirement or

specialised skills, age waivers may be given on a case-by-case basis.

And with the imminent arrival of the first

of the new aircraft carriers, the Navy's engineers face a very

Hepatitis C patients could be putting themselves at risk buying

drugs online from South Asia because they're being denied

Fewer than 5% of people with the condition in the south

will receive the new more effective treatment in this financial year.

The Hepatitis C Trust unsuccessfully challenged the rationing and says

patients are turning to the internet because NHS England's policy

of treating the sickest patients first means they don't know how long

It's a drug with a cure rate of around 95% and the Hepatitis C Trust

says it could eliminate the disease as a serious public health concern.

But the number of people allowed to have it through the NHS is limited.

Others, like Jaci Fleming, are buying it much more cheaply from

I have paid ?1100 to have the whole three course,

three-month course after years and years of gradual decline when even

to do it privately here, I would have to get a mortgage.

Harvoni, daklinza, viekirax and exviera are

treatments for hepatitis C that were by the NHS in November 2015.

They're considered better than other treatments because they have a

significant high cure rate without the chemotherapy-like side-effects

but they are also much more expensive.

As a result, NHS England has limited their use.

In the Wessex area, 327 of the 6848 patients will

If trusts treat more patients, they face financial penalties.

But buying drugs online could expose patients

People could put themselves in danger and certainly

could put themselves at risk of not getting cured when they could be

NHS England says it is spending an extra

?200 million a year on these new drugs and

it's reduced the number of people dying from

NHS England says the numbers being treated will increase

each year and that it hopes that as the costs of the drugs come

down, it will be able to further expand those numbers.

In the meantime, patients such as Jaci have

Under sport now. Lewis is live at the stadium tonight where

Bournemouth are taking on Manchester city. I suspect fans are expecting a

great game, a cracking game in fact. That is right. When Bournemouth came

to the Premier League, these were the night that the band had been

waiting for. The floodlights are on, the sky TV cameras. Tonight is about

whether Bournemouth can halt their slide down the Premier League, the

form has not been great, without a win this year. Six points above the

relegation zone. Chris has been following bomb this season. Has the

performance in as bad as the results suggest? It is yes and no.

Defensively yes they have been bad. Everton last time out, they have

been ravaged by injuries and suspension but has been a problem.

They have been at the length of Provence is by showing us what

Bournemouth is capable. Actually, they haven't managed to raise their

game against the big teams here and that will keep them in good stead

this evening. -- they have managed. Any indication for this evening? 15

minutes away from getting the official teams, hopefully some good

news as far as the defence of the consent. The racks of Charlie

Daniels and Adam Smith, it looks like they are going to be fit this

evening. That will be abused as well. Captain Simon Francis looks

fit as well. Reverting to some of the former season. Full commentary

on the radio. Bring a scarf, it is cold. Hopefully get the Manchester

city coach arriving shortly. Southampton had a confidence

boosting win ahead of their trip Saints who had lost six

of the previous seven in the league, now head into a two week break

on the back of a 4-0 January signing Manolo Gabbiadini

scored his second and third goals for the club to put

Saints in control. A late own goal and Shane Long's

fifth goal of the season earned Claude Puel's side their first

points on the road this year. They're the right results

for us, you know? We haven't been playing badly

but we haven't been taking opportunities when they come

and sloppy goals and, you know, it all adds up but we

know our ability in the squad. We know that we are

better than what we are showing on the table

at the moment so nice to get another thing under our belts and hopefully

kick on from here. Meanwhile, Brighton continue to go

from strength to strength at the top And that's where we start our

round up of the rest Manager Chris Hughton

says just missing out on promotion last season,

is motivating his side Goals from Tomor Hemed

certainly help. Sam Baldock tapped home from close

range to make it two. And after more good

play from Solly March, Michael Kightly's free-kick

briefly gave Burton hope before Glenn Murray's header sealed

Brighton's sixth successive home league win, another step

towards the Premier League taken. Reading had plenty of the ball,

but couldn't find a way past A combination of wayward shooting

and a goalkeeper in form the reason. Swindon were dragged

into the League One relegation zone after defeat at fellow strugglers

Bury. James Vaughan's 37th-minute

penalty the difference after Raphael Rossi-Branco

was judged to have fouled. Oxford left it late but made

it five wins in a row thanks to substitute

Kane Hemming's glanced header. The U's could've made it two

in injury time But were thwarted not once,

not twice but three times Portsmouth defender Matt Clarke

hasn't scored for over a year, but he took just two minutes

to give his side the lead Substitute Kal Naismith sealed

the victory in added time, slotting home after being sent clear

by Noel Hunt. Pompey back to winning

ways in League Two. Good wins there. The man city coach

has just arrived here at the stadium. ?300 million of talent

getting. The fans out there. Let's do a round-up.

Onto ice hockey and four goals from Vanya Antonov helped

Basingstoke Bison to victory over Hull on Saturday.

Vanya both opened and closed the scoring in a 7-1 win, a match

which saw forward Ciaran Long become the club's record

Bison lost the reverse fixture 3-2 on Sunday.

After finishing second in the Vendee Globe round the world

yacht race last month, Gosport's Alex Thomson has announced

he's going to try again in four years' time!

Thousands of people braved the weather to welcome Thomson home

Despite sailing for much of this year's race with a damaged boat,

he broke several speed records along the way and now hopes to go one

Good luck to Alex. I'm sure we are going to follow his journey.

Manchester City had just arrived. Bournemouth will put on a

performance when the big boys roll into town, hopefully this time as

well. Thank you.

Time for the weather. Alexis is here. It was bitterly cold over the

weekend. We go into double figures in temperatures.

Natasha Weyers took this picture of the sunrise at Southampton Docks.

Cathy Anning photographed a seal after catching a fish

And Richard Welch took this picture on a walk in Petersfield.

Beautiful blue skies overhead. Last week, temperatures struggled to

raise to a high of just for starters. Into double figures today,

13 filters. Some brightness this week. Some patchy light rain at

times and a good deal of cloud as well through the course of the week.

Overnight tonight, eight few clear spells that may allow temperatures

full freezing or just below. These of values in our towns and cities.

The wind will ease by dawn tomorrow. There will be some brightness

berthing tomorrow. It will be fleeting because the cloud will

start to increase from the self and we will see some outbreaks of mainly

like an patchy rain. Not amounting to too much. A lot of cloud as well.

Nine to 11 Celsius beehive. The wind will be fairly light. Tomorrow

night, clear spells are possible. During the early hours of Wednesday

morning, temperatures start to rise. It will be a mild start Wednesday

with losers six to eight Celsius. When state itself, a lot of cloud.

-- when states. The winds are gradually changing direction from

that south-easterly airflow to start date a more south-westerly airflow.

Driving in milder air. Through Wednesday, we are looking at Heise

to ten of 11 Celsius. Thursday, high pressure starts to build an even

further. A lot of cloud around on Thursday that there will be some

brighter and sunny spells and it should stay mainly dry as well.

Friday, very similar to that state. A mild day, ten to 11 Celsius. A lot

of cloud but some breaks in the cloud cover. The wind is fairly

light. As we look ahead to the weekend, mainly dry, high

dominating, the night will be chilly and it will be milder by day.

Temperatures remaining in double figures. Right, the subject.

It may not have escaped your notice that tomorrow is Valentine's Day.

So here's a subject which is close to many of our hearts.

Because, believe it or not, a company in Berkshire is looking

for someone to take on the onerous task of testing their tasty chocs.

We sent along our own "little sweetie", Ben Moore, to apply.

One of the world's biggest chocolate makers

really does want a new taster and it really could be you.

There's no real requirements that you can have for the

job, you know, you can't train for it.

It's basically what is in your mouth, it's the taste buds

Mondelez owns brands like Cadbury and Oreo so this is the big one.

But getting this sweet job won't be a piece of cake.

It was advertised on social media so there

We are not looking to see whether they like the sample, we want them

to taste it and basically say what they see or say what they taste from

the product. It entails a fair bit of training. You would not think so

that you need training to eat chocolate.

Through the tasting hatch, there's a change of mood.

I can assure you it isn't seedy, we use a red light so when

the candidate is assessing the samples, it masks all of the colour

This is where the lucky applicant will be

confined with chocolate for seven and a half hours a week.

So I'm ready to taste my first chocolate samples.

I open the hatch, there we are, three samples.

Now, this one is the control sample, I try this first and

then I have got to decide which of these two it tastes most

like and all the while, writing down what I

think about all the flavours of the chocolate.

Once I've done that, I eat a cracker,

This'll be the test they the short listed candidates over three days.

At the end, there will be left. -- there will be one left.

Yes, you have shown that you can discriminate but

sadly you've not quite made the grade to go onto one

There was no sweet talking my way round it.

But I suppose for times like these, there's

So we weren't going to let Ben have all the fun

We have to try the chocolate in each of these three pots and decide

Slow down. Which is the odd one out? This as number 646. How many

chocolates are there? I have got the answers. I think this is the odd one

out. Probably not great with the cold because I don't think I can

taste as well. I could just keep eating chocolate. Which one? 646.

You'd think that is the different one? 272. I think we should carry on

eating chocolate. Never mind working out which is the odd one out.

Goodbye for now. Good night.